In the past few years, I’ve created a list of picture books that help children understand Black history. I also have a post of picture books about Black women leaders from a variety of fields. Now that my youngest is growing up, and we’re homeschooling, I’m planning what chapter books we’ll read for Black History Month.

Below you’ll find my favorites I’ve discovered. After each book title, I’ve included the time period the book is set in.

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Chapter Books for Black History Month: 1850 – 1899

Eliza’s Freedom Road by Jerdine Nolen (1854)

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When young Eliza’s mother is sold away, she’s left with only her mother’s stories and her quilt to remember her by. Abbey the cook looks after Eliza as best she can. When Eliza overhears the Master say that she may be traded in a slave auction, she knows she must try to escape.

She follows the advice of Old Joe on how to find a safe house, so that Harriet can help her find her way to freedom. As she makes the journey from slavery to freedom, she keeps a diary that will open children’s eyes to the risks and hopes that pursuing freedom brought. (Recommended for ages 10+, #ownvoices)

Related Post: How should we talk with children about slavery?

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis (1850s)

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In Buxton, Canada, eleven-year-old Elijah is known for being the first baby born into freedom in their settlement of people who have escaped slavery. (He’s also known for having thrown up on Frederick Douglass, which he wishes people would forget.)

When someone steals the money Elijah’s friend has been saving to purchase his family’s freedom, Elijah steps in. Soon he’s on a journey into America to find the thief, seeing firsthand the horrors of slavery that his parents once experienced. His mother has always thought of Elijah as “fra-gile,” but he’ll show his true strength in his attempt to get back home. (Recommended for ages 9 – 12, #ownvoices)

Chapter Books for Black History Month: 1900 – 1949

Zora and Me: The Summoner by Victoria Bond (1904)

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In The Summoner, Bond offers a fictionalized account of Zora Neale Hurston’s final year in Eatonville, Florida before she left for boarding school. Eatonville was the first incorporated all-Black town in the United States. Because off this, it faced hostility and attacks on its sovereignty from neighboring white communities.

As the book opens Zora and her best friend Carrie (who narrates the book) share the fear of their town when a lynch mob arrives to capture a fugitive who’s taken refuge there.

Soon after one of Eatonville’s oldest and most peculiar residents, Chester Cools, dies. When Zora and Carrie pass the cemetery, they discover that his grave has been robbed.

Soon the girls and their friend Teddy are trying to understand not only the racist terror their town faces. They also argue about whether something supernatural is taking place. Meaninwhile, Zora’s father (who she doesn’t get along with) is running for Mayor of the town. (Recommended for ages 10 – 14, #ownvoices)

Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper (1932)

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Draper’s own grandmother had to leave school in the 5th grade to help her parents on their farm. Reading her journal inspired Stella by Starlight, a moving tale of how a Black community works to protect each other in a tiny North Carolina town.

When Stella and her little brother Jojo glimpse Klan members meeting at night, her parents immediately gather the other adults for a meeting. Stella sometimes sneaks out at night to write, something that’s hard for her to do but that she wants to improve. Still, she knows better than to write about what she saw of the Klansmen; that could be dangerous.

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Even though the kids and adults alike are afraid, many still finds ways to challenge the racism around them. Stella’s friend Tony admits he sneaks over to the white school to run on their paved track. Pastor Patton even dares to encourage his flock to register to vote, a message Stella’s father takes to heart.

While there are no tidy happy endings in Stella by Starlight, there is plenty of courage, warmth, and hope. (Recommended for ages 9 – 13, #ownvoices)

The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis (1936)

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Even though it’s the Great Depression and Father hasn’t been able to find work for a long time, Deza Malone knows that her family is “on a journey to a place called wonderful.” On the last day of school, her beloved teacher offers to give special lessons to Deza next school year because she’s such a gifted writer. And even though her brother Jimmy isn’t nearly as smart as she is, he’s admired by everyone for his gorgeous singing voice.

But when Deza’s Father doesn’t come home on time from a fishing trip to Lake Michigan, wonderful seems pretty far off. One thing leads to another, and soon Deza, Jimmy, and Mother are on the road in search of both work and Father. (Recommended for ages 8 – 12, #ownvoices)

Related post: 12 children’s books by Black authors about Black scientists and inventors

Betty Before X by Ilyasah Shabazz and Renée Watson (1945-1948)

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Long before she met and married Malcolm X, Dr. Betty Shabazz was a girl growing up in Detroit. After spending her first six years living with her loving Aunt Annie Mae in Georgia, Betty moves to Detroit to live with her mother, who she’s never known before.

While Betty knows her mother loves her, it often seems like she doesn’t like her. Spending time with Mrs. Malloy from church makes her happier, and she’s intrigued by the work Mrs. Malone does with the Housewives’ League. They organize support for Black businesses and encourage boycotts of white businesses who won’t hire Negro people.

When Betty gets involved in the League, she sees how she can make change in her community. She also learns to affirm her own worth as a dark-brown-skinned girl in a country shaped by colorism. (Recommended for ages 10 – 14, #ownvoices)

Related Post: 15 books to help kids understand Black Lives Matter

Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransome (1946)

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The move from rural Alabama to Chicago has been painful for 11 year old Langston. Not only is he is still grieving his mother, but his father seems lost without her. A group of boys at school bully him for being a “country boy,” while his heart quietly aches for the familiarity and extended family of Alabama.

But Langston does discover something in Chicago he couldn’t experience at home: the library. When the librarian asks if he’s named for Langston Hughes, young Langston becomes fascinated with Hughes’ poetry. (Recommended for ages 8 – 12, #ownvoices)

Chapter Books for Black History Month: 1950 to the present

This Promise of Change: One Girl’s Story in the Fight for School Equality by Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy (1956)

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When I learned a few years ago that Clinton, Tennessee was one of the first Southern towns to integrate its high school, I was surprised. I’ve lived in Tennessee my whole life, and this was news to me!

In an emotional, fast-paced novel-in-verse, Boyce tells her own story as one of the twelve Black students who integrated Clinton High School. School officials were complying with a court order, and at first Jo Ann and the other Black students did not face much open hostility.

When white supremacists who didn’t live in Clinton showed up to agitate, quiet complaints about desegregation among Clinton’s white residents became an open, violent, roar. Jo Ann sound found herself speaking to reporters and telling their story on the national news. Her optimism that she could make friends at her new school faded, but her determination to stay at the school did not. (Recommended for ages 8 – 14, #ownvoices)

Related Post: More than Martin: 15 children’s books about the civil rights movement

Becoming Muhammad Ali by James Patterson and Kwame Alexander (1958)

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Long before the world knew him as Muhammad Ali, Cassius Clay already knew that he had a special gift. After all, many of the Clay men did. His father was a gifted artist, and his grandfather had been an incredible ball player. But his dad told him that neither of them could pursue those careers because “it’s a white world.” Still, they wanted him to remember who he was.

While Cassius struggled in school, it was clear he was smart. His best friend Lucky, who narrates the prose chapters of the book also remembers how disciplined Cassius was. He dreamed big, and seemed to have no doubt he would become famous.

Lucky’s narration alternates with poems told from Cassius’ perspective about everything from the segregation of his hometown Louisville, to the fire engine red bike that surprises him at Christmas, to sizing up a bully who seems ready to fight. (Recommended for ages 8 – 12, #ownvoices)

P.S. Be Eleven by Rita Williams-Garcia (1968)

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This sequel to One Crazy Summer is just as laugh-out-loud funny as the first book in the series. Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern are back in Brooklyn with their Dad after spending months with their poet and Black Panther revolutionary mother. The girls feel different, but their grandmother’s ideas about how Black people should act means that they “have to keep most of what we learned in Oakland to ourselves.”

But it’s not just the girls who are different. Their father suddenly seems so happy, and it turns out he has a new girlfriend. Delphine isn’t too happy about her father acting like a teenager! Uncle Darnell is home from Vietnam, but without his old light-hearted manner.

While her grandmother pressures her to act like a grown-up, letters from her mother remind Delphine to be eleven while she can. (Recommended for ages 8 – 12, #ownvoices)

Clean Getaway by Nic Stone (1968/present day)

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Once I picked up Clean Getaway, I could not put it down!

Scoob’s gotten into trouble a couple of times at school recently, but his Dad won’t listen to his side of the story. Instead, Dad cancels their spring break trip and grounds him. So when G’ma tells him she wants to go on a road trip – and he might even miss some school – Scoob is all for it.

On their first stop in their trip across the South, Scoob (who is Black) notice some people giving him and G’ma (who is white) funny looks. As G’ma starts to tell him more about the story of her marriage with G’pop, Scoob realizes how hard it was for them to be an interracial couple during the 60’s.

Even though G’ma is Scoob’s favorite person, she’s acting stranger and stranger as the trip goes on. She won’t answer his Dad’s frantic phone calls, avoids Scoob’s questions about why G’pop went to prison, and even dines and dashes at a restaurant. Soon Scoob is longing for the person who’s been so hard on him, his Dad. But how can he reach him? (Recommended for ages 8 – 12, #ownvoices)

Malcolm and Me by Robin Farmer (1973)

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Roberta’s 13th birthday has turned out to be one of the worst days of her life. When she calls Thomas Jefferson a hypocrite during history class, Sister Elizabeth hits her and tells her to “go back to Africa.” Without thinking, Roberta hits back. Soon she’s suspended and grounded by her Mother. The same night, her parents have a huge fight and her father leaves.

At least the 3 day suspension will give Roberta plenty of time to finish reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X. There’s so much she can identify in his story, and Roberta’s knows writing is her own superpower. When she finds out that she won’t be allowed to compete in the school’s essay contest, she’s furious. Why won’t her mother take her side for once? (Recommended for ages 13+, #ownvoices)

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