A Wreath for Emmett Till
Marilyn Nelson
Houghton Mifflin 2005
ISBN-10: 0-618-39752-3
Coretta Scott King Award
Interest Level: Young Adult
This illustrated poetry collection eulogizes Emmett Till, an African American man who was killed in a brutal, racially motivated lynching in 1955.
The NAACP: An Organization Working to End Discrimination
Andrew Santella
Child's World Publisher, 2003
ISBN: 1567665403
Interest Level: 3rd - 6th Grade
Introduction to the origins, motivations, and accomplishments behind the NAACP.
Mary McLeod Bethune: Voice of Black Hope
Milton Meltzer
Puffin Publishers, 1988
ISBN: 9780140322194
Interest Level: 3rd - 6th Grade
One of 17 children born to former slaves, Bethune made the most of her life, creating opportunities for herself and other black people. This is a factual account of her achievements: founder of what later became Bethune-Cookman College; advocate for blacks during the New Deal; organizer, spokeswoman and visionary leader.
Experiencing Racism: Exploring Racism through the eyes of college students
Richard Seltzler
Lexington Books, 2009
ISBN: 0739134329
Interest Level: Young Adult - Adult
This collection is a depiction of race in America that goes beyond black and white to show how the changing racial contours of America are impacting the ways we view and experience racism.
Strength to Love
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Fortress Press, 1963
ISBN: 0800697405
Interest Level: Adult
A collection of sermons preached by civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. during or after the bus protest in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955, in which he brings the Christian message to bear on the social problems of war, and economic and racial injustice.
The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Edited by Clayborne Carson
Grand Central Publishing, 2001
ISBN: 0446676500
Reading Level: Adult
An autobiography of the Baptist minister Martin Luther King, Jr., compiled and edited from articles, essays, speeches, sermons, letters, and other sources, examining his private and public life and describing his involvement in many important events in the civil rights movement.
Freedom's Children
Ellen Levine
Puffin Publishers, 2000
ISBN: 0698118707
Interest Level: Young Adult
Presents a collection of true stories in which African-Americans who were involved in the Civil Rights movement during the 1950s and 1960s discuss their struggles to end segregation in the South.
A Dream of Freedom
Diane McWhorter
Scholastic, 2004
ISBN: 9780439576789
Interest Level: 5th - 8th grade
Examines the rise of the Civil Rights movement in America, the men and women whose lives made an impact in the pursuit of social and political equality, and landmark Supreme Court cases that changed the fabric of American society in the mid-to-late twentieth century.
Lunch at the 5 & 10
Miles Wolff
I. R. Dee Publisher, 1990
ISBN: 9780929587318
Interest Level: Young Adult
A detailed account of the sit-in at a Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1960, which ignited the civil rights movement in the United States.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It
Jo Ann Robinson
University of Tennesse Press, 1987
ISBN: 0870495275
Interest Level: Adult
An autobiographical account of the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-56, focusing on the role of the Women's Political Council in the successful protest by African-Americans against segregation in the city's public transportation system.
For Freedom's Sake: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer
Chana Kai Lee
Univerisity of Illinois Press, 2000
ISBN: 0252069366
Interest Level: Adult
A biography of Civil Rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, discussing the childhood experiences and observances that led her to become involved in the struggle for political and economic equality, and documenting her lifelong crusade to win equal rights for African-American.
Death of Innocence
Mamie Till-Mobley
One World Publishing, 2004
ISBN: 0812970470
Interest Level: Adult
Mamie Till-Mobley discusses the effect on her life of the murder of her son, Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old African-American boy who was killed in Mississippi in 1955 for allegedly whistling at a white woman. She tells how she was able to go on after his death to become a teacher and an activist in the civil rights struggle.
Getting Away with Murder
Chris Crowe
Dial Publishing, 2003
ISBN: 9780803728042
Interest Level: Young Adult
Presents a true account of the murder of fourteen-year-old, Emmett Till, in Mississippi, in 1955.
They Called Themselves the KKK: The Birth of the American Terrorist Group
Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Houghton Mifflin, 2010
ISBN: 061844033X
Interest Level: Young Adult
Documents the history and origin of the Ku Klux Klan from its beginning in Pulaski, Tennessee, and provides personal accounts, congressional documents, diaries, and more.
Remember: The Journey of School Integration
Toni Morrison
Houghton Mifflin, 2004
ISBN: 9780618397402
Interest Level: 3rd - 6th Grade
Presents a selection of archival photographs that document events surrounding the integration of U.S. schools following the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, and includes captions in which Toni Morrison imagines what the people in the pictures must have been thinking and feeling.
Through My Eyes
Ruby Bridges
Scholastic Press, 1999
ISBN: 0590189239
Interest Level: 3rd - 6th grade
Ruby Bridges recounts the story of her involvement, as a six-year-old, in the integration of her school in New Orleans in 1960.
Medgar Evers
Heidi Moore
Heineman Library, 2006
ISBN: 1403472726
Interest Level: 3rd - 6th Grade
Tells the life story of African-American civil rights leader Medgar Evers, describing his childhood in Mississippi, his work with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for equality and justice in the South, and his assassination.
Remember Little Rock: The Time, the People, the Stories
Paul Robert Walker
National Geographic Children's Books, 2009
ISBN: 9781426304026
Interest Level: 5th - 8th grade
Combines eye witness accounts with archival photographs to document the events surrounding the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary
Walter Dean Myers
Scholastic
1994
ISBN: 9780590481090
Interest Level: Young Adult
Chronicles the life of controversial militant leader Malcolm X.
Malcolm X: A Fire Burning Brightly
Walter Dean Myers
Amistad Publishers
2003
ISBN: 9780060562014
Interest Level: Young Adult
Text and pictures describe the life and ideas of the Black Muslim leader Malcolm X.
Martins' Big Words
Doreen Rappapart
Hyperion Book
2007
ISBN: 1423106350
Interest Level: 1st - 4th
Tells the story of Dr. King's life and includes quotes from his speeches and sermons.