28 Books Every Black Girl Should Read This Black History Month

28 Books Every Black Girl Should Read This Black History Month
05 Feb 2016

Black History Month first began in 1926 when historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson dedicated the week in February that captured the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln as Negro History Week. Over the years the event grew into a month long celebration in which African Americans honored and highlighted their vibrant and powerful histories for all the world to see.

So in that tradition, we’ve compiled a list of children’s books that celebrate the Bold and Fearless women throughout our history.  And since there’s one book for everyday of the month, it’s the perfect opportunity for you to spend a bit of time each day reading with a special little girl!

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Harlem’s Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills

By Renee Watson

 

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Little Melba and Her big Trombone

By Katheryn Russell-Brown

 

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Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker

By Patricia Hruby Powell

 

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The Story of Ruby Bridges

By Robert Coles

 

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She Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Story

By Audrey Vernick

 

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Skit-Skat Raggedy Cat: Ella Fitzgerald

Roxane Orgill

 

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Queen Like Me: The True Story of Girls Who Changed the World

By Dr. Kimberly Brown

 

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Fly High: The Story of Bessie Coleman

By Louise Borden and Mary Kay Kroeger

 

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Molly, by Golly: The Legend of Molly Williams, America’s First Female Firefighter

By Dianne Ochiltree

 

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Phillis Sings Out Freedom: The Story of George Washington and Phillis Wheatly

By Ann Malaspina

 

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Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa

By Jeanette Winter

 

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Coretta Scott

By Ntozake Shange

 

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If A Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks

By Faith Ringgold

 

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Bring Me Some Apples and I’ll Make You A Pie: A Story About Edna Lewis

Robbin Gourley

 

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Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom

By Carole Boston Weatherford

 

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Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement

By Carole Boston Weatherford

 

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Maritcha: A Nineteenth-Century American Girl

By Tonya Bolden

 

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In Her Hands: The Story of Sculptor Augusta Savage

By Alan Schroeder

 

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Sojourner Truth’s Step-Stomp Stride

By Andrea Davis Pinkney

 

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When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marian Anderson

By Pam Munoz Ryan

 

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The Little Piano Girl: The Story of Mary Lou Williams, Jazz Legend

By Ann Ingalls and Maryann Macdonald

 

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Zora!: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston

By Dennis Brindell Fradin and Judith Bloom Fradin

 

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Who Was Maya Angelou?

By Ellen Labrecque

 

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Her Majesty’s Request: An African Princess in Victorian England

by Walter Dean Myers

 

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Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the Selma Voting Rights March

By Lynda Blackmon Lowery

 

 

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Nothing but Trouble: The Story of Althea Gibson

By Sue Stauffacher

 

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The Story of Stagecoach Mary Fields

By Robert H. Miller

 

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Who Is Michelle Obama?

By Megan Stine

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Ebonee Davis

Ebonee Davis is the founder of The Sankofa Group, a public history firm that interprets the history of people of color across the Diaspora. As a public historian, Davis works within the realm of museums, historic parks, and archives, developing programs that share the histories of people of color. Davis has been a guest lecturer at Howard University and the Bethesda Navy Medical Center College. She’s developed programs and exhibitions for institutions such as the National Park Service, the Banneker Douglass Museum, and the FBCG Historical Preservation Commission. Davis is presently working with the WEB DuBois Center in Ghana, West Africa on the second phase of a long term collaborative project to restore the home and personal book collection of WEB DuBois.




Comments

  1. Hi I’m in South Africa how can i get these books..?? they are seriously needed.

  2. What a great list of books!! I love that the celebrate a wide range of people from artists to politics figures. Dope!

  3. This is an awesome list! I will have to book mark for future reference.

  4. Great, great collection of black women and their contribution. Thank you Ebonee for curating the books. I have pinned this grouping and will be using it with in our homeschooling.

  5. LOVE this list! Many of the books listed are new to me and I will check them out. Thank you so much for sharing!

    Siobhan
    http://www.befreeproject.com

  6. I’m loving this list and can’t wait to get my kiddos lots of these to add to their library! Thanks for sharing!

  7. Love these books! As the mother of two fearless, brown Super Girls I will have to add some of these to the collection. The only one that's missing is The Quickest Kid in Town about Wilma Rudolph!

  8. This is such a great list! I’ll be saving this list for my baby girl.

  9. Such a great list! Bookmarking this because I’m going to be hooking my goddaughter up with some of these titles.

  10. I love every book in this section you suggested. Many of these I didnt know was out there and these need to be read outside of Black History Month too!

  11. These look like some pretty awesome books. Great list.

  12. Great list of books. I see a lot I need to pick up. We are doing 1000 books before Kindergarten, and some of these would be great for our daughter.

  13. What an amazing selection of books. I wish they had this type of variety of books when I was coming up. So glad to see our history so well represented.

  14. Love this list! I remember my daughter reading some of these books when she was younger.

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