Children's Books on the History of African Americans and Libraries

Explore these notable titles to introduce children to the history of African Americans and their contributions to libraries:

Bolte, Mari. Dr. Carla Hayden: The First Woman Librarian of Congress. Paw Prints Publishing, 2023.

Denise, Anika. Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré. Illustrated by Paola Escobar, First edition, Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2019.

Felecié Soto, Ada Myriam, and Abimael Ortiz Alvarez. Arturo and the Hidden Treasure. 1st ed, The Rosen Publishing, 2014.

Gottesfeld, Jeff, et al. Fight for the Right to Read: Samuel Wilbert Tucker and the 1939 Sit-down Strike for Library Reading Equality. Creston Books, 2025.

Lyon, Lea, et al. Ready to Fly: How Sylvia Townsend Became the Bookmobile Ballerina. First edition, Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2020.

Mack, John B., et al. Nobody Promised Me. [Childrens Press], 1970.

McDaniel, Breanna J. Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master Storyteller. Illustrated by April Harrison, Dial Books for Young Readers, 2024.

Miller, William. Richard Wright and the Library Card. Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie, First edition, Lee & Low Books, Inc., 1997.

Moening, Kate. Carla Hayden: Librarian of Congress. Bellwether Media, 2021.

Priestley, Mary P., et al. Little Brown Hen Librarian: Based on the True Story of a Little Girl Who Loved to Read. Thurmond Memorial Library: Proctor’s Hall Press, 2017.

Weatherford, Carole Boston. Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library. Illustrated by Eric Velasquez, First edition, Candlewick Press, 2017.

White, C. Ian, and Charles White. Grandpa and the Library: How Charles White Learned to Paint. The Museum of Modern Art, 2018.

The Freedom Libraries

The Freedom Libraries were part of the Freedom Summer Project, a project designed to aid in the effort to secure voting rights and other services for African Americans in Mississippi during the Civil Rights Era.  Housed in churches, old buildings, and other facilities, the Freedom Libraries provided library services and literacy guidance for many African Americans, some who had never had access to libraries before the Freedom Summer Project. 

See related posts: The Faith Cabin Libraries and  The Marblehead Libraries.       
                

Sources: Battles, David M. The History of Public Library Access for African Americans in the South or, Leaving Behind the Plow. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2009. 133-135. Print. ; Davis, Donald G. and Cheryl Knott Malone. "Reading for Liberation: The Role of Libraries in the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer Project." Untold Stories: Civil Rights, Libraries, and Black Librarianship. Ed. John Mark Tucker. Champaign: Board of Trustees of the U of Illinois, 1998. 110-125. Print. ; Sturkey, William. "'I Want to Become A Part of History': Freedom Summer, Freedom Schools, and the Freedom News."  Journal of African American History 95.3-4 (2010): 348-368. Print. ; Beal, Billie C. "Freedom Summer and the Integrating of the Meridian, Mississippi Public Library." Newsletter of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association 36.3 (2007): 1. Print. ; Heinze, Frederick W. "The Freedom Libraries: A Wedge in the Closed Society." Library Journal 90 (1965):1991-1993. Print. ; Bobinski, George S. Libraries and Librarianship: Sixty Years of Challenge and Change, 1945-2005. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2007. 98. Print.

UPDATE May 30, 2020:

Mike Selby, a librarian in British Columbia and a newspaper columnist, has written a book about the Freedom Libraries, Freedom Libraries: The Untold Stories of Librarians for African Americans in the South. The book is published by Rowman & Littlefield. To learn more about this well-written and well-researched book, please visit:
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538115541/Freedom-Libraries-The-Untold-Story-of-Libraries-for-African-Americans-in-the-South