Our collection of picture books featuring Black and Indigenous people and People of Color (BIPOC) is available to the public. *Inclusion of a title in the collection DOES NOT EQUAL a recommendation.* Click here for more on book evaluation.
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9 matching books
Show FiltersRunaway
"A powerful, lyrical OwnVoices picture book about the enslavement of Ona Judge and her self-emancipation from George Washington’s household. Ona Judge was enslaved by the Washingtons, and served the President's wife, Martha. Ona was widely known for her excellent skills as a seamstress, and was raised alongside Washington’s grandchildren. Indeed, she was frequently mistaken for his granddaughter. This biography follows her childhood and adolescence until she decides to run away. This book doesn’t shy away from the horrors of slavery, nor the complex role of house servants. Author Ray Anthony Shepard implicates the reader in Ona’s decision to emancipate herself by using a rhetorical refrain, “Why you run, Ona Judge?” This haunting meditation welcomes meaningful and necessary conversation among readers. Illustrator Keith Mallett’s rich paintings include fabric collage and add further feeling and majesty to Ona’s daring escape." -- publisher
Pocket Bios: Pocahontas
"Pocahontas was a Native American teenager famous for her connection to the colonial settlement in Jamestown, Virginia. She is said to have saved the life of Englishman John Smith. At the age of seventeen, she married tobacco farmer John Rolfe, eventually moving to England with him. Her story has been highly romanticized in literature and film over the years, and remains captivating to this day.P\" -- publisher
Follow Chester!
"A little known civil rights hero and college football MVP finally gets a voice in this fictional account detailing Chester Pierce’s game-changing play as he became the first black college football player to compete south of the Mason-Dixon Line. In 1947, no African American player can play at a southern school; in return, the opposing team benches a player of “equal talent.” This historical fiction picture book frames a turbulent time in the civil rights era with the clever use of a football play to show race relations and teamwork. Inspired by a true story, capturing a historic defense against the Jim Crow laws of the South." -- publisher
Sweet land of liberty
The story of Marian Anderson's Easter Sunday concert in 1939 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.
A spy called James
This is the true story of James Lafayette, a slave who spied for George Washington's army during the American Revolution. But while America celebrated its newfound freedom, James returned to slavery. His service hadn't qualified him for the release he'd been hoping for. For James the fight wasn't over; he'd already helped his country gain its freedom, now it was time to win his own
The Case for Loving
Imagine not being able to marry the person you loved, just because they were of a race different from your own. This is the story of one brave family: Mildred Loving, Richard Perry Loving, and their three children. It is the story of how Mildred and Richard fell in love, and got married in Washington D.C. When they moved back to their hometown in Virginia, they were arrested for violating that state's law against interracial marriage. The Lovings refused to allow their children to get the message that their parents' love was wrong and so they fought the unfair law, taking their case all the way to the Supreme Court
Lincoln and Douglass
In an account of the friendship between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, readers get a glimpse into the shared bond between two great American leaders during a turbulent time in history
Under the freedom tree
Tells of the Civil War's first contraband camp that began when three escaped slaves were granted protection at a Union-held fort, prompting runaway slaves to seek freedom there and build the country's first African American community
Pocahontas
"Meet Pocahontas!Fact-filled Rookie Read-About Biographies introduce the youngest readers to influential women and men, both past and present. Colorful photos and age appropriate text encourage children to read on their own-as they learn about people like Serena Williams, Neil Armstrong, Rosa Parks, Anne Frank and many more. Pocahontas' people, the Powhatan, were already living in Virginia when the first English settlers arrived. Without the help and friendship of this young American Indian girl, the settlers at Jamestown would surely have starved to death. She is one of America's earliest heroes." -- publisher