African American Booklist
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A. Philip Randolph: Union Leader and Civil Rights
Crusader (African-American Biographies) by Catherine
Reef. (Grades 5-8)
The Adventures of Midnight Son by Denise Lewis
Patrick. (Grades 4-8)
All Night, All Day: A Child's First Book of African
American Spirituals by Ashley Bryan (All grades)
Almost to Freedom by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson (Grades
1-4)
Arthur Ashe by Caroline Evensen Lazo (Grades 5-8)
Aunt Clara Brown, Official Pioneer by Linda Lowery
(Grades 2-4)
One More Valley, One More Hill: The Story of Aunt
Clara Brown by Linda Lowery (Grades 6 and up)
Aunt Flossie's Hats (and Crab Cakes Later) by James
Ransome (Grades K-3)
Bigmama's by Donald Crews (Grades PreK-2)
The Black Cowboys by Gina De Angelis (Grades 5-8)
The Black Snowman by Phil Mendez (Grades 3-5)
Black Wheels by Michael Halperin (Grades 8 and up)
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (Grades 11 and up)
Booker T. Washington: A Modern Moses by Lois P.
Nicholson (Grades 4-7)
Born in Sin by Evelyn Coleman (Grades 7 and up)
Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea by Joyce Carol
Thomas (All grades)
Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (Grades 4-7)
Carter G. Woodson: The Man Who Put "Black" in
American History by James Haskins (Grades 4-6)
Carver: A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson (Grades 6
and up)
Cassie's Word Quilt Faith Ringgold (Grades PreK-K)
From National Education Association
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Champion: The Story of Muhammad Ali by James
Haskins (Grades 3-6)
The Color Purple by Alice Walker (Grades 10 and up)
Conjure Times: Black Magicians in America by James
Haskins and Kathleen Benson (Grades 6 and up)
Don't Say Ain't by Irene Smalls (Grades 2-4)
Ellington Was Not a Street by Ntozake Shange (All
grades)
Escape from Slavery: The True Story of My Ten Years in
Captivity and My Journey to Freedom in America by
Francis Bok (Grades 8 and up)
Especially Heroes by Virginia L. Kroll (Grades 3-5)
The Fire Next Time by James A. Baldwin (Grades 10 and
up)
Fishing Day by Andrea Davis Pinkney (Grades K-3).
Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule by Harriett Gillem
Robinet (Grades 4-7)
Frederick Douglass: Leader against Slavery Patricia and
Fredrick McKissack (Grades 1-4)
Freedom River by Doreen Rappaport (Grades 2-5)
Freedom Roads: Searching for the Underground
Railroad Joyce Hansen and Gary McGowan (Grades 5-9)
Goin' Someplace Special by Pat McKissack (Grades 2-5)
Hold Fast to Dreams by Andrea Davis Pinkney (Grades 5
and up)
Hush by Jacqueline Woodson (Grades 7 and up)
I Dream of Trains by Angela Johnson (Grades PreK-2)
I Love My Hair by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley (Grades
PreK-2)
Ida B. Wells: Mother of the Civil Rights Movement by
Dennis Brindell Fradin and Judith Bloom Fradin (Grades 5
and up)
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In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall: African Americans
Celebrating Fathers illustrated by Javaka Steptoe (Grades
3 and up)
In My Momma's Kitchen by Jerdine Nolan (Grades K-3)
In the Land of Words: New and Selected Poems by
Eloise Greenfield (Grades 2-6)
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (Grades 11 and up)
Juneteenth: A Celebration of Freedom by Charles A.
Taylor (Grades 4-7)
Kings and Queens of West Africa by Sylviane Anna
Diouf (Grades 4-7)
The Land by Mildred D. Taylor (Grades 6 and up)
A Lesson for Martin Luther King Jr. by Denise Lewis
Patrick (Grades K-2)
Like Sisters on the Homefront Rita Williams-Garcia
(Grades 8 and up)
Lookin' for Bird in the Big City by Robert Burleigh
(Grades 1-3)
Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in
America by Nathan McCall (Grades 10 and up)
Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary by Walter Dean
Myers (Grades 5 and up)
Mansa Musa by Khephra Burns (Grades 3-6)
Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr. by Doreen Rappaport (Grades PreK-3)
Masai and I by Virginia Kroll (Grades 2-4)
Me and Uncle Romie: A Story Inspired by the Life and
Art of Romare Bearden by Claire Hartfield. (Grades 1-4)
The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson
(Grades 11 and up)
Money Hungry by Sharon G. Flake (Grades 7-9)
More than Anything Else by Marie Bradby (Grades K-3)
Native Son by Richard Wright (Grades 11 and up)
A Negro Explorer at the North Pole by Matthew A.
Henson (Grades 8 and up)
Night Golf by William Miller (Grades 2-4)
From National Education Association
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Oh Lord, I Wish I Was a Buzzard by Polly Greenberg
(Grades PreK-K)
Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth by
Anne Rockwell (Grades 2-5)
Papa's Mark by Gwendolyn Battle-Lavert (Grades 1-3)
Pass it on: African-American Poetry for Children edited
by Wade Hudson (Grades K-5)
The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales by
Virginia Hamilton (All grades)
Phenomenal Woman: Four Poems Celebrating Women
by Maya Angelou (Grades 8 and up)
Pictures for Miss Josie by Sandra Belton (Grades K-4)
Rap a Tap Tap: Here's Bojangles-Think of That by Leo
and Diane Dillon.(Grades PreK-2)
The Return of Gabriel by John Armistead (Grades 5-8)
Richard Wright and the Library Card by William Miller
(Grades 2-5)
Rock of Ages : A Tribute to the Black Church by Tonya
Bolden (Grades K-3)
Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley
(Grades 11 and up)
Separate but Not Equal: The Dream and the Struggle by
James Haskins (Grades 7 and up)
Seven Spools of Thread: A Kwanzaa Story by Angela
Shelf Medearis (Grades 2-5)
Something Beautiful by Sharon Dennis Wyeth (Grades 24)
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois (Grades 10
and up)
Sounder by William H. Armstrong (Grades 4-7)
Stealing Freedom by Elisa Carbone (Grades 6-10)
A Strong Right Arm: The Story of Mamie "Peanut"
Johnson by Michelle Y. Green (Grades 4-7)
Sukey and the Mermaid by Robert D. San Souci (Grades
K-3)
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Summer Snow: Reflections from a Black Daughter of the
South by Trudier Harris (Grades 11 and up)
Sunday Week by Dinah Johnson. Henry Holt, 1999
(Grades PreK-2)
Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah
Hopkinson (Grades K-3)
Taking Liberty: The Story of Oney Judge, George
Washington's Runaway Slave by Ann Rinaldi (Grades 6
and up)
Talkin' About Bessie by Nikki Grimes (Grades 3-6)
Talking With Tebé: Clementine Hunter, Memory Artist
by Mary E. Lyons (Grades 5 and up)
Tambourine Moon by Joy Jones (Grades K-2)
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
(Grades 11 and up)
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (Grades 10 and up)
Through My Eyes: The Autobiography of Ruby Bridges
by Ruby Bridges (Grades 4 and up)
To Be a Slave by Julius Lester (Grades 5 and up)
Tree of Hope by Amy Littlesugar (Grades K-3)
Twelve Travelers, Twenty Horses by Harriette Gillem
Robinet (Grades 5-7)
Uncle Jed's Barbershop by Margaree King Mitchell
(Grades PreK-3)
Virgie Goes to School With Us Boys by Elizabeth
Fitzgerald Howard (Grades 2-5)
Vision of Beauty: the Story of Sarah Breedlove Walker
by Kathryn Lasky (Grades 3-6)
Visiting Langston by Willie Perdomo (Grades 2-4)
The Watsons Go To Birmingham- 1963 by Christopher
Paul Curtis (Grades 4-7)
When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marian
Anderson by Pam Munoz Ryan (Grades K-3)
From National Education Association