African American History Booklist

Book recommendations pertaining to African American History.

Book Title	Author	Reading Age	Time Period	Time Frame	Geographic Area	Country	Topic	Genre	Format
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You	Reynolds, Jason Kendi, Ibram X.	UMG YA	Renaissance	1415-2020	North America	United States	Racism Civil Rights	NF OV	NF
We Are Not Yet Equal: Understanding our Racial Divide	Anderson, Carol Bolden, Tonya	UMG YA	Renaissance	1415-2020	North America	United States	Racism	NF OV	NF
The 1619 Project: Born on the Water	Hannah-Jones, Nikole Watson, Renee	LE MG	Enlightenment	1619-2021	North America Africa	United States	Geneology Civil Rights Atlantic Slave Trade	NF OV	PB
In the Shadow of Liberty	Davis, Kenneth C.	MG UMG	Age of Revolutions	1705-1850	North America	United States	Slavery	NF Bio	CB
Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts	Hall, Rebecca	YA A	Age of Revolutions	1708-2002	Africa North America	United States	Racism Atlantic Slave Trade Slave Revolts	NF	GN
Copper Sun	Draper, Sharon M.	YA	Age of Revolutions	1738	North America	United States	Colonial America Atlantic Slave Trade	F	N
A Voice of Her Own: The Story of Phillis Wheatley, Slave Poet	Lasky, Kathryn	MG	Age of Revolutions	1753-1784	North America	United States	Phillis Wheatley Slavery	NF Bio	ER
My Name is Phillis Wheatley	Cooper, Afua	MG	Age of Revolutions	1753-1784	North America	United States	Phillis Wheatley Slavery Poets and Writers	NF Bio	CB
Never Caught, The Story of Ona Judge	Armstrong Dunbar, Erica	UMG	Age of Revolutions	1773-1802	North America	United States	Colonial America Slavery Founding Fathers	NF Bio	CB
Black Heroes of the American Revolution	Davis, Burke	UMG MG	Age of Revolutions	1775-1783	North America	United States	American Revolution	NF	CB
Homegoing	Gyasi, Yaa	YA A	Age of Revolutions	1775-2016	Africa North America	United States	Racism African American History Atlantic Slave Trade Great Migration Civil Rights	F OV	N
Answering the Cry for Freedom	Woelfle, Gretchen	MG UMG	Age of Revolutions	1775-1783	North America	United States	American Revolution	NF	CB
Speak Out in Thunder Tones	Sterling, Dorothy	YA A	Industrial Age	1787-1865	North America	United States	Slavery Abolition	NF Bio	B
Jefferson's Sons: A Founding Father’s Secret Children	Brubaker Bradley, Kimberly	UMG YA	Age of Revolutions	1806-1826	North America	United States	Thomas Jefferson Slavery	F	CB
Wolf by the Ears	Rinaldi, Ann	UMG YA	Age of Revolutions	1806-1826	North America	United States	Thomas Jefferson Slavery	F	CB
Freewater	Luqman-Dawson, Amina	MG	Industrial Age	1810	North America	United States	Antebellum South Slavery Maroon Community Escaped Slaves	F	CB
Kindred	Butler, Octavia E.	YA A	Industrial Age	1815-1976	North America	United States	Antebellum South Slavery Racism Time Travel	HF	N
This Noble Woman: Myrtilla Miner and Her Fight to Establish a School for African American Girls in the Slaveholding South	Greenburg, Michael M.	YA A	Industrial Age	1815-1864	North America	United States	Education Myrtilla Miner	NF Bio	B
The Life of Frederick Douglass: A Graphic Narrative of a Slave's Journey from Bondage to Freedom	Walker, David F.	YA A	Industrial Age	1817-1895	North America	United States	Slavery Frederick Douglass	NF Bio	GN
Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass: The Story Behind an American Friendship	Freedman, Russell	UMG YA	Industrial Age	1817-1879	North America	United States	Abraham Lincoln Frederick Douglass	NF Bio	B
Juba!: A Novel	Myers, Walter Dean	UMG	Industrial Age	1842-1854	North America	United States	Dance William Henry Lane	F Bio	CB
Seven for a Secret	Faye, Lyndsay	YA A	Industrial Age	1846	North America	United States	New York City Slavery NYPD	F	B
The Underground Abductor	Hale, Nathan	MG UMG	Industrial Age	1849-1860	North America	United States	Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Escaped Slaves	NF Bio	GN
Eliza's Freedom Road: An Underground Railroad Diary	Nolen, Jerdine	MG	Industrial Age	1854	North America	United States	Underground Railroad Escaped Slaves	F	CB
Two Miserable Presidents: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About the Civil War	Sheinkin, Steve	YA UMG	Industrial Age	1856-1865	North America	United States	Abraham Lincoln American Civil War	NF	B
Day of Tears	Lester, Julius	UMG YA	Industrial Age	1859	North America	United States	Phillis Wheatley Slavery Atlantic Slave Trade	F	ER
Junie	Eckstine, Erin Crosby	YA A	Industrial Age	1860	North America	United States	Antebellum South Slavery Escaped Slaves	F	N
Elijah of Buxton	Curtis, Christopher Paul	UMG	Industrial Age	1860	North America	United States Canada	Slavery Underground Railroad	F	CB
Henry's Freedom Box	Levine, Ellen	LE	Industrial Age	1860-1865	North America	United States	American Civil War Underground Railroad	NF Bio	PB
James	Everett, Percival	A	Industrial Age	1861	North America	United States	Antebellum South Slavery Escaped Slaves	F	N
Crossing Ebenezer Creek	Bolden, Tonya	YA A	Industrial Age	1864	North America	United States	American Civil War Sherman's March	F OV	CB
Making Our Way Home: The Great Migration and the Black American Dream	Imani, Blair	YA A	Industrial Age	1865-1979	North America	United States	Great Migration	NF	CB
All Different Now: Junteenth, the First Day of Freedom	Johnson, Angela	LE	Industrial Age	1865	North America	United States	American Civil War Emancipation	NF OV	PB
Abina and the Important Men: A Graphic History	Getz, Trevor R.	YA A	Industrial Age	1876	Gold Coast	Ghana	Slavery	NF Bio	GN
One Big Open Sky	Cline-Ransome, Lesa	UMG YA	Industrial Age	1879	North America	United States	Westward Expansion	F P	CB
Inventing Victoria	Bolden, Tonya	YA A	Industrial Age	1880	North America	United States	Reconstruction	F OV	CB
She Takes a Stand: 16 Fearless Activists Who Have Changed the World	Ross, Michael Elsohn	YA A	Modern Age	1900-2015	North America	United States France	Activism	NF Bio	B
The Many Faces of Josephine Baker: Dancer, Singer, Activist, Spy	Caravantes, Peggy	YA A	Modern Age	1906-1975	North America	United States France	Josephine Baker	NF Bio	B
The Color Purple	Walker, Alice	YA A	Modern Age	1909-1949	North America	United States	African American History Jazz Age LGBTQ+	F	N
The Davenports	Marquis, Krystal	YA A	Modern Age	1910	North America	United States	African American History Great Migration Civil Rights	F	N
The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks: Young Readers' Edition	Theoharris, Jeanne	UMG YA	Modern Age	1913-1997	North America	United States	Civil Rights Segregation Resistance	NF Bio	CB
The Harlem Hellfighters	Myers, Walter Dean	UMG YA	Modern Age	1914-1919	North America Europe	Various	WWI	NF	B
Lone Women	LaValle, Victor	A	Modern Age	1915	North America	United States	Horror Westward Expansion	HF	N
The Harlem Renaissance: An Interactive History Adventure	Lassieur, Allison	MG	Modern Age	1918-1935	North America	United States	Harlem Renaissance	NF	CB
Harlem Rhapsody	Murray, Victoria Christopher	A	Modern Age	1919-1925	North America	United States	Harlem Renaissance	F	N
Saving Savannah	Bolden, Tonya	YA A	Modern Age	1919	North America	United States	African American History	F	N
A Book, Too, Can Be a Star	Jones Voiklis, Charlotte	LE MG	Modern Age	1920-1962	North America	United States	Madeleine L'Engle Poets and Writers	NF Bio	PB
The Burning (Young Readers Edition)	Beard, Hilary Madigan, Tim	UMG YA	Modern Age	1921	North America	United States	Tulsa Race Massacre Civil Rights	NF	B
Marooned in the Arctic: The True Story of Ada Blackjack, the "Female Robinson Crusoe"	Caravantes, Peggy	YA A	Modern Age	1921-1983	North America	United States	Ada Blackjack Explorers	NF Bio	B
Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre	Boston Weatherford, Carole	MG	Modern Age	1921	North America	United States	Tulsa Race Massacre Civil Rights	NF	PB
Angel of Greenwood	Pink, Randi	YA A	Modern Age	1921	North America	United States	Tulsa Race Massacre Civil Rights	F	N
The Filling Station	Miller, Vanessa	A	Modern Age	1921-1925	North America	United States	Tulsa Race Massacre Civil Rights	F	N
Ring Shout	Clark, P. Djeli	A	Modern Age	1922	North America	United States	Racism Jim Crow	HF	B
Ophie's Ghosts	Ireland, Justina	MG UMG	Modern Age	1922	North America	United States	Jim Crow Ghosts Great Migration	F	CB
Who Was Martin Luther King, Jr.?	Levinson, Cynthia	MG	Modern Age	1929-1968	North America	United States	Civil Rights Martin Luther King, Jr.	NF	CB
Martin's Big Words	Rappaport, Doreen	LE MG	Modern Age	1929-1968	North America	United States	Civil Rights Martin Luther King, Jr.	NF	PB
Stella by Starlight	Draper, Sharon M.	UMG	Modern Age	1932	North America	United States	Great Depression Segregation	F	CB
Betty Before X	Shabazz, Ilyasah	UMG	Modern Age	1934-1948	North America	United States	Civil Rights	NF Bio	CB
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice	Hoose, Phillip	UMG YA	Modern Age	1939-2005	North America	United States	Civil Rights Segregation Resistance	NF Bio	CB
Double Victory: How African American Women Broke Race and Gender Barriers to Help Win World War II	Mullenbach, Cheryl	YA A	Modern Age	1939-1945	North America	United States	WWII	NF Bio	B
Code Name Pauline: Memoirs of a World War II Special Agent	Cornioley, Pearl Witherington	YA A	Modern Age	1939-1945	Europe	France Great Britain	WWII	NF Bio	B
The Port Chicago 50	Sheinkin, Steve	YA	Modern Age	1944	North America	United States	WWII Civil Rights	NF	N
Mare's War	Davis, Tanita S.	YA	Modern Age	1944	North America	United States	WWII Women's Army Corps	NF	N
For Lamb	Cline-Ransome, Lesa	YA A	Modern Age	1944	North America	United States	Segregation lynching Great Migration Jim Crow	F	N
Finding Langston	Cline-Ransome, Lesa	MG	Modern Age	1946	North America	United States	Great Migration	F	CB
The Reformatory	Due, Tananarive	YA A	Modern Age	1950	North America	United States	Segregation Civil Rights Great Migration Jim Crow	HF	N
And We Rise	Martin, Erica	YA A	Modern Age	1954-1968	North America	United States	Civil Rights	NF P	B
Freedom's Children	Levine, Ellen S.	UMG YA	Modern Age	1954-1968	North America	United States	Civil Rights Segregation Resistance	NF Bio	CB
Midnight Without a Moon	Williams Jackson, Linda	UMG	Modern Age	1955	North America	United States	Civil Rights	F	CB
Through My Eyes	Bridges, Ruby	MG UMG	Modern Age	1960-1963	North America	United States	Civil Rights Segregation Ruby Bridges	NF Bio	PB
We've Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children's March	Levinson, Cynthia	MG UMG	Modern Age	1963	North America	United States	Civil Rights	NF	CB
Root Magic	Royce, Eden	MG UMG	Modern Age	1963	North America	United States	Civil Rights	F M	CB
I Have a Dream	Nelson, Kadir	LE MG	Modern Age	1963	North America	United States	Civil Rights Martin Luther King, Jr.	NF	PB
The Lucky Ones	Williams Jackson, Linda	MG UMG	Modern Age	1967	North America	United States	Civil Rights poverty	F	CB
The Rock and the River	Magoon, Kekla	UMG YA	Modern Age	1968	North America	United States	Civil Rights Black Panthers	F OV	N
One Crazy Summer	Williams-Garcia, Rita	MG UMG	Modern Age	1968	North America	United States	Civil Rights	F	CB
Take My Hand	Perkins-Valdez, Dolen	A	Modern Age	1973-2016	North America	United States	Civil Rights Reproductive Rights	F	N
Troublemaker	Cho, John	UMG	Modern Age	1992	North America	United States	LA Riots prejudice and racism	F	CB
Riot Baby	Onyebuchi, Tochi	A	Modern Age	1992	North America	United States	LA Riots	HF	N
Concrete Rose	Thomas, Angie	YA A	Modern Age	1998-1999	North America	United States	Modern Age	F	N
The Hate U Give	Thomas, Angie	YA A	Modern Age	2017	North America	United States	Black Lives Matter	F	N

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List of abbreviations:

Reading Age	Genre	Format
LE = lower elementary MG = middle grade (8 – 12) UMG = upper-middle grade (11 – 14) YA = young adult (14+) A = adult	NF - non-fiction F = fiction Bio = Biography HF = historical fantasy OV - own voices M = mythology S = spine book	PB = picture book GN = graphic novel ER = early reader CB = chapter book N = novel