(Note that the resources listed here are provided as an information
service only. Inclusion in these lists does not necessarily imply that
they are approved, recommended, or endorsed by Movement veterans or
this website.)
Children & Young Adult
(Note that the recommended age ranges and grade levels shown here are
supplied by the publishers or taken from commercial book reviewers,
they are not based on any evaluation by this website. They are only a
rough guideline because the reading level of individual children vary
widely regardless of their age or grade.)
- Abby Takes a Stand by Patricia C. McKissack,
Gordon C. James (Illustrator). Viking Penguin, 2005. Nashville
sit-in movement as seen by a 10-year old girl. Recommended for:
Ages 8-12.
- The Assasination Of Martin Luther King
(American Moments Set II), by Alan Pierce. Abdo & Daughters
Publishing, 2004. (Ages 9-12)
- Assassination of Medgar Evers (Library of
Political Assassinations), by Myra Ribeiro. Rosen Publishing
Group, 2001. Biography and overview of the role Medgar played in
the Movement, why he was killed by racists. Recommended for: Ages
4-9.
- Black Women Leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, by Zita
Allen. Scholastic Library Publishing, 1996. The stories and bios of women
who led the Movement. Recommended for: Grade 6 & up
- The Bridge at Selma: Turning Points in American
History, by Marilyn Miller. Silver Burdett Press, 1989.
Story of the Selma march with many photos. Recommended for:
Grades 5-8
- Changing Channels: The Civil Rights Case That
Transformed Television, by Kay Mills. University Press of
Mississippi, 2004. Struggle to revoke license of racist Jackson
MS television station WLBT.
- Chicago 1966: Open Housing Marches, Summit Negotiations, and
Operation Breadbasket, by David Garrow. Carlson Publishing,
1989.
- The Chicago Freedom Movement: Martin Luther King Jr. and
Civil Rights Activism in the North, by Mary Lou Finley.
University Press of Kentucky, 2016. An alternative assessment of the
Chicago Freedom Movement by an activist that examines aspects beyond
just the open housing anti-slum protests including the North Shore
project, role of women, nonviolence training with youth, role of
music, the lead poisoning campaign, etc.)
- Choosing Brave: How Mamie Till-
Mobley and Emmett Till Sparked the Civil Rights Movement, by
Angela Joy (Author) Janelle Washington (Illustrator). Roaring Brook
Press, 2022. Picture book biography of the mother of Emmett Till, and
how she channeled grief over her son's death into a call to action for
the civil rights movement. Ages 7-12
- Church People in the Struggle: The National Council of
Churches and the Black Freedom Movement, 1950-1970, by James
Findlay. Oxford University Press, 1997.
- Circle of Fire, by Evelyn Coleman. Pleasant Company
Publications, 2001. 12 year old girl foils plot by KKK to firebomb
Highlander Folk School and assasinate Eleanor Roosevelt. Recommended for:
ages 9 to 12.
- Civil Rights Act of 1964, by Robert H. Mayer
(Editor). Greenhaven Press, 2004. Essays, articles, and history
of the act. Recommended for: Grades 9-12.
- Civil Rights For Beginners, by Paul Von Blum
(author) & Frank Reynoso (artist).
For Beginners, 2016.
Graphic nonfiction that places the freedom movement of the 1950s-1970s in a
broad historical context.
- Civil Rights Marches (Cornerstones of Freedom), by Linda
George and Charles George. Children's Press (CT) 2000. Recommended for:
Ages 9-12.
- Civil Rights Movement, by Sanford Wexler, Julian Bond
(Introduction). Facts on File, 1993. Recommended for: High school and young
adults. Story of the Movement using primary source material.
- The Civil Rights Movement, by Jack E. Davis
(editor). Wiley-Blackwell, 2000. Collection of essays and documents.
- Civil Rights Movement for Kids: A History with 21
Activities, Mary C. Turck. Chicago Review Press, 2000. Stories of the role
that children played in the Movement. Includes teaching activities.
Recommended for: ages 9 and over.
- The Civil Rights Movement in America, by Elaine Landau.
Children's Press, 2003. Recommended for: Ages 9-12.
- Civil Rights Movement in America From 1865 to the
Present, by Pat McKissack. Childrens Press (1987) Grades
5-9.
- Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, by Phillip M
Hoose. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009. (Young Adult)
- The Class of '65: A Student, a Divided Town, and the Long
Road to Forgiveness, by Jim Auchmutey. Public Affairs, 2015.
School desegregation, racism, and a courageous white ally in Americus
Georgia.
- Courage to Dissent: Atlanta and the Long History of the
Civil Rights Movement, by Tomiko Brown-Nagin. Oxford
University Press, 2011.
- Cracking the Wall: The Struggles of the Little Rock
Nine by Eileen Lucas, Mark Anthony (Illustrator). Lerner
Publishing Group, 1997. Easy reader introduction to the civil
rights movement and race relations through retelling of the
Little Rock story. Recommended for: Grades 1-3.
- Crossroads at Clarksdale: The Black Freedom Struggle in the
Mississippi Delta after World War II, by Françoise N.
Hamlin. University of North Carolina Press, 2012.
- Dare to Dream, by Angela Medaris & Ann Rich. Penguin
Putnam, 1999. Biography of Coretta Scott King and her participation in
Civil Rights Movement. Recommended for: grades 3-5.
- Day Martin Luther King Jr. Was Shot, Photo History of
Civil Rights Movement, by James Haskins. Scholastic, 1991. History of
Civil Rights Movement from slavery to death of Dr. King in text and photos.
Recommended for ages: 9-12.
- Days of Courage: The Little Rock Story
, by
Richard Kelso, Mel Williges (Illustrator). Raintree Publishers,
1992. Story of the of the "Little Rock Nine" and the integration
of Central High. in 1957. Recommended for ages: 8-12.
- Ella Baker: A Leader Behind the Scenes, by
Shyrlee Dallard. Silver Burdett, 1990. Ages 9-12
- Eddie's Ordeal (NEATE book #4), by Kelly
Starling Lyons. Just Us Books, 2004. Story of a 13-year-old
young man and his civil rights veteran father who struggle to
understand each other and find common ground. Recommended for
ages: 8-12
- Evicted! The Struggle for the Right to Vote,
by Alice Faye Duncan. Astra Publishing House, 2022. Story of Black
sharecroppers in Fayette County, Tennessee, who were evicted from their homes
for trying to vote in the late 1950s. Grades 6-8.
- Free At Last: A History of the Civil Rights Movement and Those
Who Died in the Struggle, by Sara Bullard. Oxford University Press,
1993. History of the struggle from slavery times to the Civil Rights
Movement of the 1960s. Developed in conjunction with the "Teaching
Tolerance" project of the
Southern Poverty Law
Center. Recommended for: Ages 9-12.
- Freedom's Children: Young Civil Rights Activists Tell Their Own
Stories, by Ellen Levine. William Morrow &
Company, 1993. First-person accounts of 30 young Freedom Movement activists
from the 50's and 60's. Recommended for: Grades 6-12.
- Freedom on the Menu: the Greensboro
Sit-Ins
, by Carole Boston Weatherford and Jerome
LaGarrigue (Artist). Dial, 2004. Picture book about the sit-ins
from the perspective of a little girl. Recommended for:
Grades 1-3.
- Freedom Song: Young Voices and the Struggle for Civil
Rights, by Mary C. Turck. Chicago Review Press, 2008.
(Includes CD of freedom songs by the Chicago Children's Choir).
Recommended for Grades 6-9.
- Freedom Rides: Journey for Justice, James Haskins,
Hyperion Books for Children, 1995. Recommended for ages 5 to 9.
- Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the
Civil Rights Movement, by Ann Bausum. National Geographic Children's
Books (2005) Grade Level: 5-9
- Freedom Songs, by Yvette Moore. Orchard Books, 1991.
Recommended for: Young Adult. Historical novel set in 1963 about
the early
days of the Movement. Story of a teenage Brooklyn girl who travels to the
South and confronts segregation. (Teen) (May be difficult to find copies.)
- Freedom Summer, by Deborah Wiles, Jerome
Lagarrigue. Atheneum, 2001). Freedom Summer as seen through the
eyes of two children, one Black, one white. Recommended for: Ages
4-8
- Going to School During the Civil Rights Movement, by
Rachel Koestler-Grack. Blue Earth Books. Daily life of children in school
under segregation and the during the Movement. Recommended for: Ages 9-12.
- Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King, by Jean
Marzollo. Scholastic (big edition), 1995. For ages 3-7.
- I Have a Dream, by Martin Luther King.
Scholastic 1997. The text of the famous speech illustrated by 15
Coretta Scott King Award-winning artists. Recommended for: Ages
4-8
- I Have a Dream (Voices of Freedom), by Karen
Price Hossell. Heinemann, 2005. Recommended for ages 4-8.
- I Have A Dream , by Jim Haskins. Millbrook Press, 1992.
Biography of King, his achievements, and the Movement. Includes excepts
from King's speeches, sermons, etc. Recommended for: Ages 4-8.
- I Have a Dream: The Story Behind Martin Luther King
Jr.'s Most Famous Speech (America in Words and Song), by
Kerry Graves. Chelsea Clubhouse, 2004. Recommended for ages 4-8.
- If a Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks, by Faith
Ringgold. Alladdin Paperback, 2002. The bus tells the Rosa Parks story to a
young girl. Recommended for: ages 5 to 9.
- If You Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King, by .
Ellen Levine, Anna Rich, Scholastic 1994. Overview of Civil Rights Movement
with art Q/A format teaching what it was like to participate in some of the
historic events. Recommended for: 9-12.
- Jim Crow Laws and Racism in American History,
by David K. Fremon. Enslow Publishers, 2000. (Recommended for
grades 5-9)
- Just Like Martin, by Ossie Davis. Puffin Books, 1994.
Fictional account of young boy and the Movement. Recommend for ages 10 to
14.
- King, by Ho Che Anderson. Sagebrush Education
Resources, 2002. Three volume biography of Dr. King in "comics"
format. Recommended for young adult and adult.
- Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom
Fighters, by Andrea Davis Pinkney, Stephen Alcorn
(Illustrator). Gulliver Books, 2000. Bios of ten heroic Black
women from Sojourner Truth to Shirley Chisholm struggle for
causes from abolition, to women's rights and civil rights. Grades
4-7.
- Linda Brown, You Are Not Alone: The Brown V. Board of
Education Decision, by Joyce Carol Thomas and Curtis
James. Jump At The Sun, 2003. Collection of stories, memoirs, and
poems about the history and impact of Brown v. Board of
Education. Recommended for grades 6-12.
- Leon's Story, by Leon Tillage and Susan Roth
(illustrator). Farar, Strauss, & Giroux, 2000. Personal story told by
sharecropper's son of life in the segregated south and the coming of the
Movement. Recommended for ages: 8-12.
- The March Against Fear: The Last Great Walk of the Civil Rights
Movement and the Emergence of BlackPower, by Ann Bausum. National
Geographic Children's Books (2017)
Grade Level: 7-9
- Marching For Freedom: Walk Together, Children, and Don't You
Grow Weary, by Elizabeth Partridge. Viking, 2009. Describes
the role of school children in the Selma Voting Rights Campaign and
the March to Montgomery. Recommended for ages 10 and up.
- Marching to the Mountaintop: How Poverty, Labor Fights and Civil
Rights Set the Stage for Martin Luther King Jr's Final Hours, by Ann
Bausum. National Geographic Children's Books (2012) Grade Level: 7-9
- Marching Toward Freedom 1957-1965: From the Founding of
the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to the Assassination
of Malcom X (Milestones in Black American History) by
Robert Weisbrot. Chelsea House Publications, 1994. From the
lunch-counter sit-ins to the March to Montgomery, tells the story
of the Movement. Recommended for: Grades 6-12.
- The March From Selma to Montgomery: African Americans
Demand the Vote, by Jake Miller. PowerKids Press, 2004.
Recommended for: Ages 4-8.
- The March on Washington, by James Haskins. Just
Us Books, 2004. Recommended for ages 9-12.
- March On Washington, 1963 (Spotlight on American
History), by Tricia Andryszewski. Millbrook Press, 1996.
Illustrated description of the march, the participants, and the
history that led up to it. Recommended for: Ages 9-12.
- Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr., by Doreen Rappaport. Hyperion Books, 2001. Picture-story
biography of Dr. King with many quotations. Recommended for: Ages
5 to 9.
- Martin Luther King, by Rosemary Bray. Wm Morrow, 1996.
Illustrated biography of Dr. King. Recommended for ages: 5 to 8.
- Martin Luther King Jr and the March on Washington, by .
Frances Ruffin, Stephen Marchesi. Grosset & Dunlap; 2000. Background &
story of the march and King's speech. Recommended for: Grades 1-3.
- Mississippi Challenge, by Mildred Pitts Walter.
Simon & Schuster, 1992. Story of struggle for civil rights by
Blacks in Mississippi from slavery to the Civil Rights Movement.
Ages 11 - Young Adult.
- Murder on the Highway: the Viola Liuzzo Story, by
Beatrice Siegel. Simon & Schuster 1994. Ages 12 and up. Hard to find.
- My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers, by Christine
King Farris, Chris Soentpiet (Illustrator). Simon & Schuster, 2002.
Recommended for: Stories of Dr. King as a boy and young man as
described by his older sister. Ages 4-8.
- My Dream of Martin Luther King, by Faith Ringgold.
Bantam, 1998. Picture book bio of Dr. King through a child's dreaming.
Recommended for: ages 5 to 8
- Nation in Turmoil, Civil Rights and the Vietnam War
(1960-1973), by Gene Brown. 21st Century Books, 1995. Primary source
material on Civil Rights and Anti-War movements. Recommended for: 12 and
older.
- The 1963 Civil Rights March (Landmark Events in
American History), by Scott Ingram. World Almanac Library,
2004. Recommended for Ages 9-12.
- The 1963 March on Washington: Speeches and Songs for
Civil Rights, by Jake Miller. PowerKids Press, 2004.
Recommended for: Ages 4-8
- Now Is Your Time! The African-American Struggle for
Freedom, by Walter Dean Myers. HarperTrophy, 1991. Uses
stories and struggles of individuals to illustrate of broader
historical movements. Ages 11-Young Adult.
- Oh, Freedom! Kids Talk about the Civil Rights Movement with the
People Who Made It Happen, by Casey King and Linda Barrett Osborne.
Econo-Clad Books, 1997. Elementary school children interview Movement
participants. Recommended for: grades 4 to 8.
- Rosa Parks (Childhood of Famous Americans), by
Kathleen Kudlinski and Meryl Henderson. Aladdin, 2001. Age Level: 8
and up.
- A Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr., by David
Adler, Robert Casilla (Illustrator). Holiday House, 1991. Illustrated
biography of Dr. King for young readers. Recommended for: ages 4-9.
- The Power of One: Daisy Bates and the Little Rock
Nine, by Dennis Brindell Fradin, Judith Bloom Fradin.
Clarion Books, 2004. Biography telling of the struggle to
integrate Central High. Photographs & primary source material.
Recommended for: grades 6-11.
- Rosa Parks: From the Back of the Bus to the Front of a
Movement, by Camilla Wilson. Scholastic, 2001. Story of Rosa Parks
& Montgomery Bus Boycott. Recommended for: Ages 9-12
- Rosa Parks: My Story, by Rosa Parks, James and Jim
Haskins. Puffin, 1999. Rosa Park's own story of her life and
struggle in the Freedom Movement. Recommended for: Ages 9 to
Young Adult.
- The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks: Young Readers Edition
, by Jeanne Theoharis and Brandy Colbert. Beacon Press 2021. Corrects the
myth of Rosa Parks as the quiet seamstress who spontaneously performed a
single act that sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and birthed the modern
Civil Rights Movement. Portrays her decades of activism and bold politics and
shows how the Freedom Movement in which she was leader radically
sought — for more than a half a century — to
expose and eradicate the racial-caste system in jobs, schools, public
services, and criminal justice. Middle-Grade & Young Adults.
- Remember Little Rock: The Time, the People, the
Stories, by Paul Robert Walker. National Geographic Children's
Books, 2009. Ages 9-12
- Selma, Lord, Selma, Sheyann Webb and
Rachel West Nelson. University of Alabama Press, 1980. Memoir of Selma's
"youngest freedom fighters," Sheyann 8 and Rachel 9.
- Sit-Ins and Freedom Rides: The Power of Nonviolent
Resistance, by Jake Miller. PowerKids Press, 2004.
Large-print, easy-to-read book with photo illustrations. Covers
Montgomery Bus Boycott, Greensboro Sit-ins, and Freedom Rides.
Recommended for: Grades 2-4.
- Stand up For Your Rights, by Children from all
over the World. Two-Can Publishers, 2000. Children from many
countries describe in their own words and pictures the importance
to them of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Grade 9-
12.
- Story of Ruby Bridges, by Robert Coles. Scholastic,
1995. Illustrated story of 6 year old Ruby Bridges, the first African-
American child to integrate the New Orleans schools system in defiance of
racist attackers. Recommended for: Grades 1-3.
- 10 True Tales: Young Civil Rights Heroes, by Allan Zullo,
Scholastic Inc, 2014. Stories from the Freedom Movement focusing on young foot
soldiers of the struggle. Ages 8-12 years.
- They Had a Dream: The Civil Rights Struggle from
Frederick Douglass to Marcus Garvey to Martin Luther King and
Malcolm X, by Jules Archer. Viking Books, 1993.
Ages 10-
Young Adult.
- There Comes a Time: The Struggle for Civil
Rights, by Milton Meltzer. Random House, 2002. Overview
of struggle for equality by American Blacks from slavery time to
curret day. Ages 10-Young Adult.
- Through Angel's Eyes, by Steve Theunissen. Strategic
Book Publishing, 2012. Novelization of the Birmingham campaign
("Childrens Crusade") through the eyes of a 13 year old African
American girl. For Young Adults.
- Through My Eyes, by Ruby Bridges, Margo Lundell.
Scholastic, Inc. 1999. Story of (and by) Ruby Bridges who at age 6 was the
first Black child to integrate a public school in New Orleans. Recommended
for: ages 8-11.
- Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the Selma
Voting Rights March, by Lynda Blackmon Lowery. Dial, 2015.
- Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil
Rights Movement, by Carole Boston Weatherford. Candlewick
Press 2015. Beautifully illustrated story of Mrs. Hamer and the
Movement for upper elementary and middle school age children.
- We Shall Overcome: Heroes of the Civil Rights
Movement, by Fred Powledge
Simon & Schuster, 1993. (Young Adult)
- We Shall Overcome: The History of the American Civil
Rights Movement, by Reggie Finlayson. Lerner Publishing
Group, 2002. Uses freedom song lyrics and speeches to structure
the history and show the emotional power that underlay the
Movement. Grades 5-10.
- Witnesses to Freedom, Young People Who Fought for Civil
Rights, by Belinda Rochelle. Dutton, 1993. Stories of young people
who made a difference, Central High in Little Rock, Montgomery Bus Boycott,
Sit-ins, etc. Recommended for grades: 5-8.