“If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”—Shirley Chisholm
Women’s History Month (WHM), like Black History Month, began as a week-long observance and then extended into a month-long celebration. In recent cinema, Shirley explores the life of Shirley Chisholm, portrayed by Regina King. Chisholm was the first Black woman elected to Congress, as well as the first to run for president of the United States from a major party. This list of picture books for WHM features titles about Chisholm and many other Black women and girls who made history in the arts, sports, education, and more. Some women, like Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, are featured in multiple books. See 45 Books: Women (and girls) Who Made History, Part 2 for books for older readers.
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1. A Crown of Stories: The Life and Language of Beloved Writer Toni Morrison
Carole Boston Weatherford | Khalif Thompson | Quill Tree Books | April 2, 2024 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
2. Miles of Style: Eunice W. Johnson and the Ebony Fashion Fair
Lisa D. Brathwaite | Lynn Gaines | Lee & Low Books | February 6, 2024 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
3. Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master Storyteller
Breanna J. McDaniel | April Harrison | Dial | February 6, 2024 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
4. Extraordinary Magic: The Writing Life of Virginia Hamilton
Nina Crews | Christy Ottaviano/Little Brown | January 9, 2024 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
5. Oprah Winfrey: A Little Golden Book Biography
Alliah L. Agostini | Tara Nicole Whitaker | Golden Books | November 7, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
6. On the Line: My Story of Becoming the First African American Rockette
Jennifer Jones | Lissette Norman | Robert Paul, Jr. | HarperCollins | October 31, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
7. Traveling Shoes: The Story of Willye White, US Olympian and Long Jump Champion
Alice Faye Duncan | Keith Mallett | Calkins Creek | October 24, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
8. Legends of Hip-Hop: Queen Latifah
Pen Ken | Saxton Moore | HarperFestival | September 19, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
9. Lion on the Inside: How One Girl Changed Basketball
Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir | Judith Henderson | Katherine Ahmed | Kids Can Press | September 5, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
10. Jackie Ormes Draws the Future: The Remarkable Life of a Pioneering Cartoonist
Liz Montague | Random House Studio | May 16, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
11. Simone Biles: A Little Golden Book Biography
JaNay Brown-Wood | Kim Holt | Golden Books | May 2, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
12. Chef Edna: Queen of Southern Cooking, Edna Lewis
Melvina Noel | Cozbi A. Cabrera | Cameron Kids | April 18, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
13. Little Rosetta and the Talking Guitar
Charnelle Pinkney Barlow | Doubleday BYR | February 28, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
14. Rock, Rosetta, Rock! Roll, Rosetta, Roll!
Tonya Bolden | R. Gregory Christie | HarperCollins | February 14, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
15. A is for Aretha (Board Book)
Leslie Kwan | Rachelle Baker | Kokila | January 24, 2023 | Bd Bk | Amazon | Bookshop
16. To Boldly Go: How Nichelle Nichols and Star Trek Helped Advance Civil Rights
Angela Dalton | Lauren Semmer | HarperCollins | January 17, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
17. The Green Piano: How Little Me Found Music
Roberta Flack | Tonya Bolden | Hayden Goodman | Anne Schwartz Books | January 10, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
18. Beyonce: A Little Golden Book Biography
Lavaille Lavette | Anastasia Williams | Golden Books | January 3, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
19. Holding Her Own: The Exceptional Life of Jackie Ormes
Traci N. Todd | Shannon Wright | Orchard Books | January 3, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
20. Somebody to Love: The Story of Valerie June’s Sweet Little Baby Banjolele
Valerie June Hockett | Marcela Avelar | Third Man Books | November 1, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
21. On Her Wings: The Story of Toni Morrison
Jerdine Nolen | James E. Ransome | Simon & Schuster | September 27, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
22. Maya’s Song
Reneé Watson | Bryan Collier | HarperCollins | September 20, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
23. Bessie the Motorcycle Queen
Charles R. Smith Jr. | Charlot Kristensen | Scholastic | September 20, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
24. Alma’s Art
Roda Ahmed | Anita Cheung | Hightree Publishing | February 20, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
25. Fearless Heart: An Illustrated Biography of Surya Bonaly
Frank Murphy | Surya Bonaly | Anastasia Magloire Williams | Triumph Books | January 25, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
26. Charlotte and the Nutcracker: The True Story of a Girl Who Made Ballet History
Charlotte Nebres | Alea Marley | Random House BYR | December 21, 2021 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
27. Stitch by Stitch: Elizabeth Hobbs Keckly Sews Her Way to Freedom
Connie Schofield-Morrison | Elizabeth Zunon | Holiday House | November 9, 2021 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
28. Nina: A Story of Nina Simone
Traci Todd | Christian Robinson | G.P. Putnam’s Sons BYR | September 28, 2021 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
29. Game, Set, Sisters: The Venus and Serena Williams Story
Jay Leslie | Ebony Glenn | Henry Holt | March 30, 2021 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
30. Jump at the Sun: The True Life Tale of Unstoppable Storycatcher Zora Neale Hurston
Alicia D. Williams | Jacqueline Alcántara | Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy | January 12, 2021 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
31. Flying High: The Story of Gymnastics Champion Simone Biles
Michelle Meadows | Ebony Glenn | Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) | December 29, 2020 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
32. I Am a Promise
Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce | Ashley Rosseau | Rachel Moss | Black Sheep | February 4, 2020 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
33. Althea Gibson: The Story of Tennis’ Fleet-of-Foot Girl
Megan Reid | Laura Freeman | Balzer + Bray | PB | January 21, 2020 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
34. A Voice Named Aretha
Katheryn Russell-Brown | Laura Freeman | Bloomsbury | January 7, 2020 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
35. Mamie on the Mound: A Woman in Baseball’s Negro Leagues
Leah Henderson | George Doutsiopoulos | Capstone | January 1, 2020 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
36. A Likkle Miss Lou: How Jamaican Poet Louise Bennett Coverley Found Her Voice
Nadia Hohn | Eugenie Fernandes | Owlkids | August 13, 2019 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
37. Brave Ballerina: The Story of Janet Collins
Michelle Meadows | Ebony Glenn | Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) | January 8, 2019 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
38. A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks
Alice Faye Duncan | Xia Gordon | Sterling | January 1, 2019 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
39. Game Changers: The Story of Venus and Serena Williams
Lesa Cline-Ransome | James E. Ransome | Simon & Schuster/Wiseman | July 3, 2018 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
40. The Legendary Miss Lena Horne
Carole Boston Weatherford | Elizabeth Zunon | Atheneum BYR | January 24, 2017 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
41. Harlem’s Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills
Renee Watson | Christian Robinson | Random House BYR | October 23, 2012 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
42. Catching the Moon: The Story of a Young Girl’s Baseball Dream
Crystal Hubbard | Randy Duburke | Lee & Low Books | September 30, 2005 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
43. Ida B. Wells Marches for the Vote
Dinah Johnson | Jerry Jordan | Little, Brown/Ottaviano | January 2, 2024 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
44. Coretta: The Autobiography of Mrs. Coretta Scott King
Coretta Scott King | Barbara Reynolds | Ekua Holmes | Godwin Books | January 2, 2024 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
45. Coretta’s Journey: The Life and Times of Coretta Scott King
Alice Faye Duncan | R. Gregory Christie | Calkins Creek | September 26, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
46. Loud and Proud: The Life of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm
Lesa Cline-Ransome | Kaylani Juanita | Paula Wiseman Books | September 19, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
47. Justice Ketanji: The Story of US Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson
Denise Lewis Patrick | Kim Holt | Orchard Books | August 1, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
48. Ketanji: Justice Jackson’s Journey to the U.S. Supreme Court
Kekla Magoon | Laura Freeman | HarperCollins | June 20, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
49. Ketanji Brown Jackson: A Justice for All
Tami Charles | Jemma Skidmore | Simon & Schuster BYR | April 4, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
50. All Rise: The Story of Ketanji Brown Jackson
Carole Boston Weatherford | Ashley Evans | Crown BYR | February 28, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
51. Justice Rising: 12 Amazing Black Women in the Civil Rights Movement
Katheryn Russell-Brown | Kim Holt | Viking BYR | January 10, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
52. Harriet Tubman
JaNay Brown-Wood | Robert Paul, Jr. | Golden Books | December 6, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
53. Not Done Yet: Shirley Chisholm’s Fight for Change
Tameka Fryer Brown | Nina Crews | Millbrook Press | November 1, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
54. Stacey Abrams: Lift Every Voice
Sarah Warren | Monica Mikai | Lee & Low | September 6, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
55. Stacey Abrams and the Fight to Vote
Traci N. Todd | Laura Freeman | HarperCollins | August 30, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
56. Choosing Brave: Mamie Till-Mobley, Emmett Till, and the Voice That Sparked the Civil Rights Movement
Angela Joy | Janelle Washington | Roaring Brook | August 9, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
57. The Girl Who Became President: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Rosemond Sarpong-Owens | Skye Brookshire | Lion’s Historian Press | February 14, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
58. Call Me Miss Hamilton: One Woman’s Case for Equality and Respect
Carole Boston Weatherford | Jeffery Boston Weatherford | Millbrook Press | February 1, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
59. Because Claudette
Tracey Baptiste | Tonya Engel | Dial Books | February 1, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
60. Sing, Aretha, Sing!: Aretha Franklin, Respect, and the Civil Rights Movement
Hanif Abdurraqib | Ashley Evans | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | February 1, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
61. Opal Lee and What It Means to Be Free: The True Story of the Grandmother of Juneteenth
Alice Faye Duncan | Keturah A. Bobo | Thomas Nelson | January 11, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
62. When the Schools Shut Down
Yolanda Gladden | Tamara Pizzoli | Keisha Morris | HarperCollins | January 11, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
63. Ida B. Wells, Voice of Truth: Educator, Feminist, and Anti-Lynching Civil Rights Leader
Michelle Duster | Laura Freeman | Henry Holt and Co. BYR | January 4, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
64. Planting Peace: The Story of Wangari Maathai
Gwendolyn Hooks | Margaux Carpentier | Crocodile Books | June 6, 2021 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
65. Shirley Chisholm Dared: The Story of the First Black Woman in Congress
Alicia D. Williams | April Harrison | Anne Schwartz Books | June 1, 2021 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
66. Michelle’s Garden: How the First Lady Planted Seeds of Change
Sharee Miller | Little, Brown BYR | March 2, 2021 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
67. We Wait for the Sun
Dovey Johnson Roundtree | Katie McCabe | Raissa Figueroa | Roaring Brook | February 9, 2021 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
68. Runaway: The Daring Escape of Ona Judge
Ray Anthony Shepard | Keith Mallett | Farrar, Straus and Giroux BYR | January 5, 2021 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
69. Kamala Harris: Rooted in Justice
Nikki Grimes | Laura Freeman | Atheneum BYR | August 25, 2020 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
70. She Was the First!: The Trailblazing Life of Shirley Chisholm
Katheryn Russell-Brown | Eric Velasquez | Lee & Low Books | PB | August 4, 2020 | PB | Amazon |Bookshop
71. Shirley Chisholm Is a Verb
Veronica Chambers | Rachelle Baker | Dial Books | July 28, 2020 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
72. The Power of Her Pen: The Story of Groundbreaking Journalist Ethel L. Payne
Lesa Cline-Ransome | John Parra | S&S/Paula Wiseman | January 14, 2020 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
73. A Ride to Remember: A Civil Rights Story
Sharon Langley | Amy Nathan | Floyd Cooper | Abrams BYR | January 7, 2020 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
74. Idia of the Benin Kingdom
Ekiuwa Aire | Alina Shabelnyk | Our Ancestories | January 1, 2020 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
75. Ona Judge Outwits the Washingtons: An Enslaved Woman Fights for Freedom
Gwendolyn Hooks | Simone Agoussoye | Capstone | October 1, 2019 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
76. Someday Is Now: Clara Luper and the 1958 Oklahoma City Sit-ins
Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich | Jade Johnson | Seagrass Press | August 7, 2018 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
77. Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement
Carole Boston Weatherford | Ekua Holmes | Candlewick | August 4, 2015 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
78. Sojourner Truth’s Step-Stomp Stride
Andrea Pinkney | Brian Pinkney | Little, Brown BYR | November 24, 2009 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
79. Small Shoes, Great Strides: How Three Brave Girls Opened Doors to School Equality
Vaunda Micheaux Nelson | Alex Bostic | Lerner | November 7, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
80. How Do You Spell Unfair?: MacNolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee
Carole Boston Weatherford | Frank Morrison | Candlewick | April 11, 2023 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
81. I Am Ruby Bridges
Ruby Bridges | Nikkolas Smith | Orchard Books | September 6, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
82. The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read
Rita Lorraine Hubbard | Oge Mora | Schwartz & Wade | January 7, 2020 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
83. Brave. Black. First.: 50+ African American Women Who Changed the World
Cheryl Willis Hudson | Erin K. Robinson | Crown BYR | January 7, 2020 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
84. Mae Makes a Way: The True Story of Mae Reeves, Hat and History Maker
Olugemisola Rhuday-Perkovich | Andrea Pippins | Crown BYR | May 24, 2022 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
85. Praline Lady
Kirstie Myvett | Kameko Madere | Pelican Publishing | November 2, 2020 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
86. Fearless Mary: The True Adventures of Mary Fields, American Stagecoach Driver
Tami Charles | Claire Almon | Albert Whitman & Company | January 1, 2019 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
87. Mary McLeod Bethune
Eloise Greenfield | Jerry Pinkney | HarperCollins | July 21, 1994 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
88. Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History
Vashti Harrison | Little, Brown BYR | December 5, 2017 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
89. One Step Further: My Story of Math, the Moon, and a Mission
Katherine Johnson | Joylette Hylick | Katherine Moore | Charnelle Pinkney Barlow | January 5, 2021 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
90. Flying Free: How Bessie Coleman’s Dreams Took Flight
Karyn Parsons | R. Gregory Christie | Little, Brown BYR | December 1, 2020 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
91. Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race
Margot Lee Shetterly | Laura Freeman | HarperCollins | January 16, 2018 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
92. Mae Among the Stars
Roda Ahmed | Stasia Burrington | HarperCollins | January 9, 2018 | PB | Amazon | Bookshop
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