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Martin Luther King, Jr. & the Civil Rights Movement Booklist January 2026 |
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A Change Is Gonna Come
by Sam Cooke and Nikkolas Smith
An illustrated version of the civil rights anthem by Sam Cooke.
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Sharing the Dream
by Shelia P. Moses and Keith Mallett
Agnes and her family travel from Birmingham, Alabama to Washington DC, and participate in the March on Washington where they advocate for equal rights.
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Onyx & Beyond
by Amber McBride
Set against the turbulence of the Civil Rights Movement, twelve-year-old Onyx dreams of becoming an astronaut as he navigates his mother's early-onset dementia and avoids foster care.
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I Have a Dream
by Martin Luther King
On August 28, 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington, Martin Luther King gave one of the most powerful and memorable speeches in our nation's history. His words, paired with Caldecott Honor winner Kadir Nelson's magificent paintings, make for a picture book certain to be treasured by children and adults alike. The themes of equality and freedom for all are not only relevant today, 50 years later, but also provide young readers with an important introduction to our nation's past.
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Stories of the Spirit of Justice
by Jemar Tisby
Stories of the Spirit of Justice is the companion book for young readers ages 8-12 to Jemar Tisby's The Spirit of Justice and tells the story of the justice movement through short biographies of the figures who did the work. With illustrations depicting the people profiled and practical tips connecting readers to the continued fight for justice, this is essential reading for everyone who still dreams of a land where all are truly free.
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I See Color: An Affirmation and Celebration of Our Diverse World
by Valerie Bolling
Highlighting people such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Madonna Thunder Hawk, and Basemah Atweh, incredible leaders are honored, seen, and heard on every page. Part ode to an array of beautiful skin tones and part introduction to change-makers in history, this book is a perfect conversation starter for readers everywhere.
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Ida, in Love and in Trouble
by Veronica Chambers
Ahead of her time by decades, Ida B. Wells pioneered the field of investigative journalism with her powerful reporting on violence against African Americans. Her name became synonymous with courage and an unflinching demand for racial and gender equality. As author Veronica Chambers details the young adulthood of Ida Bell in the rapidly changing South, she reminds readers that Civil Rights legends such as Wells were real, multi-faceted people.
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If You Knew My Name: A Novel in Verse
by Lisa Roberts Carter
Mason's mother is a BLM activist, but Mason only has one interest: becoming a famous rap artist. First, though, he has to graduate high school, which means taking a poetry class. Initially disinterested, Mason comes to see the value of poetry. When the local community protests police violence against the local Black community, and Mason has his own frightening interactions with the police, Mason becomes determined to use his words to bring about change.
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All You Have to Do
by Autumn Allen
In April 1968, in the wake of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, Kevin joins a protest that shuts down his Ivy League campus. In September 1995, amidst controversy over the Million Man March, Gibran challenges the “See No Color” hypocrisy of his prestigious New England prep school. As the two students, whose lives overlap in powerful ways, risk losing the opportunities their parents worked hard to provide, they move closer to discovering who they want to be instead of accepting as fact who society and family tell them they are.
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Let Us March on
by Shara Moon
A novel inspired by the life of an unsung heroine and real-life crusader, Lizzie McDuffie, who, as a maid in FDR's White House, spearheaded the Civil Rights movement of her time.
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Homeward: A Novel
by Angela Jackson-Brown
Georgia, 1962. Rose Perkins Bourdon returns home to Parsons, GA, without her husband and pregnant with another man’s baby. After tragedy strikes her husband in the war overseas, a numb Rose is left to figure out what she is going to do with the rest of her life. Her sister introduces her to members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee—young people who are taking risks and fighting battles Rose has only seen on television. Feeling emotions for the first time in what feels like forever, the excited and frightened Rose finds herself becoming increasingly involved in the resistance efforts.
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54 Miles
by Leonard Pitts
The free-standing successor and next novel by the author of the critically acclaimed The Last Thing You Surrender , Leonard Pitts, Jr.'s 54 Miles launches forward twenty years to the fateful weeks of March 1965--from the infamous "Bloody Sunday" march at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma on the 7th to the triumphant entry into Montgomery on the 25th that climaxed the voting rights campaign--and the families who find themselves confronting the past amid another flashpoint in American history.
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My Life, My Love, My Legacy
by Coretta Scott King
The life story of Coretta Scott King--wife of Martin Luther King Jr., founder of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change (The King Center), and singular twentieth-century American civil and human rights activist--as told fully for the first time, toward the end of her life, to Rev. Dr. Barbara Reynolds.
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King : A Life
by Jonathan Eig
Drawing on recently declassified FBI files, this first major biography in decades of the civil rights icon reveals the courageous and often emotionally troubled man who demanded peaceful protest but was rarely at peace with himself, while showing how his demands for racial and economic justice remain just as urgent today.
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King of the North: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Life of Struggle Outside the South
by Jeanne Theoharis
A radical reframing of the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr. The Martin Luther King Jr. of popular memory vanquished Jim Crow in the South. But in this myth-shattering book, award-winning and New York Times bestselling historian Jeanne Theoharis argues that King's time in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago--outside Dixie--was at the heart of his campaign for racial justice. King of the North follows King as he crisscrosses the country from the Northeast to the West Coast, challenging school segregation, police brutality, housing segregation, and job discrimination. For these efforts, he was relentlessly attacked by white liberals, the media, and the federal government.
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The King Years: Historic Moments in The Civil Rights Movement
by Taylor Branch
The King Years delivers riveting tales of everyday heroes who achieved miracles in constructive purpose and yet poignantly fell short. Here is the full sweep of an era that still reverberates in national politics. Its legacy remains unsettled; there are further lessons to be discovered before free citizens can once again move officials to address the most intractable, fearful dilemmas. This vital primer amply fulfills its author's dedication: "For students of freedom and teachers of history."
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