Sing a Song: How “Lift Every Voice and Sing” Inspired Generations

by Kelly Starling Lyons ; illustrated by Keith Mallett

This stirring book celebrates the Black National Anthem and how it inspired five generations of a family... In Jacksonville, Florida, two brothers, one of them the principal of a segregated, all-black school, wrote the song "Lift Every Voice and Sing." From that moment on, the song has provided inspiration and solace for generations of Black families.

The Highest Tribute: Thurgood Marshall’s Life, Leadership, and Legacy

by Kekla Magoon ; illustrated by Laura Freeman

Thurgood Marshall's determination to make all Americans equal under the law led him to the Supreme Court. But to get to the highest court in the land, Thurgood had to make space for himself every step of the way. Kekla Magoon and Laura Freeman tell the incredible story of the first Black Supreme Court justice.

Sprouting Wings: The True Story of James Herman Banning, The First African American Pilot to Fly Across the United States

by Louisa Jaggar & Shari Becker

The true story of James Herman Banning, the first African American pilot to fly across the United States.

Saving American Beach: The Biography of African American Environmentalist Mavynee Betsch

by Heidi Tyline King; illustrated by Ekua Holmes

A biography of MaVynee Betsch, an African American opera singer turned environmentalist who worked to preserve American Beach, Florida as a historical landmark.

Mae Among the Stars

by Roda Ahmed; illustrated by Stasia Burrington

When young Mae Jemison is asked by her teacher what she wants to be when she grows up, Mae tells her mostly white classmates that she wants to be an astronaut, a dream that her parents wholeheartedly support in this uplifting picture book inspired by the first Black woman to travel in space.

Trombone Shorty

by Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews

Hailing from the Tremé neighborhood in New Orleans, Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews got his nickname by wielding a trombone twice as long as he was high. A prodigy, he was leading his own band by age six, and today this Grammy-nominated artist headlines the legendary New Orleans Jazz Fest. Find out all about him in this beautiful autobiographical picture book, which was a Caldecott Honor Book and Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Award Winner.

Whoosh!: Lonnie Johnson’s Super-soaking Stream of Inventions

by Chris Barton, illustrated by Don Tate

You know the Super Soaker. It’s one of top twenty toys of all time. And it was invented entirely by accident. Growing up in a house full of brothers and sisters, persistence, and a passion for problem solving became the cornerstone for Lonnie Johnson’s career as an engineer and his work with NASA. But it is his invention of the Super Soaker water gun that has made his most memorable splash with kids and adults, as told in this dynamic picture book biography.

Facing Frederick

by Tonya Bolden

Frederick Douglass is best known for the telling of his own emancipation, but there is much more to Douglass's story than his time spent enslaved and his famous autobiography. Statesman, suffragist, writer, and newspaperman, this nonfiction book for older children focuses on Douglass the man rather than the historical icon.

Through My Eyes: Ruby Bridges

by Ruby Bridges

In November 1960, all of America watched as a tiny six-year-old black girl, surrounded by federal marshals, walked through a mob of screaming segregationists and into her school. An icon of the civil rights movement, Ruby Bridges chronicles each dramatic step of this pivotal event in history through her own words.

Shirley Chisholm is a Verb!

by Veronica Chambers

Enjoy this dynamic picture book biography celebrating the life and contributions of Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman in Congress, who sought the Democratic nomination to be the president of the United States.

Lifting as We Climb: Black Women's Battle for the Ballot Box

by Evette Dionne

For African American women, the fight for the right to vote was only one battle.An eye-opening nonfiction book for older children that tells the important, overlooked story of black women as a force in the suffrage movement--when fellow suffragists did not accept them as equal partners in the struggle.

Stella by Starlight

by Sharon Draper

When the Ku Klux Klan's unwelcome reappearance rattles Stella's segregated Southern town, bravery battles prejudice in this powerful Depression-era middle-grade novel.

It All Comes Down to This

by Karen English

In the summer of 1965, Sophie and her family become the first African Americans to move into their upper middle-class neighborhood in Los Angeles. When riots erupt in nearby Watts, she learns that life and her own place in it are a lot more complicated than they had seemed in this heartfelt middle-grade novel.

Juneteenth 

by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson and Drew Nelson, illustrated by Mark Schroder

June 19th, 1865, began as another hot day in Texas. Enslaved people worked in fields, in barns, and in the homes of the white people who held them in bondage. Then a message arrived. Freedom! Slavery had ended! The Civil War had actually ended in April. It took two months for word to reach Texas. Still the joy of that amazing day has never been forgotten. Join in the celebration of Juneteenth, a day to remember and honor freedom for all people, in this nonfiction picture book.

Dark Sky Rising 

by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Tonya Bolden

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. presents a journey through America's past and our nation's attempts at renewal in this look at the Civil War's conclusion, Reconstruction, and the rise of Jim Crow segregation.This is a story about America during and after Reconstruction, one of history's most pivotal and misunderstood chapters. In a stirring account of emancipation, the struggle for citizenship and national reunion, and the advent of racial segregation, the renowned Harvard scholar delivers an audiobook that is illuminating and timely in this nonfiction book for older children.

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice 

by Phillip Hoose

On March 2, 1955, an impassioned teenager, fed up with the daily injustices of Jim Crow segregation, refused to give her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Instead of being celebrated as Rosa Parks would be just nine months later, fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin found herself shunned by her classmates and dismissed by community leaders. This nonfiction book for older children presents an in-depth account of an important yet largely unknown civil rights figure.

Little Legends: Exceptional Men in Black History

by Vashti Harrison with Kwesi Johnson

An important book for readers of all ages, this beautifully illustrated and engagingly written volume brings to life true stories of black men in history. Among these biographies, readers will find aviators and artists, politicians and pop stars, athletes and activists. The exceptional men featured include writer James Baldwin, artist Aaron Douglas, filmmaker Oscar Devereaux Micheaux, lawman Bass Reeves, civil rights leader John Lewis, dancer Alvin Ailey, and musician Prince. This collection spans centuries and continents, but each one has blazed a trail for generations to come.

Streetcar to Justice: How Elizabeth Jennings Won the Right to Ride in New York

by Amy Hill Hearth

Enjoy the incredible story of a little-known figure in U.S. history in this fascinating biography for older readers. In 1854, a young Black woman named Elizabeth Jennings won a major victory against a New York City streetcar company, a first step in the process of desegregating public transportation in Manhattan. This illuminating and important piece of the history of the fight for equal rights, illustrated with photographs and archival material from the period, took place one hundred years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read

by Rita Lorraine Hubbard, illustrated by Oge Mora

This beautiful picture book biography shares the inspiring and incredible true story of the nation's oldest student, Mary Walker, who learned to read at the age of 116.

Midnight Without a Moon

by Linda Williams Jackson

It's Mississippi in the summer of 1955, and one town over, an African American boy, Emmett Till, is killed for allegedly whistling at a white woman. When Till's murderers are unjustly acquitted, Rose realizes that the South needs a change . . . and that she should be part of the movement in this gripping middle-grade novel.

Onward : a photobiography of African-American polar explorer Matthew Henson

by Dolores Johnson

A son of poor farmers, Henson shared Robert Edwin Peary's desire to be the first person to reach the North Pole. In 1909, the men set out one one of their many voyages together, and when the men finally achieved their goal, few people believed them. Worse still, because Henson was Black, he was seen as nothing more than Peary's manservant. This exceptional biography tells the full story of Henson's extraordinary life, from his humble and self-taught beginnings, to his proper recognition as Peary's equal.

Follow Me Down to Nicodemus Town

by A. LaFaye, illustrated by Nicole Tadgell

Inspired by the true story of Nicodemus, Kansas, a town founded in the late 1870s by Exodusters-former slaves leaving the Jim Crow South in search of a new beginning, this fictional picture book follows Dede and her parents as they set out to stake and secure a claim, finally allowing them to have a home to call their own.

We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March

by Cynthia Levinson

This is the inspiring true and little-known story of one of the greatest moments in civil rights history seen through the eyes of four young people at the center of the action: the 4,000 black elementary, middle, and high school students who voluntarily went to jail between May 2 and May 11, 1963. The children succeeded where adults had failed in desegregating one of the most racially violent cities in America.

The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth & Harlem’s Greatest Bookstore

by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie

Lewis's dad said he had an itch he needed to scratch-a book itch. How to scratch it? He started the National Memorial African Bookstore. It became a center of black culture and a home to activists like Malcolm X, as depicted in this fictional picture book for older readers.

Ruth and the Green Book

by Calvin Alexander Ramsey, illustrated by Floyd Cooper

Ruth's story in this picture book  is fiction, but The Green Book and its role in helping a generation of African American travelers in the segregated American South is historical fact. Can Ruth's family finally make a safe journey from Chicago to Alabama?

My Uncle Martin’s Words for America

by Angela Farris Watkins, illustrated by Eric Velasquez

In this inspirational picture book biography about Martin Luther King Jr.-told from the perspective of his niece Angela Farris Watkins, young readers learn how King used his message of love and peace to effectively fight for African Americans' civil rights.

Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer

by Carole Boston Weatherford

Despite fierce prejudice and abuse, even being beaten to within an inch of her life, Fannie Lou Hamer was a champion of civil rights from the 1950s until her death in 1977. This Caldecott Honor Book celebrates Fannie Lou Hamer's life and legacy with a message of hope, determination, and strength.

One Crazy Summer

by Rita Williams-Garcia

This Newbery Honor novel tells the story of three sisters who travel to Oakland, California, in 1968 to meet the mother who abandoned them. While the girls hope to go to Disneyland, their mother sends them to a day camp run by the Black Panthers. Unexpectedly, Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern learn much about their family, their country, and themselves during one truly crazy summer.

What Were the Negro Leagues?

by Varian Johnson, illustrated by Stephen Marchesi

This entry in the popular nonfiction series for early elementary readers details the baseball league that was made up of African American players and run by African American owners, which ushered in the biggest change in the history of baseball.

Becoming Muhammad Ali

by James Patterson and Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile

This exciting biographical novel tells the story of Cassius Clay, the determined boy who would one day become Muhammad Ali, one of the greatest boxers of all time.

Loretta Little Looks Back

by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney

Loretta, Roly, and Aggie B., members of the Little family, each present the vivid story of their young lives, spanning three generations. Their separate stories--beginning in a cotton field in 1927 and ending at the presidential election of 1968--come together to create one unforgettable journey. Through an evocative mix of fictional first-person narratives, spoken-word poems, folk myths, gospel rhythms and blues influences, this picture book for older readers paints a gripping, multidimensional portrait of America's struggle for civil rights as seen through the eyes of the children who lived it.