African American Library

Have you ever wondered how the human spirit can rise above the most crushing circumstances to achieve greatness? In Up from Slavery, Booker T. Washington delivers a powerful and intimate account of his ascent from a child born into slavery to becoming one of the most significant educators in American history. This is not merely a historical record; it is a profound manual on succeeding against all odds.

Until now, you've only heard one side of the story: how Abraham Lincoln defeated the Confederacy to end slavery, but the truth involves a vast network of abolitionists who would keep fighting for freedom long after the end of the war. Here's the true story of the Civil War and Reconstruction...

Until now, you've only heard one side of the story: how slavery began, and how America split itself in two to end it. Here's the true story of America from the African American perspective. From the moment Africans were first brought to the shores of the United States, they had a hand in shaping...

This heartfelt picture book biography, adapted for audio, tells the story of MaVynee Betsch, an African American opera singer turned environmentalist and the legacy she preserved. MaVynee loved going to the beach. But in the days of Jim Crow, she couldn't just go to any beach--most of the...

An inquisitive bookworm explores a whole new world when her family moves north during the Great Migration in Coretta Scott King Honor winner Brenda Woods’s stand-alone companion to The Unsung Hero of Birdsong, USA. It’s 1946 when eleven-year-old Abigail and her parents move from Birdsong...

Chronicling the story of the last Africans brought illegally to America in 1860, African Town is a powerful and stunning novel-in-verse. In 1860, long after the United States outlawed the importation of enslaved laborers, 110 men, women and children from Benin and Nigeria were captured and...

In this eloquent first novel in verse by renowned poet Marilyn Nelson, a boy embraces his newfound genealogy and his surprising connection to American history. “A quietly powerful story about race, ignorance, and identity from a poetry master.”—Bustle “Stunning.”—Shelf Awareness “A...

From the #1 New York Times bestselling series comes the latest title in the Who HQ Now format for trending topics. It tells the history of a political and social movement that advocates for non-violent civil disobedience and protests against incidents of police brutality--and all racially...