Black History Resources for Children and Adults

January 25, 2024 in Carousel, News

Black History Resources

In celebration of Black History Month, we’ve put together an (abridged!) list of books, music, movies, and other resources about Black History that you can find at the library, or in our digital collections! In addition to the resources below, you can also check out the White Plains Library’s excellent African American Trailblazers collection, their #BlackJoy Picture Books collection, and of course, the Coretta Scott King Book Awards! (Have you read all the 2024 winners yet?)

At the Library

Children

Ablaze with Color: A Story of Painter Alma Thomas by Jeanne Walker Harvey
Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass: the Story Behind an American Friendship by Russell Freedman
Amanda Gorman by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara
Amanda Gorman: Inspiring Hope with Poetry by Artika Tyner
An American Story by Kwame Alexander
As Good As Anybody: Martin Luther King and Joshua Heschel’s Amazing March Towards Freedom by Richard Michelson
Being Clem by Lesa Cline-Ransome
Benjamin Banneker: Brilliant Surveyor, Mathematician, and Astronomer by Erika Wittekind
Black Boy Joy: 17 Stories Celebrating Black Boyhood ed. by Kwame Mbalia
The Black Cowboys by Gina DeAngelis
Black is a Rainbow Color by Angela Joy
The Book of Black Inventors and Scientists by M.J. Fièvre
Brave, Black, First: 50+ African American Women Who Changed the World by Cheryl Willis Hudson
Change Sings: A Children’s Anthem by Amanda Gorman
Class Act by Jerry Craft
A Computer Called Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Helped Put America On the Moon by Suzanne Slade
Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13 by Helaine Becker
A Day for Rememberin’: Inspired by the True Events of the First Memorial Day by Leah Henderson
Days of Jubilee: the End of Slavery in the United States by Pat McKissack
Dr. Charles Drew: Blood Bank Innovator by Anne E. Schraff
Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransome
For Black Girls Like Me by Mariama Lockington
Frederick Douglass: the Lion Who Wrote History by Walter Dean Myers
Frederick’s Journey: the Life of Frederick Douglass by Doreen Rappaport
Freedom Bird: A Tale of Hope and Courage by Jerdine Nolen
Freedom in Congo Square by Carole Boston Weatherford
Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson
Get Ella to the Apollo by Lisa Mullarkey
George Washington Carver by Jill C. Wheeler
Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America by Carole Boston Weatherford
Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry
Harlem Hellfighters by J. Patrick Lewis
Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad by David A. Adler
Hidden Figures: the True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly
A History of Me by Andrea Theodore
I Am Ruby Bridges by Ruby Bridges
I Color Myself Different by Colin Kaepernick
I Love My Hair! by Natasha Tarpley
If You Read This by Kereen Getten
Jackie Robinson by Joeming W. Dunn
Jazz Tap: from African Drums to American Feet by Anne E. Johnson
Just a Lucky So and So: the Story of Louis Armstrong by Lesa Cline-Ransome
Kamala Harris: Madam Vice President by Heather E. Schwartz
A Kid’s Guide to African American History by Nancy I. Sanders
The Last Last-Day-of-Summer by Lamar Giles
Last Mirror on the Left by Lamar Giles
Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters by Andrea Davis Pinkney
The Life of George Washington Carver by Stephen Krensky
Lift Every Voice and Sing: a Pictorial Tribute to the Negro National Anthem by James Weldon Johnson
Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison
The Little Plant Doctor: a Story About George Washington Carver by Jean Marzollo
Lotus Bloom and the Afro Revolution by Sherri Winston
Madam C.J. Walker: Self-Made Businesswoman by Della A. Yannuzzi
Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed
Mae Jemison by Jennifer Strand
Mae Jemison: the First African American Woman Astronaut by Liza N. Burby
Martin Luther King by Rosemary Bray McNatt
Martin Luther King Jr., and the March Toward Freedom by Rita Hakim
The Negro Leagues by James A. Riley
On Her Wings: The Story of Toni Morrison by Jerdine Nolen
Only Passing Through: the Story of Sojourner Truth by Anne F. Rockwell
Opal Lee and What it Means to be Free: The True Story of the Grandmother of Juneteenth by Alice Faye Duncan
Overground Railroad by Lesa Cline-Ransome
Martha and the Slave Catchers by Harriet Hyman Alonso
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford
New Kid by Jerry Craft
Parker Looks Up: An Extraordinary Moment by Parker Curry
A Picture Book of Sojourner Truth by David A. Adler
Play, Louis, Play! The True Story of a Boy and His Horn by Muriel Harris Weinstein
Preaching to the Chickens by Jabari Asim
The Proudest Blue: a Story of Hijab and Family by Ibtihaj Muhammad
Reaching for the Moon: the Autobiography of NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson by Katherine G. Johnson
R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul by Carole Boston Weatherford
A Ride to Remember: A Civil Rights Story by Sharon Langley
Saving the Day: Garrett Morgan’s Life-changing Invention of the Traffic Signal by Karyn Parsons
School Trip by Jerry Craft
Sojourner Truth by Peter Roop
Sojourner Truth’s Step-Stomp Stride by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Stacey Abrams and the Fight to Vote by Traci N. Todd
Stacey’s Extraordinary Words by Stacey Abrams
Stitch by Stitch: Elizabeth Hobbs Keckly Sews Her Way to Freedom by Connie Schofield-Morrison
Stuntboy in the Meantime by Jason Reynolds
Sweet Justice: Georgia Gilmore and the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Mara Rockliff
Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas
Thank You Omu! by Oge Mora
Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges
Thurgood Marshall: Young Justice by Montrew Dunham
Timelines from Black history : Leaders, Legends, Legacies by Mireille Harper
The Undefeated by Alexander Kwame
Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement by Carole Boston Weatherford
W.E.B. Du Bois and Racial Relations by Seamus Cavan
What Color is My World? The Lost History of African-American Inventors by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
What do You do With a Voice Like That: The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan by Chris Barton
What You Don’t Know: a Story of Liberated Childhood by Anastasia Higginbotham
When Marian Sang: the True Recital of Marian Anderson, the Voice of a Century by Pam Muñoz Ryan
Who Was Booker T. Washington? by James Buckley Jr.
Who Was Frederick Douglass? by April Jones Prince
Who Was Sojourner Truth? by Yona Seldis McDonough
Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World’s Fastest Woman by Kathleen Krull
Words Set Me Free: the Story of Young Frederick Douglass by Lesa Cline-Ransome

Teens

A. Philip Randolph and the African American Labor Movement by Calvin Craig Miller
Beasts of Prey by Ayana Gray
The Beautiful Struggle: Adapted for Young Adults by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Black Hands, White Sails: the Story of African-American Whalers by Pat McKissack and Fredrick McKissack
Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye
Discovering Black America: From the Age of Exploration to the Twenty-first Century by Linda Tarrant-Reid
Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant
Hidden Figures: the Untold True Story of Four African-American Women Who Helped Launch Our Nation Into Space by Margot Lee Shetterly
In the Shadow of Liberty: the Hidden History of Slavery, Four Presidents, and Five Black Lives by Kenneth C. Davis
Jackie Robinson by Harvey Frommer
Legendborne by Tracy Deonn
March (1,2,3) by John Lewis
Marching Toward Freedom, 1957-1965: From the Founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to the Assassination of Malcom X by Robert Weisbrot
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass
Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen
A Stranger In My Own House: The Story of W.E.B. Du Bois by Bonnie Hinman
There Comes a Time: the Struggle for Civil Rights by Milton Meltzer
This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron
Thurgood Marshall: Champion of Civil Rights by Elisabeth Krug
Up Close: Thurgood Marshall by Chris Crowe
We’ve Got a Job: the 1963 Birmingham Children’s March by Cynthia Levinson

Adults

African American Art: the Long Struggle by Crystal Britton
An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States by Kyle T. Mays
Ali: a Life by Jonathan Eig
Ancestor Trouble: A Reckoning and a Reconciliation by Maud Newton
Aretha: From These Roots by Aretha Franklin
The Bad-ass Librarians of Timbuktu: and Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts by Joshua Hammer
Beale Street Dynasty: Sex, Song, and the Struggle for the Soul of Memphis by Preston Lauterbach
Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue
Beloved by Toni Morrison
- Find Paradise, Jazz, Sula, and many more by Toni Morrison!
The Birth of Black America: the First African Americans and the Pursuit of Freedom at Jamestown by Tim Hashaw
The Black Cabinet: the Untold Story of African Americans and Politics During the Age of Roosevelt by Jill Watts
The Black Calhouns: from Civil War to Civil Rights With One African American Family by Gail Lumet Buckley
The Black Church: This is Our Story, This is Our Song by Henry Louis Gate, Jr.
Black Dance in America: A History Through Its People by James Haskins
Black Fortunes: the Story of the First Six African Americans Who Escaped Slavery and Became Millionaires by Shomari Wills
Black Gotham: a Family History of African Americans in Nineteenth-century New York City by Carla L. Peterson
The Black History of the White House by Clarence Lusane
Black Music in America: A History Through Its People by James Haskins
Black Women Writers at Work by Claudia Tate
Blood Brothers: the Fatal Friendship of Muhammad Ali and Malcom X by Randy Roberts
Buses are a Comin’: Memoir of a Freedom Rider by Charles Person
The Color of Law: a Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
Don’t Let Them Bury My Story: The Oldest Living Survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre in Her Own Words by Viola Ford Fletcher
Driving the Green Book: A Road Trip Through the Living History of Black Resistance by Alvin Hall
Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights by Gretchen Sullivan Sorin
Ella Fitzgerald by Bud Kliment
Florynce “Flo” Kennedy: the Life of a Black Feminist Radical by Sherie M. Randolph
Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight
George Washington Carver: Scientist and Symbol by Linda McMurry Edwards
Girl in Black and White: the Story of Mary Mildred Williams and the Abolition Movement by Jessie Morgan-Owens
Go and Tell Pharaoh: the Autobiography of the Reverend Al Sharpton by Al Sharpton
Gordon Parks: a Poet and His Camera by Gordon Parks
Harlem Speaks: a Living History of the Harlem Renaissance by Cary D. Wintz
Harriet Tubman: The Life and Stories by Jean McMahon Humez
Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom by Catherine Clinton
He Calls Me By Lightning: the Life of Caliph Washington and the Forgotten Saga of Jim Crow, Southern Justice, and the Death Penalty by S. Jonathan Bass
Hidden Figures: the American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly
“The Hills” in the Mid-nineteenth Century: the History of a Rural Afro-American Community in Westchester County, New York by Edythe Ann Quinn
His Truth is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope by Jon Meacham
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
How Long ‘til Black Future Month? by N. K. Jemisin
If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
- Find Go Tell It On the Mountain and more by James Baldwin!
Jackie Robinson: Race, Sports, and the American Dream by Joseph Dorinson
James Baldwin by Louis H. Pratt
James Baldwin by Lisa Rosset
Justice of the Pies: Sweet and Savory Pies, Quiches, and Tarts Plus Inspirational Stories from Exceptional People by Maya-Camille Broussard
Kamala’s Way: An American Life by Dan Morain
King of the Blues: The Rise and Reign of B.B. King by Daniel De Visé
The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times by Michelle Obama
Louis Armstrong: an Extravagant Life by Laurence Bergreen
Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom by Ilyon Woo
Mary Wells: the Tumultuous Life of Motown’s First Superstar by Peter Benjaminson
My America: Recipes from a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi
My Life is Art: 11 Pillars for a Positive and Purposeful Life by Emmanuel Jai
My Vanishing Country: A Memoir by Bakari Sellers
On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed
On the Pulse of Morning by Maya Angelou
- Find more by Maya Angelou!
The Original Black Elite: Daniel Murray and the Story of a Forgotten Era by Elizabeth Dowling Taylor
The Panther & the Lash: Poems of Our Times by Langston Hughes
- Find more by Langston Hughes!
Panther Baby: a Life of Rebellion and Reinvention by Jamal Joseph
Picturing Frederick Douglass: an Illustrated Biography of the Nineteenth Century’s Most Photographed American by John Stauffer
Readings On Maya Angelou by Mary E. Williams
Roots: the Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley
She Came to Slay: the Life and Times of Harriet Tubman by Erica Armstrong Dunbar
Showdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination that Changed America by Wil Haygood
Smoketown: the Untold Story of the Other Great Black Renaissance by Mark Whitaker
Sojourner Truth: a Life, a Symbol by Nell Irvin Painter
Soul food: the Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time by Adrian Miller
Tanya Holland’s California Soul: Recipes from a Culinary Journey West by Tanya Holland
The Toni Morrison Book Club by Juda Benett
Two Trains Running by August Wilson
Up From History: The Life of Booker T. Washington by Robert J. Norrell
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
The Warmth of Other Suns: the Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
The Water Dancer: a Novel by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Watermelon and Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations by Nicole Taylor
Well-read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves: an Anthology by Glory Edim
You are Your Best Thing : Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience — An Anthology by Tarana Burke

Movies

Borrow Online

Overdrive

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett (available as ebook or audiobook)
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (available as ebook or audiobook)
The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (available as ebook or audiobook)
Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick: Stories from the Harlem Renaissance by Zora Neale Hurston (available as audiobook)
Deacon King Kong by James McBridge (available as ebook or audiobook)
The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X by Les Payne and Tamara Payne (available as ebook or audiobook)
Black Bottom Saints by Alice Randall (available as ebook)
Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly (available as ebook or audiobook; find the Young Reader’s and Picture Book version too!)
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (available as ebook or audiobook)
Black Fortunes by Shomari Wills (available as ebook)

Hoopla

Black History For Beginners by Denise Dennis (available as ebook or audiobook)
Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick: Stories from the Harlem Renaissance by Zora Neale Hurston (available as ebook and audiobook)
Henrietta Lacks: The Untold Story by Ron Lacks (available as ebook)
Sister Rosetta Tharpe by J.P. Miller (available as ebook)
Find music by Sister Rosetta Tharpe!
The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X by Les Payne and Tamara Payne (available as audiobook)
Black Bottom Saints by Alice Randall (available as ebook or audiobook)
Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly (available as ebook or audiobook; find the Young Reader’s and Picture Book version too!)
Up From Slavery: An Autobiography by Booker T. Washington (available as ebook or audiobook)
Find more books by Booker T. Washington!
Black Fortunes by Shomari Wills (available as ebook or audiobook)

Kanopy