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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A song for Gwendolyn Brooks
"Gwendolyn Brooks grew up on the South Side of Chicago, reading constantly and writing poetry from a very young age. Nurtured by her parents, who celebrated her gift with words, she would ultimately write twenty collections of poetry, and a novel, giving voice to the urban Black experience and becoming the first Black writer to win the prestigious Pulitzer Prize"--From dust jacket
Sewing stories
"Harriet Powers learned to sew and quilt as a young slave girl on a Georgia plantation. She lived through the Civil War and Reconstruction, and eventually owned a cotton farm with her family, all the while relying on her skills with the needle to clothe and feed her children. Later she began making pictorial quilts, using each square to illustrate Bible stories and local legends. She exhibited her quilts at local cotton fairs, and though she never traveled outside of Georgia, her quilts are now priceless examples of African American folk art."--Amazon.com
The vast wonder of the world
Presents the life and accomplishments of the African American scientist, whose keen observations of sea creatures revealed new insights about egg cells and the origins of life.
Sweet dreams, Sarah
"Sarah E. Goode was one of the first African-American women to get a US patent. Working in her furniture store, she recognized a need for a multi-use bed and through hard work, ingenuity, and determination, invented her unique cupboard bed. She built more than a piece of furniture. She built a life far away from slavery, a life where her sweet dreams could come true." --Amazon.com
Libba
Elizabeth Cotten was only a little girl when she picked up a guitar for the first time. It wasn't hers (it was her big brother's), and it wasn't strung right for her (she was left-handed). But she flipped that guitar upside down and backwards and taught herself how to play it anyway. By age eleven, she'd written "Freight Train," one of the most famous folk songs of the twentieth century. And by the end of her life, people everywhere from the sunny beaches of California to the rolling hills of England knew her music.
Brave ballerina
Janet Collins wanted to be a ballerina in the 1930s and 40s, a time when racial segregation was widespread in the United States. From her early childhood lessons to the height of her success as the first African-American prima ballerina in the Metropolitan Opera, this is the story of a remarkable pioneer. Full color
No small potatoes
The life of Junius G. Groves, a sharecropper in Kansas who grew a modest potato farm into a potato kingdom.--Provided by publisher
Swing sisters
The story of a group of African American orphans who played in their school's all-girl swing band and after leaving school made it to the big-time in an era when integrated musical groups were practically unheard of. It wasn't always easy, and it wasn't always safe, but the talented Sweethearts of Rhythm ultimately became an international sensation.--Amazon.com
Between the lines
When Ernie Barnes was growing up in North Carolina in the 1940s, he loved to draw. Even after he played with his friends, he would draw in the mud with a stick. And he never left home without a sketchbook. He would draw the junk man, families walking home from church, or the old man on the sofa. He drew what he saw. But in the segregated South, Ernie didn't know how to make a living as an artist. Ernie grew tall and athletic and became a football star. Soon enough the colleges came calling. Still, in his heart Ernie longed to paint. Would that day ever come? Ernie Barnes was one of the most important artists of his time, known for his style of elongation and movement. His work has influenced a generation of painters and illustrators and can be found in collections and museums such as the California African American Museum as well as the African American Museum in Philadelphia. -- From dust jacket
Muddy
Presents the life of blues legend Muddy Waters, describing how he persisted with his interest in music despite a lack of encouragement from his family and record producers, leading him to Chicago where he was able to record his unique country blues sound