Carter G. Woodson had a great vision and dedicated most of his life trying to realize and share it with others. He believed that celebrating and honoring the achievements of Black Americans and others throughout the diaspora was essential to the success and well-being of our community. Woodson was especially adamant about young people knowing their history. In 1915, he helped create the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History and later founded Negro History Week in February of 1926.

He is known as “The Father of Black History” because his untiring work and belief that “those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history” eventually led to the annual observance of Black History Month. Read more about this sometimes underappreciated but extraordinary historian, scholar, and writer in James Haskins’ Carter G. Woodson: The Man Who Put “Black” in American History.

Our big list of books for Black History Month includes books that are educational, aspirational, and inspirational to readers of all ages. Happy Reading!

Tiny Stitches: The Life of Medical Pioneer Vivien Thomas – Gwendolyn Hooks, Illustrator – Colin Bootman 

My People – Langston Hughes, Photographer – Charles R. Smith Jr. 

Take a Picture of Me, James Van Der Zee! – Andrea J. Loney, Illustrator – Keith Mallet  

Hey Black Child – Useni Eugene Perkins, Illustrator – Bryan Collier 

Before She was Harriet – Lesa Cline-Ransome,‎ Illustrator – James E. Ransome 

Mae Among the Stars – Roda Ahmed, Illustrator – Stasia Burrington 

Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race – Margot Lee Shetterly, Illustrator – Laura Freeman 

Preaching to the Chickens – Jabari Asim, Illustrator – E. B. Lewis

Before There Was Mozart: The Story of Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-George – Lesa Cline-Ransome – Illustrator – James E. Ransome

Alvin Ailey – Andrea Pinkney, Illustrator – Brian Pinkney 

Ticktock Banneker’s Clock – Shana Keller, Illustrator – David C. Gardner 

Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat – Javaka Steptoe 

Ira’s Shakespeare Dream – Glenda Armand, Illustrator – Floyd Cooper 

Ida B. Wells: Let the Truth Be Told – Walter Dean Myers, Illustrator – Bonnie Christensen  

Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton – Don Tate 

Little Melba and Her Big Trombone – Katheryn Russell-Brown, Illustrator – Frank Morrison  

Harlem’s Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills – Renee Watson,‎ Illustrator – Christian Robinson   

Sojourner Truth’s Step-Stomp Stride – Andrea Davis Pinkney,‎ Illustrator – Brian Pinkney 

Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America – Carole Boston Weatherford, Illustrator – Jamey Christoph 

Jake Makes a World: Jacob Lawrence, A Young Artist in Harlem – Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts,‎ Illustrator – Christopher Myers 

Fifty Cents and a Dream: Young Booker T. Washington – Jabari Asim, Illustrator – Bryan Collier   

A Girl Named Rosa: The True Story of Rosa Parks – Denise Lewis Patrick, Illustrator – Melissa Manwill   

Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library – Carole Boston Weatherford, Illustrator – Eric Velasquez 

The Legendary Miss Lena Horne – Carole Boston Weatherford, Illustrator – Elizabeth Zunon 

28 Days: Moments in Black History that Changed the World – Charles R. Smith Jr. 

Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement – Carole Boston Weatherford, Illustrator – Ekua Holmes 

A Child’s Introduction to African American History – Jabari Asim, Illustrator – Lynn Gaines 

Through My Eyes – Ruby Bridges 

Onward: A Photobiography of African-American Polar Explorer Matthew Henson – Dolores Johnson  

How to Build a Museum: Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture – Tonya Bolden 

Ashley Bryan: Words to My Life’s Song – Ashley Bryan,‎ Photographer – Bill McGuinness 

Bishop Daniel A. Payne: Great Black Leader – Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop 

Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History – Vashti Harrison 

You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen – Carole Boston Weatherford, Illustrator – Jeffery Boston Weatherford 

Book of Black Heroes: Political Leaders Past and Present – Gilbert L. Robertson

Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans – Kadir Nelson 

Carver: A Life in Poems – Marilyn Nelson 

March – John Lewis & Andrew Aydin, Illustrator – Nate Powell 

Pathfinders: The Journeys of 16 Extraordinary Black Souls – Tonya Bolden 

Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina Young Readers Edition – Misty Copeland 

Rhythm Ride: A Road Trip Through the Motown Sound – Andrea Davis Pinkney 

Facing Frederick: The Life of Frederick Douglass, a Monumental American Man – Tonya Bolden 

Let’s Clap, Jump, Sing & Shout; Dance, Spin, & Turn It Out! – Patricia McKissack 

Becoming Kareem: Growing Up on and Off the Court – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar w/ Raymond Obstfeld 

Now or Never!: Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Infantry’s War to End Slavery – Ray Shepard 

Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad – Ann Petry 

Black and White: The Way I See It – Richard Williams w/Bart Davis 

Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, A Life in Balance – Simone Biles w/Michelle Burford 

The Miseducation of the Negro – Carter G. Woodson 

Unbought and Unbossed – Shirley Chisholm 

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