Books to Celebrate Black History Month in Your Homeschool

Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history.

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Also known as African American History Month, the event grew out of “Negro History Week,” the brainchild of noted historian Carter G. Woodson and other prominent African Americans. Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month. (~ an excerpt from History.com)

Books to Celebrate Black History Month in Your Homeschool

This is a list of illustrated children’s books, simple biographies, middle grade chapter books, and non-fiction books all pertaining to black history. These make great read alouds, book report books, supplements to curricula, and a great base for an extensive unit study on black history.

Picture Books

• Henry’s Freedom Box – A True Story from the Underground Railroad by Ellen Levine
• Follow The Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter
• A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams
• The ABCs of Black History by Rio Cortez
• Brown Boy Brown Boy What Can You Be? by Ameshia Arthur
• Skin Like Mine by LaTashia Perry
• Goin’ Someplace Special by Patricia C. McKissack
• Moses When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford
• The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson
• Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by Doreen Rappaport
• The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles
• White Socks Only by Evelyn Coleman
• Amazing Grace (5 book series) by Mary Hoffman
• Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson
• Uncle Jed’s Barbershop by Margaree King Mitchell
• Sit-In How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down by Andrea Davis Pinkney
• Freedom on the Menu – The Greensboro Sit-Ins by Carole Boston Weatherford
• All Different Now: Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom by Angela Johnson
• Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly, Winifred Conkling
• The Juneteenth Story: Celebrating the End of Slavery in the United States by Alliah L. Agostini

Middle Grade Books

• Facing Frederick: The Life of Frederick Douglass, a Monumental American Man by Tonya Bolden
• How to Build A Museum: Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture by Tony Bolden
• March: Book One by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin
• The Gold Cadillac by Mildred Taylor
• The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander
• Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges
• Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer by Carole Boston Weatherford
• We Are the Ship: The Story of the Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson
• One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
• The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis

Great Black Heroes Series:

• 5 Notable Black Inventors
• 5 Bold Black Freedom Fighters
• 5 Brave Black Explorers
• 5 Brilliant Black Scientists
• 5 Famous Black Writers

The Who Was Series

Who Was books are a series of illustrated biographies for young readers featuring significant historical figures.

• Who Was Maya Angelou?
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Lois Armstrong
• George Washington Carver
• Sojourner Truth
• Harriet Tubman
• Jackie Robinson
• Muhammad Ali
• Nelson Mandela
• Jesse Owens
• Rosa Parks
• Roberto Clemente
• Barack Obama
• Michelle Obama
• Frederick Douglass

Books for High School & Beyond

• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
• The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
• Home Going by Yaa Gyasi
• Becoming by Michelle Obama
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
• Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
• Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
• Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northrup
• Roots by Alex Haley

More Homeschool Resources For Black History Month

Homeschool Resources to Celebrate MLK JR. Day – While MLK Jr. Day is celebrated in January, a black history study would not be complete without including him in the mix. This is a collection of resources – unit studies, art, books, printables and more.