50 Children’s Books that teach Black History

Children’s Books that teach Black History

This post contains affiliate links.

It’s February and officially Black History Month! I love using this time to celebrate the richness of our history with my kids and the great people who came before us who they can look to for inspiration. This year, I wanted to create a resource for us, parents of books that teach black history. This list includes books for children of all ages and celebrates the famous and unsung heroes in Black History. Here are 50 children’s books that teach black history:

50 Children’s Books that teach Black History

1. Hidden Figures
2. Roots of Rap
3. Little Legends Exceptional Men in Black History
4. Little Leaders Bold Women in Black History
5. Be a King 
6. A Place to Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech that Inspired a nation.
7. Dream Big Little One
8. Black Women in Science: A Black History Book for Kids 
9. Bedtime Inspirational Stories: 50 Amazing Black People Who Changed the World.
10. Young Gifted and Black: Meet 52 Black Heroes from Past and Present.
11. My Little Golden Book About Martin Luther King Jr.
12. Mae Among the Stars.
13. Katherine Johnson (You Should Meet) .
14. Who Was Harriet Tubman?
15. Who Were the Tuskegee Airmen?
16. I am Martin Luther King, Jr.
17. Who Was Rosa Parks?
18. The Story of Ruby Bridges                  
19. Who Was Sojourner Truth?
20. I am Rosa Parks
21. Who was Frederick Douglas?
22. Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom
23. Let the Children March
24. Malcolm Little: The Boy Who Grew Up to Become Malcolm X
25. Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement
26. Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library
27. Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America
28. Sugar Hill: Harlem’s Historic Neighborhood
29. Freedom in Congo Square
30. By and By: Charles Albert Tindley, the Father of Gospel Music.
31. Who is Coretta Scott King?
32. Maya Angelou (Little People, BIG DREAMS)
33. Never Caught, the Story of Ona Judge: George and Martha Washington’s Courageous Slave Who Dared to Run Away
34. This Promise of Change: One Girl’s Story in the Fight for School Equality
35. Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker: 
36. Rosa: My First Rosa Parks
37. Mary Bowser and the Civil War Spy Ring
38. A Lesson for Martin Luther King, Jr. 
39. Pies from Nowhere: How Georgia Gilmore Sustained the Montgomery Bus Boycott
40. Escape North!: The Story of Harriet Tubman
41. Barack Obama: Out of Many, One
42. 101 Black Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics: Leaders in Black History
43. So Other People Would Be Also Free: The Real Story of Rosa Parks for Kids
44. Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13
45. Mae Jemison (You Should Meet)
46. Salt in His Shoes: Michael Jordan in Pursuit of a Dream
47. The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a Young Civil Rights Activist
48. Jake Makes a World: Jacob Lawrence, A Young Artist in Harlem
49. Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat
50. Jimi: Sounds Like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix

Black History Month: 50 Books Reading Challenge

We move forward by knowing about our past, so this month, we’re setting a lofty goal to read 50 children’s books about black history. There are 29 days this month, so that works out to just under two books per day. Of course, this is geared towards picture books and shorter books for younger kids. If you have a middle grade or teen reader, they will read fewer books.

Also, don’t feel like you need to buy all these books to participate. You can borrow books from your local library and reserve the ones not available at your branch online.

I invite you to join even if you don’t think you will read as much as 50 books, the goal is to read more books than we usually do to learn more about black history.

I invite you to join even if you don’t think you will read as much as 50 books; the goal is to read more books than we usually do to learn more about black history. 

To join in, download the book log and use the hashtag #RH50BlackHistoryBooks to share your posts. There will be giveaways during the month, so be sure to follow me on Instagram. 

I invite you to join even if you don’t think you will read as much as 50 books, the goal is to read more books than we usually do to learn more about black history.

To join in simply download the book log and use the hashtag #RH50BlackHistoryBooks to share your posts. There will be giveaways during the month so be sure to follow me on Instagram.

Book Log

You may also like:

20 Children’s Books With Black Main Characters

Children’s Books Featuring Strong Female Characters