The School Library Journal, a respected trade publication, has a list of books to use with students that focus on slavery in the United States. Follow the link above to read what the Journal says about each book. Below is the list of books:
Alexander, Kwame. An American Story. illus. by Dare Coulter. Little, Brown. Jan. 2023. ISBN 9780316473125.
PreS-Gr 3–In lyrical verse, Alexander tells the powerful story of American slavery and African resilience through the eyes of a teacher navigating students through this horrific period in American history.
Dunbar, Erica Armstrong & Kathleen van Cleve. Never Caught, the Story of Ona Judge: George and Martha Washington’s Courageous Slave Who Dared To Run Away. S. & S./Aladdin. Jan. 2019. ISBN 9781534416178.
Gr 5 Up—This young readers edition of Dunbar’s National Book Award–nominated title details the account of Ona Judge, who ran away from the household of George and Martha Washington.
Lewis, Cicely. Resistance to Slavery. ISBN 9781728439068.
Smith, Elliott. Abolitionism. ISBN 9781728439099.
––––. Jim Crow. ISBN 9781728439075.
––––. The Slave Trade. ISBN 9781728439051.
––––. Slavery and Reconstruction. ISBN 9781728439105.
––––. Slavery and the Civil War. ISBN 9781728439082.
ea vol: Lerner. Jan. 2022.
Gr 4-8–This series is part of the Read Woke Books imprint in partnership with Cicely Lewis, who wrote the introductory letter found in each book. The titles cover events and important figures from the beginning of slavery in America up through the Jim Crow era.
Rolle, Sojourner Kincaid. Free at Last: A Juneteenth Poem. illus. by Alex Bostic. Sterling. May 2022. ISBN 9781454943747.
Gr 1-4–Juneteenth, an important celebration of the end of slavery, was first celebrated in Texas in 1865. This was several years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, when enslaved individuals learned of their freedom. Rolle’s poem offers glimpses of the joy of freedom, the hardships of the years after, and how Juneteenth has evolved over time.
Fiction
Alexander, Kwame. The Door of No Return. Little, Brown. Sept. 2022. ISBN 9780316441865.
Gr 5 Up–The beginning of a planned trilogy set in western Africa in 1860, the latest offering from Newbery winner Alexander…
Giddens, Rhiannon. Build a House. illus. by Monica Mikai. Candlewick. Oct. 2022. ISBN 9781536222524.
Gr 3 Up–In a few short stanzas, this story-song encapsulates and sets to haunting, minor-key music the African American experience of being taken as slaves and forced to work, then emancipated only to continue to face endless racism….
Hannah-Jones, Nikole & Renée Watson. The 1619 Project: Born on the Water. illus. by Nikkolas Smith. Kokila. Nov. 2021. ISBN 9780593307359.
Gr 2-5–An illustrated work on the 1619 Project for young readers, this adaptation begins with a visual journey back centuries to the Kingdom of Ndongo in West Central Africa, the birthplace of their ancestors. The authors’ storytelling is utterly hypnotic…
Luqman-Dawson, Amina. Freewater. Little, Brown. Feb. 2022. ISBN 9780316056618.
Gr 5-8–Sometimes, to be free, you have to make a life in a place where no one can find you….
Williams, Katherine. Freedom Soldiers. Hard Ball. Jun. 2019. ISBN 9781732808850.
Gr 9 Up–Harriet Roberson aspires to become a courier to rescue fugitive slaves from the American South to free Black settlements in Canada via the Underground Railroad….
Williams-Garcia, Rita. A Sitting in St. James. HarperCollins/Quill Tree. May 2021. ISBN 9780062367297.
Gr 9 Up–In 1860, Madame Sylvie Bernardin de Maret Dacier Guilbert rules Le Petit Cottage in the St. James Parish region of Louisiana with an iron fist….
