Racism Annotated Bibliography

by

Dr. Ava L. McCall

 

 

● Children’s Literature

● Background Resources On Racism

● Social Action Projects To Address Racism

 

 

Books dealing with events leading up to and including the Civil Rights Movement are highlighted in red.

 

Children’s Literature

 

Adler, D. A. (1994). A picture book of Sojourner Truth. New York: Holiday House.

 

Picture book, elementary level. Adler depicts Sojourner Truth's life from birth on when she carried the name of her owner and the injustices of slavery including having her brothers and sisters sold away from her parents, living in cold, wet, one-room cellars, and being kept from choosing one's own mate. After Sojourner was promised freedom by her owner and then denied it, she ran away and her freedom was paid for by someone sympathetic to the unfairness of her servitude. Sojourner became a preacher who spoke out against slavery and women's inequality. She became an inspirational speaker despite being unable to read or write. During the Civil War, Sojourner raised money to feed African American soldiers, worked with soldiers in chasing away slave traders, counseled freed slaves in the Freedman's Hospital, and protested against segregated streetcars until they were integrated.

 

Adler, D. A. (2004). Enemies of slavery. New York: Holiday House.

 

Picture book, elementary level. Adler profiles 14 people whom he believes fought against slavery. Well-known abolitionists are included, such as Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Tubman. He also includes people who published books, newspapers, and pamphlets criticizing slavery, such as Harriet Beecher Stowe, Elijah Lovejoy, William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and Theodore Dwight Weld. Those who used or planned violence to free slaves, such as John Brown, Nat Turner, and Denmark Vesey are portrayed. One questionable enemy of slavery is Abraham Lincoln who freed slaves only in the Confederate states during the Civil War.

 

Bausum, A. (2006). Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the front lines of the civil rights movement. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society.

 

Upper elementary/middle school level. The well-researched text includes the perspectives and experiences of African American John Lewis and European American Jim Zwerg and their participation in civil rights movement, including the Freedom Rides in 1961. The book documents the challenges and sacrifices African American and European American civil rights activists encountered who were equally disparaged by proponents of racial segregation and inequality. The author investigates reasons for Lewis’s and Zwerg’s involvement in the civil rights movement, clarifying their diverse backgrounds but common experience of their families’ disapproval of their participation. Both Lewis and Zwerg completed training in non-violent protest, were beaten during their protest activities, arrested, jailed, and believed they would be killed during the Freedom Ride. Lewis became a leader in the civil rights movement and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives representing Georgia in 1986 and has served since then. Zwerg first served as a minister and later became involved in community service and business. At the end of the text is an annotated list of Freedom Riders, a timeline of key events in the two men’s lives, a list of additional books and resources for learning more about the civil rights movement, and the author’s research notes, citations, and bibliography.

 

Beals, M. P. (1995). Warriors don’t cry: A searing memoir of the battle to integrate Little Rock’s Central High. New York: Pocket Books.

 

Middle school level/adult resource. This text is Melba Pattillo Beals’ fascinating, painful account of her experiences as one of the nine African American teenagers chosen to integrate Little Rock’s Central High School in 1957. The text is based on the author’s diary as well as her mother’s notes and collection of newspaper clippings during the 1957-58 school year. It reveals the deeply rooted racism among people in Little Rock in the resistance to the integration of African Americans in the previously all-White Central High School. The governor and the Arkansas National Guard refused to allow the African American students to enter the school until President Eisenhower insisted. Mobs of European American parents shouted insults, spit on, and threatened violence against the students. European American students verbally abused, threatened, and physically attacked the African American students. Some teachers and administrators refused to provide any help or support to the African American students when they complained about the attacks. The only time the author spoke of feeling relatively safe was when she had a personal body guard, a member of a federal troop sent to protect the African American students and control the violence. The author credits the prayer and support from her grandmother, mother, and church in helping her cope with these painful racist experiences.

 

Bial, R. (1995). The underground railroad. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

 

Picture book, upper elementary level. The text contains many photographs, sketches, and other printed materials related to slavery and the Underground Railroad. Pictures of where slaves and their owners lived show the contrast in the lives of these two groups. Pictures also reveal rivers slaves crossed as they escaped, wagons, tunnels, and secret rooms they hid in, and signals from stations indicating safe houses. The text provides important information about slavery and the Underground Railroad, and the photographs help to make the hardships of slavery and the dangerous conditions of escaping on the Underground Railroad come alive for the reader.

 

Bial, R. (1997). The strength of these arms: Life in the slave quarters. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

 

Picture book, upper elementary level. The text is embellished with many photographs illustrating the contrast in life between slaves and slave owners in their housing, furniture, and eating utensils. The author emphasizes the strength and spirit of the slaves in holding onto their African heritage; developing their own social system; building strong, extended families; teaching each other to read and write; developing skills in such crafts as iron work, quilting, and basketry; making their crude dwellings into homes for their extended families; stretching the limited food allotted to them through gardening, fishing, and hunting; and recognizing the injustice of being denied the benefits from their own work on farms. Bial encourages readers to recognize that slaves were not inherently slaves, but people who were wrongfully enslaved and resisted this life with dignity and courage. We should respect how well these slaves coped with a racist society.

 

Bland, C. (1995). The conspiracy of the secret nine. New York: Silver Moon.

 

Upper elementary level. This novel is based on an actual event, a riot led by the White Government Union to force many African Americans out of the town of Wilmington, North Carolina. The story is told by a young African American boy, a friend of the son of a man who became a member of the White Government Union. At the time (1890), Wilmington was sixty percent African American with many African Americans participating in the local government and owning their own businesses. Wilmington also had one of the few African American daily newspapers. The White Government Union or Redeemers feared the growing power of African Americans within the community and wanted to ban African Americans from government, deny them voting rights, close schools for African Americans, and prevent the racial integration of neighborhoods. The riot ended the boys' friendship and resulted in deaths and the loss of homes for many African Americans.

 

Bridges, R. (1999). Through my eyes. New York: Scholastic.

 

Picture book, upper elementary level. The author tells her story of being the only African American child to integrate William Franz Elementary School in New Orleans in 1960 and many of her later experiences precipitated by this bold action. She describes her memories of being escorted by U.S. marshals to school, the yelling, racist crowds outside before and after school, and spending most of the school year being the only child in her classroom. The racial threats made against Ruby outside the school were tempered with the kindness of Ruby’s teacher Mrs. Henry. These childhood memories are interspersed with broader explanations of the riots caused by European American resistance to racial integration, the conflicting views of her parents about her role integrating the public schools, ways her family was both punished and supported for Ruby’s attendance at a “White” school, and documentation of her experience by Robert Coles, John Steinbeck, and Norman Rockwell. The author includes Mrs. Henry’s description of the year she spent with Ruby in first grade and her own experience in second grade with a teacher who did not seem to like her. The book closes with the author’s description of her current work with the Ruby Bridges Foundation to strengthen the school she first integrated.

 

Bruchac, J. (1997). Eagle song. New York: Puffin.

 

Elementary level. The author tells the story of Danny Bigtree, a contemporary Mohawk boy, who moved to New York city from Akwesasne, the Mohawk reservation on the U.S.-Canadian border. Danny, his mother, and father had to move due to the reservation’s high unemployment rate, but Danny encountered considerable prejudice and discrimination from other children at his school. They called him “chief” and “redskin” and implied he should be wearing a headdress and living in a teepee or ignore him completely. After Danny’s father comes to school and explains some of the cultural beliefs of the Iroquois people, that enemies can become friends, Danny has the courage to initiate friendship with a former “enemy.”

 

Bruchac, J. (1998). The arrow over the door. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers.

 

Upper elementary level. Within the text, the author describes an historical meeting between Quakers and Native people in 1777. Although he creates fictional characters and dialogue and interactions among the characters, Bruchac bases the text on considerable research on Quakers, Native nations in the northeast, and the historic meeting between a small group of Quakers and Native people at a meeting house in 1777. The text illustrates some of the racist views of Native people at this time, especially the “dangerous savage” image and the lack of acceptance from colonists, even when Native people spoke English and adopted European style clothing, housing, and the Christian religion. In contrast, Quakers viewed Native people as children of God and sought friendships with them. The text provides very interesting insights into how Native people might have viewed “Americans” and “English” at this time.

 

Bruhac, J. (1998). The heart of a chief. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers.

 

Upper elementary/middle school level. The author creates a fictional character living on a fictional reservation in the northeast in order to raise some of the problems on reservations today. He also raises the issue of racism by portraying the demeaning and harmful effects for Native people when sports teams use Indian names for their mascots. Residents of the Penacook Reservation struggle with poverty and alcoholism and are divided in a decision to build a casino as one means of ameliorating their poverty. When the main character, Chris, and a small group of junior high school students choose the topic of using Indian names for sports teams as the topic for their language arts project, they engage in a type of social action against racism. They raise awareness among students, teachers, administrators and other members of the community about the negative impact of Indian mascots on everyone.

 

Bruchac, J. (1999). The trail of tears. New York: Random House.

 

Picture book, elementary level. The author traces Cherokee history, including their early trading relationship with the English, their adoption of some aspects of an European American lifestyle, several members’ growing wealth, and the development of the Cherokee alphabet. He also describes the recurring conflicts between the Cherokee and the U.S. Government and European Americans over Cherokee land. In order to gain Cherokee’s valuable land in the east in parts of Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina and North Carolina and any resources on the land, the government used the racist practices of breaking treaties and allowing European Americans to take Cherokee land. The author explains the events leading up to the trail of tears, including the questionable treaty signed by Cherokee who did not represent the entire nation, the denial of the Cherokee people’s civil rights by herding them into camps and taking away all weapons, and the poor conditions of the camps which resulted in many deaths. Fortunately, one of the Cherokee leaders negotiated for the people to make their own arrangements to travel west to Indian Territory, during which 4,000 people died. Despite the hardships and oppression at the hands of the U.S. Government, the Cherokee became prosperous and today two Cherokee Nations exist, one in North Carolina and another in Oklahoma.

 

Bruchac, J. (2000). Crazy Horse’s vision. New York: Lee & Low.

 

Picture book, elementary level. The author’s notes provide additional context for this brief biographical sketch of Crazy Horse while the illustrator’s notes explain the influence of ledger art on the beautiful illustrations he created for the text. The author focuses on the Lakota leader Crazy Horse’s early years, when his parents first named him Curly. As a boy, Curly was quiet, brave, generous, and a good rider. However, his people’s traditional life was disrupted by conflict with Wasichu settlers and soldiers. When Curly witnessed several Lakota people’s attack by White soldiers, he sought a vision to help his people. His vision advised him to “keep nothing for yourself” and he would be unharmed. When his father eventually learned of the vision, he gave Curly his own name, Tashunka Witco which means Crazy Horse in English. Readers can gain additional insight into the cultural values of the Lakota and such leaders as Crazy Horse, which enabled them to resist U.S. Government efforts to diminish them.

 

Bruchac, J. (2002). Navajo long walk: The tragic story of a proud people’s forced march from their homeland. Washington DC: National Geographic Society.

 

Picture book, upper elementary level. The author begins the text with the Navajo or Dine (the Navajo people’s name for themselves) creation story, which illustrates the close connection of the Navajo people to their homeland, Dinetah. He then describes the Navajo lifestyle and how it was changed by the Spanish introduction of sheep and goats, and the Pueblo’s introduction of agriculture. The text includes American racist actions directed against the Navajos in not understanding the Navajo political system, in taking land away from the Navajos through treaties, in aligning themselves with Navajo enemies, and in forcing the Navajo people to leave their homeland. The forced 470-mile walks from Fort Canby to Fort Sumner were staged for humiliation and hardship for the Navajo people. Soldiers rode while the Navajo walked, slept outside with no shelter or blankets, and fed poorly. When over 8,750 Navajo crowded into Fort Sumner in 1865, there were not enough food or other resources. The new reservation itself was too small for the number of people, forced enemies (Mescalero Apaches and Navajo) to live together, and had inadequate housing, firewood, food, blankets, and medicines. Conditions were so dismal on the reservation that a Congressional hearing was held. Finally, in 1868 a treaty was signed which allowed the Navajos to return to their homeland. The Navajo nation grew, their herds increased, and they regained most of their homeland. The Navajos now live on the largest reservation in the United States.

 

Bruchac, J. (2003). The warriors. Plain City, OH: Darby Creek.

 

Upper elementary/middle school level. The author portrays the changes a contemporary fictional character, Jake, an Iroquois boy living on a reservation in Canada, must experience when he moves to an elite boarding school in Maryland. Jake is a skilled lacrosse player who understands the deep meaning of the game to the Iroquois people. After his move to the boarding school, he encounters racist depictions of Native people in a lacrosse display, stereotyped and racist stories about Native people in history class, and boys who try to befriend him with nicknames such as “Chief” and “Super Chief.” The fictional story illustrates the discomfort a Native youth feels when he is surrounded by European American, wealthy boys whose culture permeates the school with no regard for Native culture. No one shows any interest in learning about the Native youth, his beliefs, and cultural background. Instead, most other students and faculty concentrate on how Jake’s lacrosse skills can bring honor to the school. When the lacrosse coach is hurt, Jake is able to bring the students and faculty together to play lacrosse as a prayer for the coach’s healing.

 

Bruchac, J. (2004). Jim Thorpe’s bright path. New York: Lee & Low Books.

 

Picture book, upper elementary level. The text portrays the early years of Jim Thorpe’s life, his birth to a Pottowatomi woman and a Sac and Fox father in Oklahoma and his unhappy years in Agency Boarding School where he was forced to wear strange clothes and punished for speaking his first language. Because of the poor sanitation and crowded conditions at the boarding school, Jim’s twin brother died from pneumonia. Jim ran away from this school and later attended Haskell Institute in Kansas, another boarding school for Native children and youth. At this school the Native students learned trades, and Jim discovered his interest in football and track. Despite the tragic death of both parents, Jim continued with his education at Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania where he became an outstanding athlete in track and football. In the author’s note, Bruchac expands on Jim Thorpe’s life as the dominant sports figure of the 20^th century and Thorpe’s effort to improve conditions for American Indians.

 

Buckley, G. (2003). American patriots: The story of Blacks in the military from the Revolution to Desert Storm. New York: Crown.

 

The author provides a detailed account of the racism, discrimination, and prejudice African Americans experienced as they served in the armed forces from the beginning of U.S. history through today. They were forced into segregated units, given the least desirable tasks, and prevented from becoming commanding officers. However, despite this oppression, greater percentages of African Americans volunteered for duty than their representation in the general population. They fought for “freedom” in different places in the world when they did not experience “freedom” in their own country. Only recently have African American military heroes been honored for their contributions during World War II. Readers finish the text with considerable understanding of the racism within the armed forces and African American individuals and units who overcame such oppression with heroic actions.

 

Bunting, E. (1995). Cheyenne again. New York: Clarion.

 

Picture book, elementary level. The author portrays the main character, Young Bull, and his experiences of being forced to attend an Indian boarding school away from his home and family. Young Bull's mother does not want him to go, but his father believes he must "learn the White Man's ways." Young Bull describes his perceptions of the boarding school including the lonely looking sleeping room, the cutting of his braids, the exchange of his buckskins and moccasins for a scratchy wool uniform and boots which hurt his feet. Young Bull and the other students are forbidden to speak Cheyenne and forced to attend church, learn carpentry and a Eurocentric version of U.S. History in order to lose their Native American cultures and become assimilated. With one teacher's encouragement, Young Bull remembers his culture and being able to be "Cheyenne again."

 

Bunting, E. (1998). So far from the sea. New York: Clarion.

 

Picture book, upper elementary level. Laura Iwasaki, the narrator, tells about her family’s visit to her grandfather’s grave at the Manzanar War Relocation Camp in California before they move from California to Massachusetts. The colored illustrations reveal the gravity of the family visit while the black and white illustrations depict scenes from the relocation camp when it was filled with 10,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. Although Laura’s father explains why the U.S. Government interned Japanese Americans and insist they must “move on,” Laura expresses the injustice of this action toward American citizens of Japanese descent. Despite these two distinct perspectives on this historical event, both Laura and her father know the devastating effects on Laura’s grandfather, whose broken spirit led to his death in the relocation camp. In the “Afterword,” the author clarifies the Iwasaki family is fictional, but many Japanese American families had similar experiences in these internment camps.

 

Burleigh, R. (2007). Stealing home: Jackie Robinson against the odds. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

 

Picture book, elementary level. The book has two texts. The simple, main text describes Jackie Robinson’s style on the baseball field as he steals home and the hearts of the baseball fans who cheer him during the World Series game in 1955. The run contributes to the Brooklyn Dodgers ultimate victory in the World Series that year. The smaller, more complex text provides the historical context of racial segregation in the U.S. and in baseball in the 1940s and 1950s. It also portrays the racism Robinson endured from teammates and opponents, despite his successes on the baseball field. After retiring from baseball, Robinson fought against racism in the U.S.

 

Charbonneau, E. (1996). Honor to the hills. New York: Tor Books.

 

Middle school level. In this historical fiction text, the main character, Lily Woods and her mostly European American family become involved in racial issues of 1851. From their large home in the Catskills Mountains of New York, they quietly help escaping slaves, resist enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law, invited a community of freed African Americans to settle near them, and endure the racist attitudes toward the grandfather, the son of a Frenchman and a Native American woman. The author portrays the closeness among the family members as providing the strength to cope with the disapproval from the community for their anti-racist activities and for the courage to rescue a member of the freed African American settlement from slave catchers.

 

Clements, A. (2002). The jacket. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

 

Upper elementary level. The fictional story explores a European American boy’s emerging awareness of race in his school and neighborhood. After Phil, the main character, accuses an African American boy of stealing his brother’s jacket, he recognizes the accusation comes from his own racial prejudices. This revelation leads him to acknowledge racial segregation in his school and neighborhood and his and his family’s lack of friendships with African Americans. Instead, Phil’s family’s main relationship with an African American is with Lucy Taylor, who cleans their house. As Phil attempts to make amends with Daniel, whom he accused of stealing the jacket and is also Mrs. Taylor’s grandson, Phil recognizes many commonalities among the two of them. The text stimulates thinking about racial awareness, differences, and similarities.

 

Clinton, C. (1998). I, too, sing America: Three centuries of African American poetry. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

 

Upper elementary/middle school level. The text is a collection of 36 poems composed by 25 African American poets. The poems are arranged chronologically, beginning with Lucy Terry in the 1700s and early 1800s through 20^th century poets Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Maya Angelou, and Nikki Giovanni, and concluding with the recent poet laureate Rita Dove. The poems describe exclusion, discrimination, and racism present during slavery, legal racial segregation, and the continuing racial inequalities in the U.S. as well as affirm African Americans, hope for freedom, and the creation of a better world. The brief biographies of the poets also document the racism that affected their abilities to write and be heard.

 

Cohen, B. (1983). Molly's pilgrim. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard.

 

Picture book, elementary level. Molly, the third-grade main character, is made fun of by other children at school because of her Russian accent and her lack of knowledge about the American holiday Thanksgiving. When Molly understands the concept of pilgrim and explains it to her mother, her mother makes the connection between the family's flight from Russia for religious freedom to the Pilgrims' immigration to the U.S. for similar reasons. Molly's mother makes a special Russian pilgrim doll which Molly's teacher uses to broaden the concept of pilgrim and to link Thanksgiving to the Jewish holiday of Sukkos.

 

Coleman, E. (1996). White socks only. Morton Grove, IL: Albert Whitman.

 

Picture book, elementary level. The text illustrates the consequences of an African American child innocently challenging racial segregation by drinking from a water fountain labeled "Whites only." When a European American man threatens to punish her for her act, other African American people from the community began drinking from the fountain. Despite some punishment from the European American man, the story demonstrates the power of resistance to racism.

 

Coles, R. (1995). The story of Ruby Bridges. New York: Scholastic.

 

Picture book, elementary level. Based on the true story of Ruby Bridges, an African American student ordered by the court to be the first to integrate a White elementary school in New Orleans in 1960. For months when Ruby walked to school, she was escorted by federal marshals while European Americans yelled at her and carried signs communicating their anger that African Americans could attend the school. Other European American parents kept their children home so Ruby was the only student in first grade for most of the year. Every day as Ruby walked past the angry mob, she prayed for God to forgive the people who were harassing her. Her prayers also helped to keep her spirits up during the year.

 

Connelly, B. (1997). Follow the drinking gourd. Lancaster, PA: Rabbit Ears Books.

 

Picture book, elementary level. The text also includes a compact disk which portrays Morgan Freeman’s dramatic oral version of the story and the folksong “Follow the Drinking Gourd”sung by Taj Mahal. The author communicates slaves’ deep desire for freedom by their willingness to risk many dangers and hardships in order to escape. The story focuses on a slave family’s flight from slavery on the Underground Railroad after they learn the master plans to sell one of them. The family had already undergone the pain of their father’s and husband’s sale away from them. Peg Leg Joe, other slaves, and Quakers help the family escape and offer different hiding places until the family is reunited with their father and husband. Together, they continue their flight toward freedom.

 

Cooper, M. L. (1999). Indian school: Teaching the white man’s way. New York: Clarion.

 

Upper elementary/middle school level. The text describes the oppressive, racist purposes and practices of Captain Richard Pratt and the staff at Carlisle Indian School, the first governmental boarding school established for Native American children. The school was established to extinguish Native cultures and inculcate Native American students with European American values, religion, language, clothing, and ways of life. The text also depicts some of the experiences of Native students who attended Carlisle between 1879 and 1918, the years of the school’s existence. Readers are able to compare differences between traditional ways of life for Native families from several nations and the enforced changes in Native students’ dress, hair, names, language, food, and daily rituals at Carlisle. However, students also resisted these changes and sometimes benefitted from opportunities provided by the school. Beverly Slapin from the Oyate organization does not recommend this text because of its “sloppy research and superficial treatment of boarding schools.” Readers should use this text in combination with other texts which provide more authentic portrayals of boarding schools. For a complete critical analysis of the text, visit the Oyate web site.

 

Demi. (2001). Gandhi. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books.

 

Picture book, upper elementary level. The text is embellished with beautiful illustrations to portray Gandhi’s inspirational life. Readers gain insight into important events which influenced Gandhi to embrace simplicity, love, nonviolence, and service to others, especially the most oppressed and discriminated against. He experienced racism firsthand when living in South Africa from 1893 - 1915. Rather than retaliate, Gandhi formed a nonviolent mass resistance movement to work for the rights of Black South Africans, Indian people, and women living in South Africa. After returning to India in 1915, Gandhi focused on eliminating the caste system which privileged priests, princes, and soldiers. He also resisted British oppression. Gandhi encouraged Indian people to weave their own cloth rather than purchase British cloth, led a nationwide strike which shut down the country, and headed a Salt March in defiance of British law forbidding Indian people from making their own salt rather than purchase British salt. Although British control was lessened, the British also punished Gandhi by imprisoning him. When India gained independence from Great Britain in 1947, Gandhi was saddened by the civil war between Indians of Hindu faith and Indians with Muslim beliefs. His goal was that Indian people would be united despite religious differences, a belief which cost Gandhi his life. Readers may be inspired to address racism through nonviolent actions.

 

Diouf, S. A. (2001). Growing up in slavery. Brookfield, CT: Millbrook.

 

Upper elementary/middle school level. The author provides a portrayal of the experience of slavery for children. She emphasizes that despite the many cruelties of slavery, children received care and love from adult family members or other adults within the slave community. The text reviews the different circumstances leading to the enslavement of children, the unique experiences of mulatto children, and the constant fear that children would be separated from their parents. One of the cruelties of slavery was that slave children usually did not have a childhood because they were expected to begin work at the age of five or six. They often had little to eat, wore meager clothing, and slept on a pallet on the dirt floor of the slave cabin. They were expected to work hard and punished severely if they did not. Recreation was restricted to story-telling from adults, “frolics” with music and dancing, corn-shucking, a few holidays, typical games as tag, jumping rope, hide-and-seek, and circle games, and more disturbing slavery games simulating whippings, auctioning, and holding funerals. Education consisted of learning survival strategies, although some slave children learned to read and write. Gaining freedom was important for children. They ran away, were purchased by their family, or joined the Union army.

 

Duggleby, J. (1998). Story painter: The life of Jacob Lawrence. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.

 

Upper elementary/middle school level. The text is a biography of African American artist Jacob Lawrence and is illustrated with a number of Lawrence’s paintings as well as photographs of him at different times in his life. The author describes the effects of racism on Lawrence, including his family’s financial struggles, the Eurocentric school curriculum, and the racial segregation of the military and public facilities. When Jacob Lawrence lived in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance, he learned about African American history and began painting to record African American events and people. Through special projects to support artists, the recognition of his talent by galleries and museums, and his own hard work and artistic gifts, Lawrence became a well-known and prolific artist in the 1940s. He continued to document the struggles African Americans fought for equality through his paintings and teaching through the late 20^th century.

 

Duncan, D. (1996). People of the West. Boston: Little, Brown.

 

Upper elementary/middle school level. The text and numerous photographs portray the diversity of people who have lived at one time in the "West." The text portrays the racist policies of the U.S. government and the racism of European Americans toward native people, specifically the Hidatsas, the Nez Perces, and the Cayuse. European Americans and the U.S. government destroyed many tribes' food and shelter, forced them to move from their homelands, and tried to make them change their way of life and beliefs. For Chinese men, the West provided opportunities for work by building the transcontinental railroad, although these men received fewer benefits than European and European American workers earned and endured racism. The contributions these men made in helping to complete the railroad was not acknowledged, despite the loss of 1,200 Chinese lives in the process. For African Americans, opportunities to homestead in Kansas offered some respite from the few economic opportunities in the South after slavery was abolished. Racism directed against African Americans also existed in Kansas.

 

Echo-Hawk, R. C. & Echo-Hawk, W. R. (1994). Battlefields and burial grounds: The Indian struggle to protect ancestral graves in the United States. Minneapolis: Lerner.

 

Middle school level, adult resource. The authors want readers to understand how Native American graves have been dug up in order for archeologists to study deceased Native Americans and the objects buried with them. This desecration of graves is in violation of Native people’s beliefs and practices of protecting their dead and the laws which protected European Americans’ graves. The destruction of graves and the display of remains in museums is another example of the institutional racism Native people have had to contend with. The authors explain the significance of Native burial practices and the view that most Native people hold which is that archeological interest in Native American culture does not justify the digging up of Native American graves. After the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act was passed in 1990, Native people have claimed Native remains from museums and reburied them.

 

Edwards, P. D. (1997). Barefoot: Escape on the Underground Railroad. New York: HarperCollins.

 

Picture book, elementary level. This text provides an interesting perspective on the Underground Railroad, how plants and animals help "barefoot" or slaves escaping along the Underground Railroad. Because many field slaves were familiar with animal signs, they used this knowledge in their escape. When slaves heard frogs croak, they knew fresh water was nearby for drinking. When slave catchers closed in on the escaping slave, herons made warning cries, mosquitoes attacked the slave catchers, and a deer led them away from the hidden slave. Then fireflies illuminated a quilt on the outside of a house, a sign of welcome for escaping slaves. Although the text's depiction of animals' intentional assistance to escaping slaves is questionable, it does illustrate how astute slaves must be to understand plants and animals and use them in their escape from slavery.

 

Evans, F. W. (2001). A bus of our own. Morton Grove, IL: Albert Whitman.

 

Picture book, elementary level. The text is based on real events in Madison, Mississippi, a racially segregated community, after World War II. By focusing on one African American family, especially Mable Jean and her brother, readers learn of the “separate and unequal” education provided for African Americans and European Americans within the same community. African American children must walk five miles to school because they have no school bus while European American children ride a bus to their school. Even though African American families pay taxes, their tax money supports buses for only European American students. By working together, the African American community provides a school bus to allow their children to attend school throughout the school year.

 

Ferris, J. (1988). Walking the road to freedom: A story about Sojourner Truth. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda.

 

Elementary level. This book is a biography of Isabelle Hardenbergh, a slave, who was sold away from her parents, forced to marry another slave, and had five children. It tells of the hardships and escape from slavery and her struggle to keep her children with her. When she was separated from her family at midlife, she felt God's call to ministry and claimed the name Sojourner Truth. She became a well-known speaker at religious, antislavery, and women's rights meetings. Even after emancipation, Sojourner continued her fight for better lives for African American women and men.

 

Forrester, S. (1995). Sound the jubilee. New York: Puffin Books.

 

Middle school level/adult resource. The main characters in the text are fictional, but the text is based on real events which happened during the Civil War. Maddie, her older sister Angeline, younger brother Pride, and their parents were slaves on a North Carolina plantation during the Civil War. Maddie’s parents were consistently teaching their children how to survive as slaves and endure the regular humiliation of being owned by others. When the owners were concerned that the Union army may attack them and burn their property, they decided to escape to their vacation home on Nags Head, an island on the North Carolina coast, and take Maddie’s family to care for them. While they were here, Maddie’s family escaped from slavery and moved to Roanoke Island, which was recently captured by the Union army and a safe haven for escaped slaves. Unfortunately, Maddie and her family encountered the racism of some of the Northern soldiers who were supposed to help the escaped slaves settle on the island. Soldiers destroyed the simple church the growing African American community built to use for worship services and a school, threatened to whip any African Americans who came near government property, and ridiculed the African American recruits while they trained for battle. In addition, the African American soldiers were paid less than the European American soldiers and often the Union Army delayed or failed to pay this smaller amount. Although the U.S. Government initially gave land and helped the African Americans build homes on Roanoke Island, they eventually restored the land to the previous European American owners and forced the African Americans to leave.

 

Fox, M. (1997). Whoever you are. New York: Harcourt Brace.

 

Picture book, lower elementary level. The author emphasizes the similarities among children despite differences in skin, homes, schools, lands, lifestyles, and languages. She encourages young readers to recognize that other children have hearts, smiles, laughs, hurts, cries, joys, and pains just like them. By acknowledging similarities, perhaps cultural and racial differences can be embraced rather than disparaged.

 

Freedman, R. (1996). The life and death of Crazy Horse. New York: Holiday House.

 

Upper elementary/middle school level. This text is a detailed, moving narrative of Crazy Horse’s life, one of the most well-known Teton Sioux warriors. It is embellished with ledger art created by Amos Bad Heart Bull, a cousin of Crazy Horse, who lived in the late 1800s and completed 400 pictographs depicting the history of the Oglala Sioux, one of the seven tribes of the Teton Sioux. The author encourages readers to empathize with Crazy Horse and his people by providing a strong “insider’s” perspective on the Sioux and the hardships they endured at the hands of the U.S. Government. During the mid 1800s when Crazy Horse was growing up, the Teton Sioux were the strongest and largest Native American nation. By the time Crazy Horse became a man, the Teton Sioux were fighting to save their hunting grounds and lifestyle, which were threatened by invading European Americans and U.S. Government’s efforts to take their lands. Crazy Horse was a very quiet man who spent a great deal of time alone. When in battle, he did not wear war paint, dressed according to a vision he had as a young boy, and took no scalps. He was also humble and refused to boast about his accomplishments as a warrior. The author describes in detail the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876 when Crazy Horse led his warriors in defeating General Custer as well as his surrender to soldiers at Camp Robinson in 1877, his betrayal by rivals in his own tribe, and his murder at the camp.

 

Giovanni, N. (2005). Rosa. New York: Henry Holt.

 

Picture book, elementary level. Giovanni’s text shows Rosa Parks as an African American woman concerned about her own job and family, yet aware of the racial injustices she and other African Americans endured during racial segregation. Instead of attributing Parks’ refusal to give up her seat on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama because she was physically tired, Giovanni explains, “. . . she was tired. Not tired from work but tired of putting white people first. Tired of stepping off sidewalks to let white people pass, tired of eating at separate lunch counters and learning at separate schools.” The text also emphasizes the efforts of the Women’s Political Council in organizing a boycott of the city buses. They were joined by the NAACP and the churches, and the boycott was supported by people all over the U.S. Following a year-long boycott, on November 13, 1956 the Supreme Court ruled bus segregation illegal.

 

Goble, P. (1987). Death of the iron horse. New York: Bradbury.

 

Picture book, elementary level. This book is loosely based on the one incidence of a Native American tribe derailing a train as an act of resistance to European American invasion into their land. In 1867, a Union Pacific freight train was derailed by Cheyennes during its journey from Omaha to North Platte, Nebraska. The book portrays a Cheyenne perspective on how they were treated by European Americans including European Americans' greed for land and their destruction of Cheyenne people and villages. However, as the book explains, the Cheyennes were not just victims, they also fought against these injustices.

 

Goble, P. (1992). Red Hawk’s account of Custer’s last battle. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.

 

Picture book, upper elementary/middle school level. Paul Goble not only provides an Oglala perspective on the Battle of Little Bighorn, but also illustrates the text in a style used by Plains people in paintings on their tipi or buffalo robes. The text includes a fictional young Oglala male, Red Hawk’s narrative of the battle, but also background information on Custer, Chief Sitting Bull, and Crazy Horse, who led the warriors in battle. Goble explains that the U.S. Government wanted to force the Sioux and Cheyenne onto reservations so European Americans were free to move west. Custer wanted to be part of this effort in order to gain personal glory and become president. Red Hawk describes the bravery of the Cheyenne, Sioux, and Oglala warriors as well as that of the U.S. soldiers in his narrative of the battle. However, despite their victory, Red Hawk communicates the destruction of the battle for warriors, horses, and children. The final outcome of the interaction between European Americans and Native people was the removal of Native people to small pieces of land White people did not want.

 

Gold, S. D. (1997). Indian treaties. New York: Twenty-First Century Books.

 

Middle school level, adult resource. The author provides a strong description of the many injustices the U. S. Government inflicted on Native people throughout the country through treaties from the 1600s through 1871. The treaties resulted in the loss of two billion acres of land for the Native people frequently for pennies an acre. The text also explains that treaties themselves were part of European American culture, but not Native American culture. Native people did not believe that individuals could own land, but the land was given by the Creator for all to use to survive. They also did not believe an individual chief had the right to sign treaties. European Americans forced Native people to sign treaties to give up land and then often broke the treaties to take the limited land set aside for the Native people. Readers can easily conclude that European Americans' lack of regard for and racism directed against Native Americans were at the root of most treaties, removal to reservations, and other U.S. Government policies regarding Native Americans throughout this country's history.

 

Golenbock, P. & Bacon, P. (1990). Teammates. New York: Voyager Books.

 

Picture book, elementary level. The text explains how racial segregation was part of the professional sport of baseball with fewer opportunities for African Americans. African Americans were confined to the Negro Leagues which paid less money and prevented from being customers in hotels or restaurants due to racial segregation. For European American baseball players, they could play in the Major Leagues and enjoy higher pay, stay in good hotels, and eat in better restaurants. The manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers wanted to challenge racial segregation so hired Jackie Robinson, an African American, as a team member. The text portrays the courage Jackie Robinson had to endure the cruelty at the hands of his teammates and baseball fans; however, he was also befriended by one of his teammates.

 

Govenar, A. (2000). Osceola: Memories of a sharecropper’s daughter. New York: Hyperion Books for Children.

 

Picture book, upper elementary level. The author collected stories from Osceola Mays, an African American woman, over a 15-year time period and involved Osceola in writing the book. The stories depict Osceola’s memories of growing up in the small, segregated town of Waskom, Texas which clearly delineated the differences between European Americans and African Americans. Her father worked as a sharecropper, which meant hard work for few benefits and the necessity of working additional jobs for survival. Osceola had few memories of receiving a toy for Christmas, but after her mother died during childbirth, received a new dress each year from her stepmother. Osceola was significantly influenced by her mother’s and grandmother’s stories, songs, and poems which portrayed family history, the history of the country, and slavery. She wrote and recited poetry as a student in school.

 

Gray, L. M. (1993). Dear Willie Rudd,. New York: Simon & Schuster.

 

Picture book, elementary level. The main character, Miss Elizabeth, reminisces about her childhood with Willie Rudd, her African American housekeeper who helped raise her, her mother, and her grandmother. She writes a letter to Willie Rudd and apologizes for the ways she and her family went along with racial segregation and promises to treat her as an equal if she would return. The beloved housekeeper can enter the front door, eat with the family in the dining room with the good china, sit together at the movie theater, and ride together on the bus.

 

Green, J. (2000). Talking about racism. Austin, TX: Steck-Vaughn.

 

Picture book, elementary level. According to the author, “racism is saying or doing something to hurt someone who comes from a different culture.” She elaborates that racism may be based on skin color, culture, or religion, offers examples of racist actions among children today and historically with slavery, and suggests reasons why children may become racist. Although the definition for racism is very broad, one of the most valuable aspects of the text involves suggestions for eliminating racism. Notes to parents and teachers are also included.

 

Grunsell, A. (1991). Let's talk about racism. London: Gloucester.

 

Picture book, upper elementary level. This book explains the concepts of racism, prejudice, and stereotypes. Grunsell's definitions may not necessarily be in agreement with other definitions. For example, she describes racial discrimination as giving houses, jobs, or educational opportunities on the grounds of race which other authors describe as examples of racism. Prejudice means deciding in advance what someone is like; a stereotype is a fixed idea about what people are like. Other important ideas included are the European invasion of America, Africa, and Asia which was the beginning of racism, how racism is learned, why it exists, the harm of racism in Nazi Germany and South Africa, and the possibilities of students' challenging racism.

 

Hamanaka, S. (1990). The journey: Japanese Americans, racism, and renewal. New York: Orchard Books.

 

Picture book, upper elementary level. This text provides a brief history of the mistreatment of Japanese Americans in the United States. When Japanese first immigrated to the U.S., they were relegated to the most menial jobs and forced to live in culturally segregated housing. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, all persons of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast were taken to concentration camps. Residents of the camps had to leave property and possessions and crowd into tar-paper shacks without running water. Prisoners protested cruel treatment in the camps and were in conflict with one another over proving their loyalty to the U.S. and being angry over their mistreatment. Many Japanese Americans fought for the U.S. in the war. Finally, in 1988, the U.S. government formally apologized to Japanese Americans for their internment.

 

Hamilton, V. (1985). The people could fly: American Black folktales. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

 

Upper elementary/middle school level. Hamilton's collection of twenty-four African American folktales represents the main body of African American folklore. Hamilton wanted to preserve the oral tales in print for African Americans as well as children and youth from all cultures. Trickster tales show Bruh Rabbit outwitting larger and stronger animals which are similar to slaves' abilities to outwit slave owners. The most notable section of the book is the collection of slave tales including "The People Could Fly" a moving slave narrative and fantasy escape from slavery. This tale shows the cruelty of slavery and the refusal of slaves to allow their spirit to be enslaved. Virginia Hamilton and James Earl Jones also provide powerful oral versions of the folktales on audiotape.

 

Hamilton, V. (1993). Many thousand gone: African Americans from slavery to freedom. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

 

Upper elementary/middle school level. This text portrays the history of slavery, its horrors, and the power of resistance to such an inhumane existence through the voices and stories of those who lived it. The first section focuses on the development of slavery in America beginning with the sale of twenty slaves to the colony of Virginia in 1619. At first slaves were indentured servants, then increasingly stringent regulations led to their becoming slaves for life. Stories in this section include Africans being taken as slaves and those who resisted slavery during the 17th and 18th centuries. The second section focuses on stories of running away including the development of the Underground Railroad and the Quakers, Black freewomen and freemen and slaves who helped escaping slaves along its path. Stories of running away include those of individual slaves and slave uprisings. The last section deals with stories of the final years of slavery when slaves continued to escape until the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution when all slaves were legally free.

 

Hamm, D. J. (1997). Daughter of Suqua. Morton Grove, IL: Albert Whitman.

 

Upper elementary/middle school level. As historical fiction, the text is based on events among the Suquamish people in Washington state in the early 1900s through the fictional characters of Ida, Little Grandma, Mother, and Father. The text portrays the effects of the government’s racist policies in dealing with Native people during the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Ida’s family, along with other Suquamish families were being forced to move from their old village near Miller’s Bay on Puget Sound to their allotted lands further away from the shore. The government was also encouraging families to become farmers on their allotted lands and discontinue their traditional lifestyle based on seasonal fishing. Ida and other Suquamish children were also being forced to attend boarding schools away from their families. Through Ida’s family’s story, readers can glimpse a little of the pain children and their families experienced when children were forced to attend boarding school away from their families.

 

Hansen, J. (1986). Which way freedom? New York: Avon Camelot.

 

Upper elementary/middle school level. This text precedes Out From This Place and is also a fictional story based on factual accounts of the Civil War. The main characters, Obi, Easter, and Jason are slave children and adolescents with no other family except each other working on a small farm in South Carolina. Although their owners are more humane than many, they still endure the brutal treatment of being owned and worked hard. When the Civil War breaks out, their owners respond with increased restrictions and cruelty. After they learn they are about to be sold, Obi and Easter escape only to be captured by Confederate soldiers who force Obi to work with other slaves in hard labor and Easter cooks for one of the colonels. Obi escapes from this Confederate camp and eventually fights in an African American regiment for the Union, but still encounters much inequality directed at African American soldiers.

 

Hansen, J. (1988). Out from this place. New York: Walker.

 

Upper elementary/middle school level. This book is fiction, but is based on actual events that happened during the Civil War. In 1861, when the Union army gained control of the Sea Islands off the coast of South Carolina, most of the planters fled to the mainland. African Americans were Confederate property confiscated by the army. They worked on the abandoned plantations for wages from the federal government. In January, 1865, the former slaves were given temporary title to the abandoned lands; however, in May, this decision was reversed and the land was returned to the former owners. The community New Canaan in the text is based on an African American community in South Carolina developed after the Civil War. The book portrays the experiences of Easter, an adolescent slave, in her efforts to find Obi and Jason, the only family she knew from the farm where they all worked as slaves. The text reveals the hardships of life for former slaves immediately following the abolishment of slavery.

 

Hansen, J. (1997). I thought my soul would rise and fly: The diary of Patsy, a freed girl. New York: Scholastic.

 

Upper elementary/middle school level. The diary is fictional, but is based on diaries, journals, oral histories, and narratives of people who lived during the period when slavery was abolished and the following Reconstruction era. The diary shows the very slow changes for slaves after slavery was abolished in 1865-66. Although some slaves left the large plantation, others, like Patsy, remained and continued their daily work. The master promised each slave family five acres of land, a school, and payment for their work in the fields or house, but these promises were not kept. Since Patsy secretly had learned to read and write, she became the unofficial teacher of the school, attended by the youngest and oldest slaves who did not work in the fields. The diary shows freed slaves taking more control of their lives and new ways slave owners and wealthy European Americans maintained their power.

 

Hansen, J. (1998). Women of hope: African Americans who made a difference. New York: Scholastic.

 

Upper elementary/middle school level. The text contains large photographs of twelve African American women who fought against sexism and racism and often became the first African American women to enter certain occupations. The one-page descriptions of each woman reveal the activism of Ida Wells-Barnett, Septima Clark, Ella Josephine Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Marian Wright Edelman in fighting for the rights of African Americans and children of poverty; the artistry of Ruby Dee, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, and Alice Walker in addressing sexism and racism through drama and literature; and the courage of the Delany Sisters, Alexa Canady, and Mae Jemison in entering fields frequently closed to women and African Americans, such as dentistry, neurosurgery, and space science.

 

Hansen, J. & McGowan, G. (2003). Freedom road: Searching for the Underground Railroad.

 

Upper elementary/middle school level. The authors assert that in order to learn about the Underground Railroad, historians rely on different types of evidence. When disparate evidence provides similar ideas, historians can draw defensible conclusions. Examples of evidence for Underground Railroad activities include: (1) local and national laws; (2) legal petitions, court records, census records, and wanted posters; (3) household records, plantation and farm records, bills of sale, receipts, ship registers, and information-wanted ads in newspapers; (4) personal writing and accounts such as biographies, autobiographies, diaries, and oral history narratives; (5) music and art such as spirituals and quilts; and (6) archaeological evidence such as buttons, coins, and pottery. From archaeological evidence, colonial records, and thermal imaging, historians document the first settlement of freed women and men in America at Fort Mose near St. Augustine, Florida. It was originally built in 1738 by African Americans who escaped from slavery in South Carolina. Archaeological evidence and oral family history confirm a secret room used to hide escaping slaves in the Lott house in Brooklyn, New York. Plantation records and ships’ logs document that during the American Revolution, slaves escaped to British ships. The Fugitive Slave Laws of 1793 and 1850 illustrate that slaves successfully escaped to free states. However, legal documents do not portray the perspectives of slaves or abolitionists who helped slaves escape. When narratives, such as the WPA slave interviews of 1930 or Wilbur Siebert’s interviews of abolitionists after the antislavery slavery struggle ended, are combined with other evidence, historians provide a broader view of the Underground Railroad.

 

Harper, M. (1993). "Mush-hole:" Memories of a residential school. Toronto: Sister Vision.

 

Picture book, upper elementary/middle school level (some of the language and description of alcohol abuse make this book appropriate for more mature elementary and middle school students). The author describes the painful experiences she was forced to endure at Brantford, a residential school for native children in Canada. During the process she and other native children could not speak their language, learn about their culture, or exercise many choices. The author eventually runs away from the school and returns to the reservation where she learns she no longer fits in there. Alcohol becomes a solace for her as she struggles with understanding her identity as a native person. The racist, assimilationist practices at the residential school teaches her to devalue herself. The author learns to value herself by learning about her own culture and teaching others.

 

Harrington, J. N. (2004). Going north. New York: Melanie Kroupa Books.

 

This book-length poem is based on the author’s family’s experience of moving from Vernon, Alabama to Lincoln, Nebraska during the summer of 1964. The family moved North to find better jobs and schools for their children and to escape racial segregation in the South. The poetry depicts the family driving past the cotton fields and red sand as well as their anxiety about finding a “Negro” gas station which will serve them during the journey. Arriving in Nebraska, they are pioneers beginning a new life and hoping for a better future.

 

Haskins, J. (1993). Get on board: The story of the Underground Railroad. New York: Scholastic.

 

Upper elementary/middle school level. The text provides an excellent overview of different aspects of the Underground Railroad, which allowed many African Americans to escape the racist oppression of slavery during the 19^th century. It clarifies how the Underground Railroad was named and its genesis around 1830. The author describes different Underground Railroad routes and stations along the way, which were used to hide and shelter escaping slaves. Also included are well-known stationmasters, or individuals or groups of people who offered food and shelter to runaway slaves. Conductors led slaves along the Underground Railroad routes and were both European American and African American former slaves. A chapter is devoted to Harriet Tubman, the most famous Underground Railroad conductor. Readers learn about the meanings of different songs related to the Underground Railroad. Sometimes songs encouraged slaves to escape or provided directions for escaping. Slave catchers are renamed “train robbers” and their actions described in capturing escaping slaves; however, some “passengers” or fleeing slaves are also very clever and resourceful in finding unique ways to escape. The author seeks to refute the idea that slaves were passive victims.

 

Haskins, J. (2005). Delivering justice: W. W. Law and the fight for civil rights. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick.

 

Picture book, elementary level. The author highlights aspects of the life of Westley Wallace Law, his motivations for ending racial segregation and oppression. The beginning of the text documents some of the racial inequality W. W. experienced early in his life, including African Americans being helped at the local department store after all the European American customers were served and remaining poor despite working hard. As an adult, W. W. became a letter carrier and a leader in the Savannah NAACP. In this organization, W. W. trained students and organized groups in nonviolent protest, such as sit-ins, boycotts, and picket lines, to pressure local department stores to treat African Americans equally. W. W. was a leader in the efforts to declare all Savannah citizens equal and end desegregation in 1961, which was achieved without violence.

 

Haskins, J. & Benson, K. (2001). Building a new land: African Americans in colonial America. New York: HarperCollins.

 

Picture book, upper elementary level. The text provides important background on African American history during the colonial period, 1607 - 1763 in the United States. The first Africans came to the U.S. as explorers, navigators, “freemen,” indentured servants, and slaves. African slaves first arrived in the 1500s and early 1600s, but they were treated similarly to Native American slaves and European indentured servants. During the early colonial period, free Africans in some parts of the 13 colonies had legal rights to own land and slaves, marry, be baptized, and go to court to redress wrongs, but these were revoked in the late 1600s with slave codes, English rule, and eventually laws recognizing the legality of slavery. The growing economic need for cheap labor for such crops as rice, tobacco, sugar, and cotton and the slave trade led to the acceptance of slavery. This acceptance was reinforced by laws denying more rights to African American slaves. Race became synonymous with slavery as Blacks lost the right to move freely, meet with other slaves, strike White people, testify in court except against other Blacks, hold any office, and learn to read or write. However, African American slaves resisted such oppression by escaping, revolting, and uniting with Native Americans in taking action against settlements. In many cases, African Americans maintained some of their African traditions and contributed folklore, music, and agricultural skills to the colonial lifestyle.

 

Haskins, J. & Benson, K. (2002). Following freedom’s star: The story of the Underground Railroad. New York: Benchmark Books.

 

Upper elementary/middle school level. The text is embellished with many historical photographs, paintings, drawings, and original documents, such as newspaper clippings and notes. The author focuses on two former slaves, Harriet Jacobs and John P. Parker, who escaped from slavery and eventually wrote or dictated their autobiographies. Their stories communicate the racist oppression they experienced as slaves and as African Americans. However, the autobiographies also reveal the important role African Americans had in the Underground Railroad, which provided an avenue for 75,000-100,000 slaves to gain freedom. Harriet Jacobs hid for nearly seven years in her grandmother’s house in North Carolina before escaping to New York. Her escape was carefully prepared, but Jacobs was in danger of being captured by slave catchers in the North until one of her employers eventually purchased her. Once John P. Parker escaped from slavery, he became active in the Underground Railroad movement as a conductor. He recorded many close calls in protecting escaping slaves from slave owners, slave catchers, and paid informants. The text includes maps of Underground Railroad routes and the use of music and quilts to communicate important information about escaping among slaves.

 

Haskins, J. & Benson, K. (2006). John Lewis in the lead: A story of the civil rights movement. New York: Lee & Low Books.

 

Picture book, upper elementary level. The text is a biography of John Lewis, who has served in the U.S. House of Representatives as the Democrat representative from Georgia since 1986. The text focuses on Lewis’s involvement in the civil rights movement during the 1960s. He experienced racial segregation growing up and fought against segregation by applying for a library card, organizing lunch counter sit-ins, riding buses with other Freedom Riders to protest racial segregation on buses, leading protests, speaking at the March on Washington, and leading efforts to register African Americans to vote. A timeline of Lewis’s life is provided at the end of the book.

 

Holland, I. (1994). Behind the lines. New York: Scholastic.

 

Middle school level/adult resource. The main character Katie O’Farrell is part of a recent Irish immigrant family struggling to survive in a New York city slum in 1863. The father, older brother, as well as Katie must work in order to provide the necessary income for the family. Katie worked as a kitchen maid for a wealthy Protestant English family and regularly suffered humiliating anti-Irish comments from her supervisors. Despite the disruption of the Civil War, many Irish immigrants refused to fight for the Union because they believed freed slaves would move north and take the few jobs the Irish have. Since Irish immigrants came to the U.S. with few resources and regularly experienced discrimination in hiring, they often remained among the poorest citizens. The conflicts between wealthy and poor, Irish and African Americans were illustrated by Katie’s wealthy employer’s offer that Katie’s brother take his son’s place in the Union Army for a price. The money offered exceeded what her brother made working on the docks and could be used to buy land in the west after the war. When young Irish male immigrants were among those drafted into the Union Army, they retaliated by rioting, attacking the draft offices, and hanging African Americans. Despite the racial tensions between the Irish and African Americans, Katie developed a friendship with an African American. The text illustrates the cross cultural alliances which can be formed amidst racial tensions.

 

Hoobler, D. & Hoobler, T. (1992). The trail on which they wept: The story of a Cherokee girl. New York: Silver Burdett.

 

Elementary level. The story of the Cherokee removal from Georgia to Oklahoma is told through a young Cherokee girl, Tsaluh. Even though the Supreme Court ruled that the Cherokee could stay in Georgia and the Cherokee believed the Great Spirit had given them the land, they were forced by soldiers to move to Oklahoma. The Cherokee were outraged by such demands, but knew they were outnumbered and did not have weapons to fight. The text describes the injustice of the Cherokee being forced to leave much of their belongings behind, the exhausting trip, the cold weather, the lack of food, and the diseases and deaths of many of their people, including Tsaluh's grandmother. The text portrays Tsaluh's anger toward the unakas or White people for the cruelty they inflicted on the Cherokee and for forcing them to move to such a harsh environment.

 

Hoobler, D. & Hoobler T. (1994). The Mexican American family album. New York: Oxford University.

 

Middle school level and adult resource. The text provides a concise summary of Mexican American history from the time Mexicans became Mexican Americans after the United States acquired parts of Mexico in the mid 19^th century through contemporary times. The authors described the first Mexican Americans who were already living within the current U.S. borders; those who chose to leave Mexico due to the Mexican Revolution, the poverty and lack of jobs; Mexican Americans who traveled between Mexico and the U.S. to live and work; fluctuating U.S. policies which both encouraged and discouraged Mexican American immigration to the U.S. to work; the Mexican American contributions to agriculture and hardships as migrant agricultural workers, miners, and railroad workers; the establishment of Mexican American communities or barrios; Mexican American efforts to win equal rights; and contributions to the arts, sports, politics, and culture. Each section begins with an overview of an era, then is embellished with profiles of people living during this period and quotations from Mexican American biographies and interviews to provide authentic perspectives on the era. The racism and inequalities Mexican Americans experienced at the hands of Anglos who controlled different jobs, schools, and the government is highlighted throughout the text.

 

Hoobler, D. & Hoobler, T. (1995). The African American family album. New York: Oxford University.

 

Middle School level and adult resource. The authors review different chronological periods in African American history from life in Africa, to the middle passage, slavery, life after slavery in the South and North, the importance of families, religion, and schools in improving life for African Americans during the early 20^th century, and concluding with the civil rights movement and opportunities in sports, music, films, writing, and publishing for African Americans during the late 20^th century. For each section, the authors provide an overview of important people and events, then include quotations from African Americans who lived during these periods and described their personal perspectives. The racism African Americans experienced from the time they were brought as slaves to the United States through the present is a constant theme throughout the text. The quotations reflect the impact of racism on individuals and families as well as their efforts to counteract racism.

 

Hooks, W. H. (1990). The ballad of Belle Dorcas. New York: Dragonfly Books.

 

Picture book, upper elementary level. The text illustrates the oppression of slavery for slave women, men and "free issue" children. Belle Dorcas was a "free issue" African American, the daughter of the slave master and her mother, the master's house slave. Belle, like most "free issue" African Americans, was given freedom at birth. Although Belle's mother wanted her to marry another free issue and experience a little better life than slavery, Belle loved and married Joshua, a slave, and lived in the slave quarters. After Belle's father died, another master planned to sell some of the slaves, including Joshua. In order to save Joshua, Belle sought help from Granny Lizard, a free-issue cunger woman, who created a powerful spell to keep Joshua close. Despite the difficulties of living with all the consequences of the powerful spell, Belle and Joshua were able to stay together.

 

Hooks, B. (2004). Skin again. New York: Hyperion Books for Children.

 

Picture book, elementary level. The author encourages readers to look beyond skin and go inside to learn about another person. She invites people to come inside her skin, but be real themselves, and find the real person with her stories, history, and dreams. The text can be used to stimulate discussions of prejudice and racism based on skin color.

 

Howard, E. F. (2000). Virgie goes to school with us boys. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

 

Picture book, elementary level. The text is based on the author’s family history and focuses on one African American girl’s determination to accompany her brothers to school during the period following the Civil War. Virgie relentlessly asks to go to the Quaker school for former slaves when her five brothers attend. Although Virgie’s brothers complain that she is too young, the walk to school is too long, and school is too difficult and unnecessary for girls, Virgie’s parents agree to allow her to attend school “learning to be free.” The author’s note elaborates on the family history on which the text is based and the special cruelty of slavery in denying slaves their desire to learn. This lack of education was a major hurdle for freed slaves after emancipation.

 

Hubbard, J. (1994). Shooting back from the reservation: A photographic view of life by Native American youth. New York. The New Press.

 

Upper elementary/middle school level. The text is a collection of photographs taken by Native American children and youth from different tribes on different reservations in Arizona, Minnesota, New Mexico, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. The photographs are embellished with the children’s poetry and prose which depict children and youth at play, their pets, families, friends, homes, and the physical environment around the reservations. Readers are offered glimpses of the beauty as well as the poverty around the reservations. Some of the narratives from the children and youth try to refute stereotypes about what reservations are like and emphasize the sense of community among the residents as well as the problems. Both the foreword by Dennis Banks and the introduction by Jim Hubbard detail the racism directed against Native people which has contributed to their poverty and lack of opportunities for living dignified lives.

 

Johnson, A. (2005). A sweet smell of roses. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

 

Picture book, elementary level. In the text, the author honors the children who participated in the civil rights movement. Two young girls quietly leave home without their mother’s knowledge to participate in a civil rights march led by Martin Luther King, Jr. The text portrays the solidarity among the marchers as they hold hands, clap, and sing while their numbers grow during the march. The illustrations also depict people who loudly disagreed with the marchers as well as unsympathetic police.

 

Johnson, C. (1998). Soulcatcher and other stories: Twelve powerful tales about slavery. San Diego: Harcourt.

 

Upper elementary/middle school level. For the 12 short stories about slavery, the author uses different literary styles, making the reading more interesting and challenging. He also focuses on different aspects of slavery, such as the passage from Africa to America during which the oral history of a people is passed from one brother to another and slaves’ revolt against their masters and escape to St. Augustine, Florida, where the King of Spain promised freedom. Additional, interesting stories include African Americans who fought for the British during the American Revolution; Martha Washington’s experience with freeing her husband George’s slaves after his death; African American contributions in fighting the yellow fever epidemic during 1793 in Philadelphia; the decision against returning African Americans to Africa; and Liberty Association’s actions to protect escaped slaves from capture. One of the most fascinating stories described a northern city’s complete dependence on escaped slaves’ labor, which was immobilized after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law and escaped slaves left their jobs.

 

Johnson, D. (1993). Now let me fly: The story of a slave family. New York: Macmillan.

 

Picture book, elementary level. The text provides a valuable introduction to slavery for younger students. Minna, the main character, tells her life story as a free person in Africa who is kidnapped by a banished member of her tribe and sold into slavery. During the terrible voyage to America, Minna met Amadi, a young boy, and they help each other survive the trip. After arriving in America, they are sold like cattle to work on a plantation and their names and language taken away. Despite the harsh work and living conditions, Amadi and Minna find some comfort in each other, marry, and have four children. When Amadi is sold suddenly, Minna deals with the sale of her son, helps one daughter escape by going North, helps a son escape to Florida to live with the Seminoles, and dreams of freedom for herself and her youngest daughter.

 

Kallen, S. A. (2000). Life on the underground railroad. San Diego: Lucent Books.

 

Upper elementary/middle school level. The author clarifies the terms used in the Underground Railroad, which disguised its illegal activities. Slaves were parcels or passengers, those who helped slaves escape were conductors, homes where slaves hid were depots or stations, and people who hid slaves in their homes were stationmasters. The intention of the text is to provide readers with insight into the lives of slaves which caused them to escape; the lives of escaping slaves with the many dangers they faced; the lives of slave trackers who searched for and punished escaping slaves; the lives of conductors who employed different strategies and followed various routes to help slaves escape; the lives of stationmasters who devised diverse means to hide slaves; and the lives of escaped slaves once they reached Canada. Readers discover Canadian cities and towns where escaped slaves settled as well as the opportunities, challenges, and prejudice they faced.

 

Katz, K. (1999). The colors of us. New York: Henry Holt.

 

Picture book, lower elementary level. The text does not explicitly deal with racism, but affirms the beauty of various skin colors, which is often the basis of race and racism. Children’s and adults’ skin colors are compared to foods and aspects of nature, such as cinnamon, peanut butter, chocolate or light cocoa brown, butterscotch, pizza crust, peach, honey, ginger, chili powder, coconuts, coffee toffee, fall leaves, and bronze and amber jewels. The author communicates an appreciation for diversity to counteract racism among young children based on skin color.

 

Katz, W. L. (1995). Black women of the old West. New York: Atheneum Books.

 

Upper elementary/middle school level. The text includes historical photographs to illustrate African American women's presence in the settlement of the West in the 19th century. African American women as well as men escaped from slavery to live with Native Americans in the West, moved into free states in the Midwest and west and insisted on their freedom, and moved west more freely after the Civil War and emancipation. African Americans faced discrimination in the West in jobs, housing, education, and restaurants, but they also found less racial anger and violence than they experienced in the South. African American women ran laundries, hotels, farms, carting firms, taught school, wrote for newspapers, herded cattle and horses, and protested for civil rights in addition to caring for their homes and families and improving the spiritual and economic conditions of their people.