Achievers, Believers and Explorers

James Buckley Jr. (A), Who HQ (A) and Andrew Thomson (ILT)

Price: $6.50 (Paperback – Biography / Champion Tennis Players / Sisters – 2018) 

The dynamic story of the Williams sisters, both top-ranked professional tennis players.

Venus and Serena Williams are two of the most successful professional American tennis players of all…

Allison Lassieur (A)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – Biography / Science – Astronaut – 2016 )

While watching Star Trek on television as a child, Mae Jemison was certain she would one day visit space.  Then she became the first black female NASA astronaut. Find out how Jemison’s passion for science…

Kofi A. Annan (A), Dudley J. Thompson (A) and Barrington A. Watson (ILT)

List Price: $15.00 (Paperback – Biographies / Pan Africanists – 2005)

This book celebrates the lives of seventeen Black leaders who have made outstanding contributions to the liberation, unity and solidarity of Africa and African peoples throughout…

Gail Herman (A), Nancy Harrison (ILT) and John O’Brien (ILT)

List Price: $6.99 (Paperback – Biography – Sports / Baseball – 2010)

As a kid, Jackie Robinson loved sports. And why not? He was a natural at football, basketball, and, of course, baseball. But beyond athletic skill, it was his strength of character…

Meg Belviso (A), Pamela D. Pollack (A) and Stephen Marchesi (ILT)

List Price: $5.57 (Paperback – Biography / South African / Leader – 2014)

As a child he dreamt of changing South Africa; as a man he changed the world. Nelson Mandela spent his life battling apartheid and championing a peaceful revolution. He…

Discover the inspiring true story of extraordinary professional cyclist Major Taylor in this nonfiction picture book from Coretta Scott King Award winners Lesa Cline-Ransome and James E. Ransome.

In 1891, Marshall Taylor could ride his bike forward, backward, even perched on the handlebars. When his stunts landed him a job at the famous…

Faith Ringgold (A and ILT)

List Price: $19.99 (Hardcover – Biography / Activist / Civil Rights / Bus Boycott- 1999)

This Rosa Parks biography begins with an African American girl named Marcie. She is waiting for the bus to school when a strange bus pulls up; for some reason, she…

Ellen Labrecque (A), Dede Putra (ILT), Nancy Harrison (ILT)

List Price: $6.99 (Paperback – Biography / Author / Poet – 2016)

Born in Missouri in 1928, Maya Angelou had a difficult childhood. Jim Crow laws segregated blacks and whites in the South. Her family life was unstable at times. But much like her…

The inspirational true story of Ruby Bridges.

Please, God, try to forgive those people. Because even if they say those bad things, They dont know what theyre doing. This is the true story of an extraordinary 6-year-old who helped shape history when she became the first African-American sent to first grade in an…

Rodney Pate (ILT) (A) and Denise Lewis Patrick (A)

List Price: $4.99 (Paperback – Fictional / MLK – 2003)

Martin Luther King Jr. is having some problems with his best friend, Bobby. They are going to different schools this year, and Bobby dad is not letting his son play with…

Chris Barton (A) and Eukua Holmes (ILT) 

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover –  Biography / Congresswoman Barbara Jordan – 2017) 

When Barbara Jordan talked, we listened.” —Former President of the United States, Bill Clinton

Congresswoman Barbara Jordan had a big, bold, confident voice—and she knew how to use it! Learn all about her…

Vashti Harrison (A and ILT)

List Price: $17.99 (Hardcover – Leaders and Achievers – 2019)

New York Times bestselling author-illustrator Vashti Harrison shines a bold, joyous light on black men through history.

Gary D. Schmidt (A) and Daniel Minter (ILT) 

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – Abolitionist/ Feminists / Leader – 2018)

From celebrated author Gary D. Schmidt comes a picture book biography of a giant in the struggle for civil rights, perfectly pitched for readers today.

Sojourner Truth was born into slavery but possessed a mind and…

Laura Hamilton Waxman (A)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – Biography / Science – Aerospace Engineer – 2015) 

Have you ever built a cool science project? In middle school, Aprille Ericsson won second place in a science fair. She knew she wanted to keep creating amazing science projects. As an adult, she became an…

Andrea Davis Pinkney (A) and Brian Pinkney (ILT)

List Price: $9.99 (Paperback – African American History / Free Black / Scientist Engineer / Genius – 1998)

Benjamin Banneker was born free when most blacks in this country were still enslaved. But it troubled him that not all blacks were not…

Dr. Mae Jemison (A)

A Collection of Moments in Dr. Mae’s Life

List Price: $23.95 (Hardcover – First Black Astronaut- 2021)

“The writing sings” says Publisher’s Weekly in this “inspiring autobiography.” Dr. Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman in space, is truly a modern hero with a remarkable, inspirational story to tell.

…

Jayne Pettit (A)

List Price: $7.99 (Paperback – Biography / Poet Activist – 1998)

Journey of the Heart is a biography about the life of Maya Angleou. In the book, the author, traces the now a prominent African American woman life from…

Kelly Starling Lyons (A) and Laura Freeman (ILT)

List Price $20.95 (Hardcover – Builder / Designer / Architect – 2021)

The Story of Architect Philip Freelon

You’ve seen the building. Now meet the man whose life went into it.

Philip Freelon’s grandfather was an acclaimed painter of the Harlem…

Margot Lee Shettterly (A) 

List Price: $9.99 (Paperback – Biography / Science – Aerospace Engineer – 2015) 

This inspiring biography tells the story of Katherine Johnson, an African American mathematician. An inspiring figure in the history of STEM, she eventually worked on the mission to send a man to the moon.  Her story…

James Buckley Jr. (A) Who HQ (A) and Jake Murray (ILT)

List Price: $5.99 (Paperback – Black Leader/ Business / Education  – 2020)

Learn how a slave became one of the leading influential African American intellectuals of the late 19th century.

African American educator, author, speaker, and advisor to presidents of the…

Vanda Micheaux Nelson (A) and R. Gregory Christie (ILT)

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – African History / Harlem Bookstore – 2016)

“In the 1930s, Lewis’s dad, Lewis Michaux Sr., had an itch he needed to scratch a book itch. How to scratch it? He started a bookstore in Harlem and named it the…

Angela Johnson (A) and Loren Long (ILT)

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – Flying / Tuskegee Airmen – 2007)

All he ever wanted to do was fly. Three-time Coretta Scott King Award-winning author Angela Johnson and New York Times bestselling illustrator Loren Long invite readers to ponder a…

Janice N. Harrington (A) and Theodore Taylor lll

List Price: $18.50 (Hardcover – First Black Entomologist – 2019)

Can spiders learn? How do ants find their way home? Can bugs see color? All of these questions buzzed endlessly in Charles Henry Turner’s mind. As the first Black entomologist, he was fascinated by plants and…

This collectible book by distinguished public historian Velma Maia Thomas offers an intimate look at black history in America with exclusive accounts, photographs, and interactive and removable artifacts.

Presented in three parts—Lest We Forget, Freedom’s Children, and We Shall Not Be Moved—the history comes to life…

Toyomi Igus (A) and Michelle Wood (ILT)

List Price: $16.99 (Hardcover –  African American Culture and  Music – 2010) 

“We free now, baby,” mama whispers as we bounce and sway with the wagon’s twists and turns over roads of clay through the land that oppressed us to a new world, a…

A powerful and vibrantly illustrated account of the resilience and dedication of the unsung Black heroines who played a major role in World War II. Perfect for fans of Hidden Figures, Opal Lee and What It Means to Be Free, and Tyler Perry’s blockbuster film The Six Triple Eight.

In 1944, the United States was…

Arlisha Norwood (A)

List Price: $14.99 (Paperback – Black Leaders In History  – 2020)

Meet extraordinary black heroes throughout history―biographies for kids ages 8 to 12

You’re invited to meet ancient Egyptian rulers, brilliant scientists, legendary musicians, and civil rights activists―all in the same book! Black Heroes introduces you to 51 black…

Jason Alexander (A) and Ibrahm X. Kendi (A) 

A timely, crucial, and empowering exploration of racism–and antiracism–in America

This is NOT a history book.
This…

Yona Zeldis McDonough (A), Nancy Harrison (ILT) and Stephen Marchesi (ILT)

List Price: $5.99 (Paperback – Biography – Activist /Civil Rights Leader – 2010)

In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama. This seemingly small act triggered civil rights protests across America and earned…

Emily Easton (A) and Ziyue Chen (ILT)

List Price: $7.99 (Paperback – Protesters/ Activists – 2021)

With a foreword from a Parkland shooting survivor, this lushly illustrated picture book introduces young readers to America’s most influential protesters–from Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King Jr. to contemporary groundbreakers like transgender teen Jazz Jennings. Perfect for those…

Herb Boyd (A) and Shey Wolvek Pfister (ILT)

List Price: $14.95. (Paperback – Graphic Novel / African History – 2007)

African History For Beginners explores the rich history of this continent of contrasts. Discover the glory of the Pharaohs and Towers of Zimbabwe, the cosmology of the Yoruba, the courage of the Masai…

Peter Golenbock (A) and Paul Lee (A) and (ILT)

List Price: $7.99 (Paperback – Biography / Sports / Baseball – 2005)

This is a true story about one of baseballs most heroic superstars who is best known for beating Babe Ruth’s record. Later he was admitted into Baseballs elite…

Yona Zeldis McDonough (A) and Jim Eldridge (ILT)

List Price: $5.99 (Paperback – Biography / Evangelist / Feminist – 2015)

Almost 100 years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat, Sojourner Truth was mistreated by a streetcar conductor. She took him to court–and won! Before she was Sojourner Truth, she…

Marcus Garvey (A) and Lushena Books (CONTR)

List Price: $13.95 ( Paperback – 22 Lessons/ Course of Action -2017) 

In September 1937, three years before his death, Marcus Garvey assembled a small group of his most trusted organizers. For almost a quarter of a century he had led the Universal Negro Improvement Association, at its…

Louise Borden (A), Mary Kay Kroeger (A) and Teresa Flavin (ILT)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – First Black Aviator – 2004)

When Bessie Coleman was a child, she wanted to be in school — not in the cotton fields of Texas, helping her family earn money. She wanted to be somebody significant in…

Doreen Rappaport (A) Shane Evans (ILT)

List Price: $9.99 (Paperback – History / Slave Resistance – 2005)

Ever since the first boatload of human cargo sailed to the New World, African Americans have waged a courageous struggle for dignity and freedom from slavery. Using true accounts, author Doreen Rappaport puts readers…

Phil Bildner (A) and John Holyfield (ILT)

List Price: $17.99 (Hardcover – African American History/Aviation – 2010)

The extraordinary story of James Banning, the first African-American pilot to fly across country

During the Great Depression, the ace black pilot James Banning decided to fly from coast to coast to serve as an…

Kari Cornell (A)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – Biography / Science – Urban Biologist- 2016 )

After earning degrees studying animal behavior, Danielle Lee wanted to share her love of science with young people. Through urban outreach she has brought budding scientists into professional labs. She’s walked them through the steps of the…

Lesa Cline- Ransome (A) and James E. Ransome (ILT) 

List Price: $8.99 (Hardcover – Biography – African American Leader / Pioneer – 2019) 

Who was Harriet Tubman before she was Harriet?

Description: We know her today as Harriet Tubman, but in her lifetime she was called by many names. As General Tubman she…

Walter Dean Myers (A), Leonard Jenkins (ILT)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – Biography / Leader / Revolutionary – 2003)

“I believe in recognizing every human being
as a human being, neither white, black, brown, nor red.”

This was just one of the messages that Malcolm X brought to people of…

Kathleen Krull (A) and David Diaz (ILT)

List Price: $8.95 (Paperback – Sports / Track Athlete / Handicap / Determination – 2000)

Description: Wilma Rudolph was born in Tennessee in 1940 and contracted polio just before her fifth birthday. She was not expected to walk…

Nico Medina (A) Who HQ and Gregory Copeland (ILT)

List Price: $6.99 (Paperback – Biography / Legendary Singer – 2018)

There is only one QUEEN OF SOUL!  Discover why Aretha Franklin garners so much R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

Aretha Franklin is a musical and cultural icon who created an amazing legacy spanning six decades! Born in…

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (A) and Ray Obstfeld (A) and A.G. Ford (ILT)

List Price: $8.99 (Paperback – African American History / Scientists – 2013)

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, basketball legend and the NBA’s all time leading scorer, champions a lineup of little-known African-American inventors in this lively, kid-friendly book.

Did you know that James West invented…

Aliki (A and ILT)

List Price: $7.99 (Paperback – Biography / Scientist – 1988)

From humble beginnings, George Washington Carver became one of the greatest scientist in the United States. His dedication to helping his people led him to find over three hundred uses for…

Helaine Becker (A) and Tiemdow Phumiruk (ILT)

List Price: $19.99 (Hardcover – Mathematician / NASA Genius – 2019)

The bold story of Katherine Johnson, an African-American mathematician who worked for NASA during the space race and was depicted in the film Hidden Figures.

You’ve likely heard of the historic Apollo 13 moon landing. But do you know…

Kwame Alexander (A) and Kadir Nelson (ILT)

List Price: $19.99 (Hardcover – Poem / Achievements of Great African American  – 2019)

The Newbery Award-winning author of THE CROSSOVER pens an ode to black American triumph and tribulation, with art from a two-time Caldecott Honoree.

Originally performed for ESPN’s The Undefeated, this poem is…

Kadir Nelson (A and ILT)

List Price: $10.99 (Paperback – African American History / Colonial Days to Civil Rights Movement – 2011)

Kadir Nelson’s Heart and Soul—the winner of numerous awards, including the 2012 Coretta Scott King Author Award and Illustrator Honor, and the recipient of five starred reviews—now features eight pages of discussion…

From the Newberry Honor–winning author of Genesis Begins Again comes a shimmering picture book that shines the light on Zora Neale Hurston, the extraordinary writer and story catcher extraordinaire who changed the face of American literature.

Zora was a girl who hankered for tales like bees for honey. Now, her mama…

Bonnie Bader (A) and Nancy Harrison (ILT)

List Price: $5.99 (Paperback – Biography / Preacher and Civil Rights Leader  – 2007)

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was only 25 when he helped organize <span…