Juneteenth Booklist

Akata Witch

By: Nnedi Okorafor

Affectionately dubbed “the Nigerian Harry Potter,” Akata Witch weaves together a heart-pounding tale of magic, mystery, and finding one’s place in the world. Twelve-year-old Sunny lives in Nigeria, but she was born American. Her features are African, but she’s albino. She’s a terrific athlete, but can’t go out into the sun to play soccer. There seems to be no place where she fits in. And then she discovers something amazing–she is a “free agent” with latent magical power. Soon she’s part of a quartet of magic students, studying the visible and invisible, learning to change reality. But will it be enough to help them when they are asked to catch a career criminal who knows magic too?

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Freedom in Congo Square

By: Carole Boston Weatherford

This poetic, nonfiction story about a little-known piece of African American history captures a human’s capacity to find hope and joy in difficult circumstances and demonstrates how New Orleans’ Congo Square was truly freedom’s heart.

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The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth, and Harlem’s Greatest Bookstore

By: Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

In the 1930s, Lewis’s dad, Lewis Michaux Sr., had an itch he needed to scratch–a book itch. How to scratch it? He started a bookstore in Harlem and named it the National Memorial African Bookstore. And as far as Lewis Michaux Jr. could tell, his father’s bookstore was one of a kind. People from all over came to visit the store, even famous people–Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, and Langston Hughes, to name a few. In his father’s bookstore people bought and read books, and they also learned from each other. People swapped and traded ideas and talked about how things could change. They came together here all because of his father’s book itch.

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William Still and His Freedom Stories: The Father of the Underground Railroad

By: Don Tate

Award-winning author-illustrator Don Tate brings to life the incredible, true story of William Still, a man who dedicated his life to recording the stories of enslaved people fleeing to freedom. Tate’s powerful words and artwork are sure to inspire young readers in this first-ever picture book biography of the Father of the Underground Railroad.

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Mumbet’s Declaration of Independence

By: Gretchen Woelfle

“All men are born free and equal.” Everybody knows about the Founding Fathers and the Declaration of Independence in 1776. But the founders weren’t the only ones who believed that everyone had a right to freedom. Mumbet, a Massachusetts enslaved person, believed it too. She longed to be free, but how? Would anyone help her in her fight for freedom? Could she win against the richest man in town? Mumbet was determined to try. Mumbet’s Declaration of Independence tells her story for the first time in a picture book biography, and her brave actions set a milestone on the road toward ending slavery in the United States.

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Midnight Teacher : Lilly Ann Granderson and Her Secret School

By: Janet Halfmann

This historical fiction picture book reveals the unknown story of Lilly Ann Granderson, an African-American teacher who risked her life to teach others during slavery. Midnight Teacher is an inspiring testament to an amazing instructor and pioneer in education. Lilly Ann Granderson’s steadfast courage in the face of adversity provides an inspiring model for all who attempt to overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges.

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Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom

By: Carole Boston Weatherford

A 2021 Newbery Honor Book In a moving, lyrical tale about the cost and fragility of freedom, a New York Times best-selling author and an acclaimed artist follow the life of a man who courageously shipped himself out of slavery.

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Your Legacy: A Bold Reclaiming of our Enslaved History

By: Schele Williams

Your story begins in Africa. Your African ancestors defied the odds and survived 400 years of slavery in America and passed down an extraordinary legacy to you. Beginning in Africa before 1619, Your Legacy presents an unprecedentedly accessible, empowering, and proud introduction to African American history for children. While your ancestors’ freedom was taken from them, their spirit was not; this book celebrates their accomplishments, acknowledges their sacrifices, and defines how they are remembered-and how their stories should be taught.

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Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life

By: Ashley Bryan

Using original slave auction and plantation estate documents, Ashley Bryan offers a moving and powerful picture book that contrasts the monetary value of a person with the priceless value of life experiences and dreams that a slave owner could never take away.

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Free At Last : A Juneteenth Poem

By: Sojourner Kincaid-Rolle

This lyrical celebration of Juneteenth, deeply rooted in Black American history, spans centuries and reverberates loudly and proudly today. After 300 years of forced bondage; hands bound, descendants of Africa picked up their souls–all that they owned– leaving shackles where they fell on the ground, headed for the nearest resting place to be found.

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Opal Lee and What it Means to be Free: the True Story of the Grandmother of Juneteenth

By: Alice Faye Duncan

Black activist Opal Lee had a vision of Juneteenth as a holiday for everyone. This true story celebrates Black joy and inspires children to see their dreams blossom. Growing up in Texas, Opal knew the history of Juneteenth, but she soon discovered that many Americans had never heard of the holiday. Join Opal on her historic journey to recognize and celebrate “freedom for all.”

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What is Juneteenth?

By: Kirsti Jewel

Discover more about Juneteenth, the important holiday that celebrates the end of chattel slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, a group of enslaved men, women, and children in Texas gathered around a Union solder and listened as he read the most remarkable words they would ever hear. They were no longer enslaved: they were free.

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Come Juneteenth

By: Ann Rinaldi

Sis Goose is a beloved member of Luli’s family, despite the fact that she was born a slave. But the family is harboring a terrible secret. And when Union soldiers arrive on their Texas plantation to announce that slaves have been declared free for nearly two years, Sis Goose is horrified to learn that the people she called family have lied to her for so long. She runs away–but her newly found freedom has tragic consequences. Includes an author’s note.

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Celebrating Holidays: Juneteenth

By: Rachel Grack

On June 19, 1865 – two years after the Emancipation Proclamation – Galveston, Texas became the last place in the country to learn the slaves were free. Today, Juneteenth is a joyful occasion with parades, speeches, music, and more! This engaging book teaches the fascinating origins and traditions of Juneteenth, honoring the freedom of African Americans.

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Meet Addy: An American Girl

By: Connie Rose Porter

In 1864, after her father and brother are sold to another owner, nine-year-old Addy Walker and her mother escape from their cruel life of slavery in North Carolina to freedom in Philadelphia.

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Brown Girl Dreaming

By: Jaqueline Woodson

Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement.

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The Youngest Marcher

By: Cynthia Levinson

Presents the life of nine-year-old Audrey Faye Hendricks who became the youngest known child to be arrested for picketing against Birmingham segregation practices in 1963.

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Juneteenth for Mazie

By: Floyd Cooper

Little Mazie wants the freedom to stay up late, but her father explains what freedom really means in the story of Juneteenth, and how her ancestors celebrated their true freedom.

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All Different Now: Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom

By: Angela Johnson

In 1865, members of a family start their day as slaves, working in a Texas cotton field, and end it celebrating their freedom on what came to be known as Juneteenth.

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Antiracist Baby

By: Ibram X. Kendi

Illustrations and rhyming text present nine steps Antiracist Baby can take to improve equity, such as opening our eyes to all skin colors and celebrating all our differences.

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A is for Activist

By: Innosanto Nagara

A is for Activist is an ABC board book written and illustrated for the next generation of progressives: families who want their kids to grow up in a space that is unapologetic about activism, environmental justice, civil rights, LGBTQ rights, and everything else that activists believe in and fight for.

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The Day You Begin

By: Jacqueline Woodson

There will be times when you walk into a room and no one there is quite like you. It’s not easy to take those first steps into a place where nobody really knows you yet, but somehow you do it. This story reminds us that we all feel like outsiders sometimes-and how brave it is that we go forth anyway.

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All Are Welcome

By: Alexandra Penfold

Follow a group of children through a day in their school, where everyone is welcomed with open arms. A school where students from all backgrounds learn from and celebrate each other’s traditions. A school that shows the world as we will make it to be.

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