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1. |
Now
Is Your Time: The African American Struggle for Freedom
by Walter Dean Myers |
| Since
they were first bought as captives to Virginia, the
people who would become African American have struggled
for freedom. Thousands fight got the rights of all Americans
during the Revolutionary War, and for their own rights
during the Civil War. On the battlefield, through education,
and through their creative genius, they have worked
toward one goal: the right of life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness be denied no one. |
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2. |
Black
Women Leaders of the Civil Rights Movement by Zita Allen |
| Grade
6 Up-This well-written overview focuses on the entire
movement, from 1900-1964. Allen includes lawyers, teachers,
college professors, sharecroppers, students, and domestics
who participated in the desegregation of high schools
and universities, buses, lunch counters, and other public
facilities, and whose stories have been overshadowed
by the contributions of men. The brief, but detailed
text captures the spirit of the movement and gives another
dimension to organizations such as the National Council
of Negro Women and the Southern Negro Youth Conference. |
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3. |
To
Be A Slave by Julius Lester |
| To
be a Slave. To be owned by another person, as a car,
house, or a table is owned. To live as a piece of property
that could be sold…. This book is about how it felt.
The words of black men and women who had themselves
been slaves are here, accompanied by Julius Lester’s
historical commentary and Tom Feeling’s powerful and
muted paintings, To Be A Slave has been a tough stone
in children’s literature for over thirty years. |
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4. |
Many
Thousand Gone: African American From Slavery to Freedom
by Virginia Hamilton |
| Unavailable
for several years, Virginia Hamilton’s award-winning
companion to The People Could Fly traces the history
of slavery in America in the voices and stories of those
who lived it. Leo and Diane Dillon’s brilliant black-and-white
illustrations echo the stories’ subtlety and power,
making this book as stunning to look at, as it is to
read. |
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5. |
There Comes A Time: Struggle for Civil Rights by Milton
Meltzer |
| Meltzer
presents a compelling history of the Civil Rights movement
in America. He opens with four young black men sitting
at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in 1960 and then traces
back through three hundred years of black oppression.
His discussions of segregation, the Jim Crow laws and
the brutalities that blacks suffered at the hands of
racists are all clearly presented. Triumphs from the
nonviolent movement of the 1960’s are well documented
and include a thought provoking discussion of problems
that continue to plague our country today. Photographs,
a calendar of events and an index are included. |
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6. |
Black
Stars of the Civil Rights Movement by Jim Haskins |
| Discover
why young people all over the country are reading the
Black Stars biographies of Africa American heroes. Here
is what you want to know about the lives of rave black
men and women during the civil rights movement. |
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7. |
Lil’
Dan the Drummer Boy: A Civil War Story by Romare Bearden |
| Li’l
Dan, a slave on a Southern plantation, loves to play
his drum. When a company of Union solders announce that
the slaves have been set free. Dan has no place to go,
so he follows the soldiers, who make him their mascot.
However, Confederate soldiers attack, and Dan discovers
that he is the only one who can save his friends. |
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8. |
African
American Military Heroes by Jim Haskins |
| Throughout
American history, succeeding in the military has demanded
unflagging courage, strength of character, and a patriotic
spirit. For an African American man or woman, serving
in the military has also meant battling oppression and
struggling against deep-seated prejudice. Those who
preserved were not only highlights these and dozens
of other absorbing stories of dedicated defenders of
America. |
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9. |
Freedom’s
Children by Ellen Levine |
| In
this inspiring collection of true stories, thirty African
Americans who were children or teenagers in the 1950s
and 1960s talk about what it was like for them to fight
segregation in the South. To sit in all white restaurant
and demand to be served, to refuse to give up a seat
at the front of the bus, to be among the first to integrated
the public schools, and to face violence, arrest, and
even death for the cause of freedom. |
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10. |
The
New York Public Library Amazing African-American History:
A Book of Answers for Kids (The New York Public Library
Books for Kids) |
| Discover
ancient African civilization. Explore the devastating
middle passage and see the famous march on Washington.
Find the answers to your questions about African American
history. |