Women’s History Month: Part II: Picture Book Biographies

This week, the United States Senate began the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. In the court’s 233 year history, Jackson is the first Black woman to be nominated for a seat on the country’s highest court. Since February (Black History Month), when she was nominated by President Biden, her story has been widely told nationally and abroad. And what an exceptional story it is. If she is confirmed during Women’s History Month (WHM), it will be especially celebratory. Maybe this time next year, our WHM book list will feature several picture book biographies about Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Until then, here are 35 picture book biographies about Black women who have excelled in literature, education, sports, the arts, activism, politics and many other fields. In the coming months, look for Mae Makes a Way: The True Story of Mae Reeves, Hat and History Maker (Crown BYR) by Olugemisola Rhuday-Perkovich and Andrea Pippins, Maya’s Song (HarperCollins) by Renée Watson and Bryan Collier, and On Her Wings: The Story of Toni Morrison (Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman) by Jerdine Nolen and James E. Ransome.

For more books about Black women, see this list on the Our Stories Matter Bookshop page. When you purchase books from our page, you support indie bookstores, and our organization earns 10% on all sales. Happy Women’s History Month!

1. Call Me Miss Hamilton: One Woman’s Case for Equality and Respect

2. Fearless Heart: An Illustrated Biography of Surya Bonaly

3. Because Claudette

4. Opal Lee and What It Means to Be Free: The True Story of the Grandmother of Juneteenth

5. When the Schools Shut Down

6. The Girl Who Became President: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (The Heritage Collection)

7. Stitch by Stitch: Elizabeth Hobbs Keckly Sews Her Way to Freedom

8. Stacey’s Extraordinary Words

9. Nina: A Story of Nina Simone

10. Planting Peace: The Story of Wangari Maathai

11. Game, Set, Sisters: The Venus and Serena Williams Story

12. Michelle’s Garden: How the First Lady Planted Seeds of Change

13. We Wait for the Sun

14. Jump at the Sun: The True Life Tale of Unstoppable Storycatcher Zora Neale Hurston

15. One Step Further: My Story of Math, the Moon, and a Mission

16. Flying High: The Story of Gymnastics Champion Simone Biles

17. Flying Free: How Bessie Coleman’s Dreams Took Flight

18. Idia of the Benin Kingdom

19. Kamala Harris: Rooted in Justice

20. Shirley Chisholm Is a Verb

21. Althea Gibson: The Story of Tennis’ Fleet-of-Foot Girl

22. I Am a Promise

23. The Power of Her Pen: The Story of Groundbreaking Journalist Ethel L. Payne

24. A Ride to Remember: A Civil Rights Story

25. The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read

26. A Voice Named Aretha

27. Mamie on the Mound: A Woman in Baseball’s Negro Leagues

28. A Likkle Miss Lou: How Jamaican Poet Louise Bennett Coverley Found Her Voice

29. A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks

30. Fearless Mary: The True Adventures of Mary Fields, American Stagecoach Driver

31. Ona Judge Outwits the Washingtons: An Enslaved Woman Fights for Freedom

32. Someday Is Now: Clara Luper and the 1958 Oklahoma City Sit-ins

33. Mae Among the Stars

34. Harlem’s Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills

35. Catching the Moon: The Story of a Young Girl’s Baseball Dream

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