I have a confession to make…I’ve never really done anything for Black History Month, or even black history, in school. Sure, we’ve learned about Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks, and we’ve studied slavery and Civil Rights in relation to American History, but it was more of a blip than an in-depth study. After we learned about the Negro Leagues last year, and following local events here in St. Louis, I realized that I was doing my children and history a disservice. So I resolved that this February, we would add black studies to our history lessons every week. I looked for books from familiar series (If You Lived, Hero of the Faith, and Childhood of Famous Americans, for example), biographies and autobiographies, and award winners in the Newbery and Coretta Scott King categories. The reading list I came up with starts at the beginning of America as a country, and goes through the Civil Rights Movement. It includes books for early elementary through adult reading levels. Of course it doesn’t cover everything (we only have a month!), but I think it’s fairly comprehensive, and will give us a better understanding of black history in America
- Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans
- Amos Fortune, Free Man
- Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman
- If You Traveled on the Underground Railroad
- The American Girl Addy Collection
- The American Girl Melody Collection
- Sounder
- Abraham Lincoln’s World
- If You Lived When There Was Slavery in America
- Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra
- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
- Bud, Not Buddy
- We are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball
- Henry Aaron’s Dream
- Jackie Robinson and the Story of All-Black Baseball
- Jackie Robinson: Young Sports Trailblazer
- Light in the Dark Belt: The Story of Rosa Young
- Hero of Faith: Rosa Young
- If You Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King
- Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- I Have a Dream
- Freedom Summer
- Through My Eyes
- The Story of Ruby Bridges
- Rosa Parks: My Story
- The Watsons Go to Birmingham–1963
- Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes