Black History

In Lisa Moore Ramee’s A Good Kind of Trouble (Balzer + Bray, 2020), 12-year-old Shayla goes out of her way to follow the rules and stay out of trouble. Inspired by her activist older sister Hana, however, she begins wearing a black armband in honor of the Black Lives Matter movement – which turns out to be against school rules. Eventually, however, Shay comes to believe that standing up for your beliefs may make for trouble – but it’s worth it. For ages 9-12.

By Jewell Parker Rhodes, in Ghost Boys (Little, Brown, 2019), 12-year-old Jerome is a ghost, shot and killed by a police officer who thought his toy gun was a real weapon. In his journey toward understanding the history of racism that led to his death, Jerome meets the ghost of Emmett Till, as well as Sarah, the daughter of the police officer, who can see the ghost boys, and must come to terms with her father’s action. The narration alters between “Dead” and “Alive.” A powerful and heartbreaking story for ages 10 and up.

In Angie Thomas’s award-winning The Hate U Give (Balzer + Bray, 2017), 16-year-old Starr juggles two lives – one in her poor neighborhood, the other in her upscale suburban prep school – until her two worlds collide after her best friend Khalil is killed by a police officer. As tensions escalate, pressure builds on Starr, since she’s the only one who knows what really happened. For ages 14 and up.

In Kekla Magoon’s How It Went Down (Square Fish, 2015), after 16-year-old Tariq Johnson is killed by a white shooter, an entire community struggles to deal with the tragedy – especially after the police release the shooter. Told in several voices. For ages 14 and up.

Roda Ahmed’s Mae Among the Stars (HarperCollins, 2018) is a charming picture-book biography of Mae Jemison, the first African American woman to travel in space.  (If you dream and work hard, anything is possible.) For ages 4-8.

Aliki’s A Weed is a Flower (Aladdin, 1998) is a picture-book biography of brilliant agricultural scientist George Washington Carver. For ages 4-8.

See NPR’s George Washington Carver on the creative inventor sometimes called “the black Leonardo.”

Jen Bryant’s A Splash of Red (Knopf, 2013), gorgeously illustrated by Melissa Sweet, is the story of African American artist Horace Pippin. For ages 5-8.

Louise Borden’s Fly High (Aladdin, 2004) is the story of Bessie Coleman, the first African-American to earn a pilot’s license. For ages 5-9.

Helaine Becker’s award-winning Counting on Katherine (Henry Holt, 2018) is the story of the African American mathematician who worked at NASA during the space race and was instrumental in saving Apollo 13. For ages 5-9.

Andrea Davis Pinkney’s Dear Benjamin Banneker (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1998) is the story of the largely self-taught scientist and inventor, who also kept up a challenging correspondence about slavery with Thomas Jefferson. For ages 6-9.

Patricia Hruby Powell’s Josephine (Chronicle Books, 2014) is a creative picture-book biography of the extraordinary dancer and activist Josephine Baker. Written in free verse. For ages 7-10.

Margot Lee Shetterly’s Hidden Figures, the story of the four African American female mathematicians – nicknamed the “human computers” – behind NASA’s space program, is available in adult, Young Reader, and picture-book versions.

The movie version of Hidden Figures (2016) is rated PG.

In Sharon Robinson’s The Hero Two Doors Down (Scholastic, 2017), a black family is moving into Stephen’s all-Jewish Brooklyn neighborhood, and he’s thrilled to find that his new neighbor is his hero, Jackie Robinson. Based on a true story. For ages 9-12.

By Stephanie Stein Crease, Duke Ellington: His Life in Jazz (Chicago Review Press, 2009) covers Ellington’s life and career, as well as the evolution of jazz and the Harlem Renaissance. Included are a timeline, period photos, resource lists, and 21 varied activities, among them writing song lyrics and learning to dance the Lindy Hop. For ages 9-14.

By Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the autobiographical Becoming Kareen: Growing Up On and Off the Court (Little, Brown, 2018) is the story of how Lew Alcindor, a kid from New York City, dealt with racism, prejudice, and struggles to fit in, eventually becoming a famous basketball star and dedicated social activist. For ages 10-13.

Arlisha Norwood’s Black Heroes (Rockridge Press, 2020) is a collection of short biographies of 51 inspiring people from ancient Africa to the present-day United States, from Hatshepsut and Mansa Musa to Jackie Robinson, Mae Jemison, and Barack Obama. A great resource for ages 8-12.

For the same age group, also see Jamia Wilson’s Young, Gifted, and Black (Wide Eyed Editions, 2018), a collective biography of 52 figures from black history and culture, among them Harriet Tubman, W.E.B. Dubois, Langston Hughes, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Maya Angelou.