One of the goals of the Upper School Diversity Committee is to celebrate all types of cultures and identities. Therefore, we want to highlight and recognize Black History Month this February!  Black History Month focuses on a part of American history that is specific to that identity, representation, and diversity among Black Americans and the African diaspora. Throughout the month, we would like you all to reflect on the importance of Black history and culture as well as the role it plays in American History. We have collaborated with MLK Club to come up with a list of book recommendations for Black History Month that go with this year’s theme of Resilience. We believe that this theme best represents Black History, especially in the context of this year. We would love for you to take a look at our list of our recommendations and consider reading a couple of books throughout the month of February, and hopefully for months to follow. These books cover many topics that tell Black stories that are mostly by Black authors. As you scroll you will find the books are categorized by grade division to best fit each reader!  We took a lot of time to formulate this list and we hope that you have as much fun reading these books as we did!

 

Lower School Books

Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison 

Black is a Rainbow Color by Angela Joy 

Dream Big Little one by Vashiti Harrison

If You Were a Kid During the Civil Rights Movement by Gwendolyn Hooks

The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis

Can I Touch Your Hair?: Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship by Charles Waters and Irene Latham

Something Happened in Our Town by Donald Moses and Marianne Celano

Who was Series: Louis Armstrong, Martin Luther King Jr, Federick Douglas, Jesse Owens, George Washinton Carver, Sojourner Truth, Stevie Wonder, Booker T. Washington, Aretha Franklin, Ida B. Wells, Duke Ellington

Who is Series: Kamala Harris, Venus and Serena Williams, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Barack & Michelle Obama

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia 

The ABC’s of Bldk History by Rio Cortez 

Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine and Kadir Nelson

The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles

Rosa by Nikki Giovanni 

 

Middle School Books

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor 

Little and Lion by Brandy Colbert 

One Crazy Summer by Rita Willams-Garcia

Bud not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

Monsters by Walter Dean Myers

Can I Touch Your Hair?: Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship by Charles Waters and Irene Latham

Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper

The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine 

The Blossoming Universe of Violet Diamond by Brenda Woods

 

Upper School Books

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sing by Maya Angelou

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin 

Becoming by Michelle Obama

A Promise Land by Barack Obama

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Assata: An Autobiography by Assata Shakur

Let Me Hear a Rhyme by Tiffany D. Jackson 

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Beloved by Toni Morrison 

Between the World and Me by Ta-nehisi Coates 

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson 

Can I Touch Your Hair?: Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship by Charles Waters and Irene Latham

A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines

The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisis Coates

Days of Grace by Arthur Ashe

Malcolm X Speaks by George Breitman

Born A Crime by Trevor Noah

Best African American Essays 2009 by Gerald Early and Debra J. Dickerson

Best African American Fiction 2009 by Gerald Early and E. Lynn Harris

The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore

Can You Hear Me Now? by Micheal Eric Dyson

The Micheal Eric Dyson Reader by Micheal Eric Dyson

The Soul of a Butterfly by Muhammad Ali

Dear Martin by Nic Stone

Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas 

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson 

Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson 

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

On The Come Up by Angie Thomas