http://mppl.org/services/youth-department/good-books/?category=current+events&list=Black+History+Month+K-2nd
List: Black History Month K-2nd
Mae Among the Stars
Mae wanted to be an astronaut. She dreamed of dancing in space. She imagined herself surrounded by billions of stars, floating, gliding, and discovering. Her parents encouraged her, saying, "If you believe it, and work hard for it, anything is possible." This encouragement, along with Mae's own curiosity, intelligence, and determination, paved the way for her to become the first African American woman to travel in space.
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Ron's Big Mission
One summer day in 1959, nine-year-old Ron McNair, who dreams of becoming a pilot, walks into the Lake City, South Carolina public library and insists on checking out some books, despite the rule that only white people can have library cards. Includes facts about McNair, who grew up to be an astronaut.
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Juneteenth for Mazie
Also available in Hoopla. Little Mazie wants the freedom to stay up late, but her father explains what freedom really means in the story of Juneteenth, and how her ancestors celebrated their true freedom.
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We March
Illustrations and brief text portray the events of the 1963 march in Washington, D.C., where the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a historic speech.
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Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt
A young slave stitches a quilt with a map pattern which guides her to freedom in the North.
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All Different Now : Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom
In 1865, members of a family start their day as slaves, working in a Texas cotton field, and end it celebrating their freedom on what came to be known as Juneteenth.
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Wind Flyers
A boy's love of flight takes him on a journey from the dusty dirt roads of Alabama to the war-torn skies of Europe. Introduces young readers to the contributions of the Tuskegee Airmen in World War II.
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Ellen's broom : A Young Girl Discovers a Family Tradition
Ellen has always known that the broom hanging on her family's cabin wall is a special symbol of her parents' wedding during slave days, so she proudly carries it to the courthouse when the marriage becomes legal.
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Hope's Gift
A runaway slave during the Civil War, Hope's father returns after the Emancipation Proclamation as a member of the U.S. Colored Troops.
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Sing a Song : How Lift Every Voice and Sing Inspired Generations
Illustrations and easy-to-read text follow a family through five generations as each is inspired by the song written in 1900 to honor Abraham Lincoln. Includes author's note on the history of the song and its meaning in her family.
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The Nutcracker in Harlem
In Harlem in the 1920s, in the middle of a family Christmas party, Marie receives a nutcracker from her Uncle Cab, which leads to a marvelous dream in this resetting of E.T.A. Hoffmann's familiar tale. Includes historical notes.
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The Quickest kid in Clarksville
Also available in Overdrive and Hoopla. Growing up in the segregated town of Clarksville, Tennessee, in the 1960s, Alta's family cannot afford to buy her new sneakers--but she still plans to attend the parade celebrating her hero Wilma Rudolph's three Olympic gold medals.
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Of Thee I Sing : A Letter to my Daughters
Also available in Overdrive. In this tender, beautiful letter to his daughters, President Barack Obama has written a moving tribute to thirteen groundbreaking Americans and the ideals that have shaped our nation. From the artistry of Georgia O'Keeffe, to the courage of Jackie Robinson, to the patriotism of George Washington, President Obama sees the traits of these heroes within his own children, and within all of America's children.
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Freedom Summer
Joe and John Henry are a lot alike. They both like shooting marbles, they both want to be firemen, and they both love to swim. But there's one important way they're different: Joe is white and John Henry is black and in the South in 1964, that means John Henry isn't allowed to do everything his best friend is. Then a law is passed that forbids segregation and opens the town pool to everyone. Joe and John Henry are so excited they race each other there...only to discover that it takes more than a new law to change people's hearts. This stirring account of the "Freedom Summer" that followed the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 powerfully and poignantly captures two boys' experience with racism and their friendship that defies it.
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This is the Rope : A Story from the Great Migration
Also available in Hoopla. A rope passed down through the generations frames an African American family's story as they journey north during the time of the Great Migration.
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Summer in Savannah
It's summertime! Ana & Andrew travel to visit their grandparents in Savannah, Georgia. While they are there, they learn that Grandma and Grandpa's church was built by slaves. With some help from an unusual source!
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The Hallelujah Flight
In 1932, James Banning, along with his co-pilot Thomas Allen, make history by becoming the first African Americans to fly across the United States, relying on the generosity of people they meet in the towns along the way who help keep their "flying jalopy" going.
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Overground Railroad
A girl named Ruth Anne tells the story of her family's train journey from North Carolina to New York City as part of the Great Migration.
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I, Too, Am America
Presents the popular poem by one of the central figures in the Harlem Renaissance, highlighting the courage and dignity of the African American Pullman porters in the early twentieth century.
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Busing Brewster
Bused across town to a school in a white neighborhood of Boston in 1974, a young African American boy named Brewster describes his first day in first grade. Includes historical notes on the court-ordered busing.
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The Book Itch : Freedom, Truth, & Harlem's Greatest Bookstore
Also available in Hoopla. Relates the story of the National Memorial African Bookstore, founded in Harlem by Louis Michaux in 1939, as seen from the perspective of Louis Michaux Jr., who met famous men like Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X while helping there.
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Lift Your Light a Little Higher : The Story of Stephen Bishop, Slave-Explorer
This biography picture-book shares the life story of Stephen Bishop, an explorer and slave who mapped the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky, discovered new species of fish inside the cave, and gave regular tours through the cave.
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The Story of Ruby Bridges
For months six-year-old Ruby Bridges must confront the hostility of white parents when she becomes the first African American girl to integrate Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans in 1960.
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Dave the Potter : Artist, Poet, Slave
Chronicles the life of Dave, a nineteenth-century slave who went on to become an influential poet, artist, and potter.
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The Youngest Marcher : The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a Young Civil Rights Activist
Presents the life of nine-year-old Audrey Faye Hendricks who became the youngest known child to be arrested for picketing against Birmingham segregation practices in 1963.
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Counting the Stars
Also available in Overdrive and Hoopla. The story of Katherine Johnson, an African American mathematician whose work was critical to the first US space flight.
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Preaching To The Chickens : the Story of Young John Lewis
Also available in Hoopla. Critically acclaimed author Jabari Asim and Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator E. B. Lewis give readers a fascinating glimpse into the boyhood of Civil Rights leader John Lewis. John wants to be a preacher when he grows up, a leader whose words stir hearts to change, minds to think, and bodies to take action. But why wait? When John is put in charge of the family farm's flock of chickens, he discovers that they make a wonderful congregation! So he preaches to his flock, and they listen, content under his watchful care, riveted by the rhythm of his voice. Celebrating ingenuity and dreaming big, this inspirational story, featuring Jabari Asim's stirring prose and E. B. Lewis's stunning, light-filled impressionistic watercolor paintings, includes an author's note about John Lewis, who grew up to be a member of the Freedom Riders, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and demonstrator on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, and is now a Georgia congressman.
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Before She Was Harriet
A lush and lyrical biography of Harriet Tubman, written in verse. An evocative poem and opulent watercolors come together to honor a woman of humble origins whose courage and compassion make her larger than life.
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Be a King : Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Dream and You
You can be a King. Stamp out hatred. Put your foot down and walk tall. You can be a King. Beat the drum for justice. March to your own conscience. Featuring a dual narrative of the key moments of Dr. King's life alongside a modern class as the students learn about him, Carole Weatherford's poetic text encapsulates the moments that readers today can reenact in their own lives. See a class of young students as they begin a school project inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and learn to follow his example, as he dealt with adversity and never lost hope that a future of equality and justice would soon be a reality. As times change, Dr. King's example remains, encouraging a new generation of children to take charge and change the world ... to be a King.
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Child of the Civil Rights Movement
Also available in Overdrive. Paula Young Shelton shares her memories of the civil rights movement and her involvement in the historic march from Selma to Montgomery.
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Lillian's Right to Vote : A Celebration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965
Also available in Overdrive. As an elderly woman, Lillian recalls that her great-great-grandparents were sold as slaves in front of a courthouse where only rich white men were allowed to vote, then the long fight that led to her right--and determination--to cast her ballot since the Voting Rights Act gave every American the right to vote.
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Hidden Figures : The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race
Also available in Hoopla. Explores the previously uncelebrated but pivotal contributions of NASA's African American women mathematicians to America's space program, describing how Jim Crow laws segregated them despite their groundbreaking successes. Includes biographies on Dorothy Jackson Vaughan (1910-2008), Mary Winston Jackson (1921-2005), Katherine Colman Goble Johnson (1918-), Dr. Christine Mann Darden (1942-).
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Let it Shine : Three Favorite Spirituals
Illustrated versions of three well-known hymns.
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We Shall Overcome : The Story of a Song
Traces the history of the inspiring anthem and explains how it has come to represents the right for equality and freedom around the world.
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Freedom in Congo Square
Also available in Hoopla. As slaves relentlessly toiled in an unjust system in 19th century Louisiana, they all counted down the days until Sunday, when at least for half a day they were briefly able to congregate in Congo Square in New Orleans. Here they were free to set up an open market, sing, dance, and play music. They were free to forget their cares, their struggles, and their oppression. This story chronicles slaves' duties each day, from chopping logs on Mondays to baking bread on Wednesdays to plucking hens on Saturday, and builds to the freedom of Sundays and the special experience of an afternoon spent in Congo Square.
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