Non-Fiction Children Books About African Americans

With powerful illustrations by Shane Evans, this is a completely unique look at the importance and influence of African Americans on the history of this country.

Each day features a different influential figure in African-American history, from Crispus Attucks, the first man shot in the Boston Massacre, sparking the Revolutionary War, to Madame C. J. Walker, who after years of adversity became the wealthiest black woman in the country, as well as one of the wealthiest black Americans, to Barack Obama, the country's first African-American president.

Jane Addams Honor Book

This picture book is a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the momentous Woolworth's lunch counter sit-in, when four college students staged a peaceful protest that became a defining moment in the struggle for racial equality and the growing civil rights movement.

Andrea Davis Pinkney uses poetic, powerful prose to tell the story of these four young men, who followed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s words of peaceful protest and dared to sit at the "whites only" Woolworth's lunch counter.

Brian Pinkney embraces a new artistic style, creating expressive paintings filled with emotion that mirror the hope, strength, and determination that fueled the dreams of not only these four young men, but also countless others.

This award-winning true story of Black Olympic runner Wilma Rudolph, who overcame childhood polio and eventually went on to win three gold medals, is illustrated by Caldecott medal–winning artist David Diaz.

The inspirational true story of Ruby Bridges.

Told with Robert Coles' powerful narrative and dramatically illustrated by George Ford, Ruby's story of courage, faith, and hope continues to resonate more than 60 years later.

2001 Coretta Scott King Honor Book

Andrea Davis Pinkney's moving text and Stephen Alcorn's glorious portraits celebrate the lives of ten bold women who lit the path to freedom for generations. 

For most children these days it would come as a great shock to know that before 1967, they could not marry a person of a race different from their own.

That was the year that the Supreme Court issued its decision in Loving v. Virginia.

Award-winning poet, writer, and activist Nikki Giovanni's evocative text combines with Bryan Collier's striking cut-paper images to retell the story of this historic event from a wholly unique and original perspective.

The extraordinary true story of Ruby Bridges, the first Black child to integrate a New Orleans school -- now with simple text for young readers!

The paintings of Jacob Lawrence tell stories. Stories of enslavement and freedom, of human migration and renaissance, of struggle and of triumph.

A collection of these stunning paintings provides the backdrop for this exceptional biography which tells the story of one of our finest living painters-from his family's experience in the great migration North, to his growing up in the midst of the Harlem Renaissance, to his rise as one of the most renowned painters of African American life. 

Take a walk through Harlem's Sugar Hill and meet all the amazing people who made this neighborhood legendary.

With upbeat rhyming, read-aloud text, Sugar Hill celebrates the Harlem neighborhood that successful African Americans first called home during the 1920s. 

Michael Jordan’s mother and sister team up for this heartwarming and inspirational picture book about faith and hope and how any family working together can help a child make his or her dreams come true.

Viola’s determination gave strength and inspiration to her community at the time.

She is an unsung hero of one of Canada’s oldest and most established black communities.

Like Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks, who many years later, in 1955, refused to give up their bus seats in Alabama, Desmond’s act of refusal awakened people to the unacceptable nature of racism and began the process of bringing an end to racial segregation in Canada.

This picture book biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. brings his life and the profound nature of his message to young children through his own words.

Caldecott Honor Book; Coretta Scott King Award Winner

In this award-winning book, acclaimed author Carole Boston Weatherford and bestselling artist Kadir Nelson offer a resounding, reverent tribute to Harriet Tubman, the woman who earned the name Moses for her heroic role in the Underground Railroad.

A swinging bio of young Ella Fitzgerald, who pushed through the toughest of times to become one of America’s most beloved jazz singers.

Coretta Scott King Author Award

Read about the fascinating life of Bass Reeves, who escaped slavery to become the first African American Deputy US Marshal west of the Mississippi.

2009 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book; 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Carole Boston Weatherford and Sean Qualls have composed an amazingly rich hymn to the childhood of jazz legend John Coltrane.

Three-time Coretta Scott King Award–winning author Angela Johnson and New York Times bestselling illustrator Loren Long introduce readers to a band of under-celebrated World War II heroes—the Tuskegee Airmen.

This book is a beautifully-rendered study of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life, told in simple, straightforward language for even the youngest of readers to understand.

Pinkney's scratchboard and oil pastel illustrations convey both the strength and gentleness of King's character. 

Discover the life story of one of American history's most important orators & freedom fighters.

Civil Rights leader Rosa Parks is the 3rd hero in in the New York Times bestselling picture book biography series for ages 5 to 8.

A stirring, dramatic story of a slave who mails himself to freedom by a Jane Addams Peace Award-winning author and a Coretta Scott King Award-winning artist.

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book

With bold paintings and a simple, rhyming text, Caldecott Medalists Leo & Diane Dillon bring young readers a rap a tap tap celebration of dance that will have readers clapping and tapping along.

Help kids ages 6 to 9 discover the life of Barack Obama―a story about hope, change, and breaking down barriers.