Best Kids" Books about African American Freedom Fighters
The following children's books not only provide an introduction to the lives of African-American freedom fighters your children should know about, but among them they also provide a historical overview of the fight for civil rights waged by African Americans in the last several centuries up to the present, including the eras of slavery and the civil rights movement. All would be enhanced by family or classroom discussion about them. Please keep scrolling down to find information about all 10 books.
This fascinating book combines dramatic portraits by Ansel Pitcairn with profiles of 20 African-American men and women, written by Tonya Bolden. There are a number of similar books that concentrate on the nineteenth century. Portraits of African-American Heroes is unusual because, while it includes profiles of remarkable African-American men and women of the nineteenth century, it also includes notables from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. I recommend the book for mature seven years old through high school age. The publisher is Puffin and the ISBN is 9780142404737. Read my review of Portraits of African-American Heroes.
Andrea Davis Pinkney's award-winning book is written for 9-12 year olds. It presents the dramatic stories of 10 women, including Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Mary McLeod Bethune, Ella Josephine Baker, Rosa Parks, and Shirley Chisholm. The first page of each biography faces a stunning portrait, with striking allegorical images, by artist Stephen Alcorn. (Harcourt, 2000. ISBN: 015201005X) Read my review of Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters.
This large picture book biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. was written by Doreen Rappaport, with dramatic and moving cut paper collage and watercolor artwork by Bryan Collier. Quotations by the civil rights leader are highlighted throughout the book, which also includes helpful author's and illustrator's notes, a timeline, and other resources. (Jump at the Sun, Hyperion Books, 2001. ISBN: 9780786807147?) Read my review of Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr..
The narrator of Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins is a young African American girl named Connie. At the beginning of 1960 in Greensboro, North Carolina, as in other parts of the country, there are still many places that serve "whites only." The book, by Carole Boston Weatherford, told from the perspective of a young African American girl, tells the story of life in Greensboro prior to the February 1, 1960 sit-in and the protests and changes that came as a result of the months-long sit-ins. (Puffin Books, Penguin Group, 2005. ISBN: 9780142408940) Read my review of Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins.
Thanks to his research and interviews with Claudette Colvin, Phillip Hoose's Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice provides a comprehensive and fascinating look at the woman who, while still a teenager, refused to give up her seat on a city bus a full year before Rosa Parks drew national attention for the same act. (Square Fish, an imprint of Macmillan, 2010. ISBN: 9780312661052) Read librarian Jennifer Kendall's book review of Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice.More »
Artwork by Kadir Nelson accompanies some of the text of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s eloquent 1963 "I have a dream" speech. The end of the picture book includes the entire text of the speech and a CD of Dr. King's speech. The publisher is Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House. 2012. The ISBN for the book, which was published in 2012, is 9780375858871. Read my review of I Have a Dream.
1. Portraits of African-American Heroes
This fascinating book combines dramatic portraits by Ansel Pitcairn with profiles of 20 African-American men and women, written by Tonya Bolden. There are a number of similar books that concentrate on the nineteenth century. Portraits of African-American Heroes is unusual because, while it includes profiles of remarkable African-American men and women of the nineteenth century, it also includes notables from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. I recommend the book for mature seven years old through high school age. The publisher is Puffin and the ISBN is 9780142404737. Read my review of Portraits of African-American Heroes.
2. Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters
Andrea Davis Pinkney's award-winning book is written for 9-12 year olds. It presents the dramatic stories of 10 women, including Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Mary McLeod Bethune, Ella Josephine Baker, Rosa Parks, and Shirley Chisholm. The first page of each biography faces a stunning portrait, with striking allegorical images, by artist Stephen Alcorn. (Harcourt, 2000. ISBN: 015201005X) Read my review of Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters.
3. Martin's Big Words
This large picture book biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. was written by Doreen Rappaport, with dramatic and moving cut paper collage and watercolor artwork by Bryan Collier. Quotations by the civil rights leader are highlighted throughout the book, which also includes helpful author's and illustrator's notes, a timeline, and other resources. (Jump at the Sun, Hyperion Books, 2001. ISBN: 9780786807147?) Read my review of Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr..
4. Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins
The narrator of Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins is a young African American girl named Connie. At the beginning of 1960 in Greensboro, North Carolina, as in other parts of the country, there are still many places that serve "whites only." The book, by Carole Boston Weatherford, told from the perspective of a young African American girl, tells the story of life in Greensboro prior to the February 1, 1960 sit-in and the protests and changes that came as a result of the months-long sit-ins. (Puffin Books, Penguin Group, 2005. ISBN: 9780142408940) Read my review of Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins.
5. Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
Thanks to his research and interviews with Claudette Colvin, Phillip Hoose's Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice provides a comprehensive and fascinating look at the woman who, while still a teenager, refused to give up her seat on a city bus a full year before Rosa Parks drew national attention for the same act. (Square Fish, an imprint of Macmillan, 2010. ISBN: 9780312661052) Read librarian Jennifer Kendall's book review of Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice.More »
6. I Have a Dream
Artwork by Kadir Nelson accompanies some of the text of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s eloquent 1963 "I have a dream" speech. The end of the picture book includes the entire text of the speech and a CD of Dr. King's speech. The publisher is Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House. 2012. The ISBN for the book, which was published in 2012, is 9780375858871. Read my review of I Have a Dream.