📖 The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch by Chris Barton. Learn about the (unfulfilled) promise of the Reconstruction Era through this lovely picture book biography of John Roy Lynch. Freed from slavery after the Civil War, Lynch was elected to the US House of Representatives from Mississippi in 1872. This story of Lynch’s life offers an accessible entry into an elementary study of the Reconstruction Era. – Elementary

📖 More than Anything Else by Marie Bradby. As a boy living and working in the Reconstruction Era South, young Booker T. Washington yearns to learn to read. Beautiful atmospheric paintings. – Preschool • Elementary

📖 Cause: Reconstruction America by Tonya Bolden. Here’s an in-depth account of the Reconstruction Era; perfect for an older student looking to dive into the topic. – Middle

📖 Carver: A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson. Turn to this Newbery Honor Book for an excellent, poetic tribute to the life and achievements of the noted Reconstruction Era scientist, George Washington Carver. The poems are told from multiple points of view and touch on incidents throughout his life. – Middle • High

📖 Ida B. Wells: Mother of the Civil Rights Movement by Dennis Brindell Fradin and Judith Bloom Fradin. Here’s an in-depth account of the life and accomplishments of Ida B. Wells.  The text is enhanced with photographs, illustrations, and excerpts of letters. There are also some disturbing images of the lynchings that Wells crusaded against; best for older students. – Middle • High

📖 The Great Migration: An American Story by Jacob Lawrence. In the early 1940s, acclaimed modern artist Jacob Lawrence painted a sequence of 60 pieces that depict the Great Migration. This collection, known as The Migration Series, forms the backbone of the book. The accompanying text describes the terrible conditions that led many southern African Americans to flee for northern cities. Also included is the text of the poem, "Waiting," by Walter Dean Myers. – ​Preschool • Elementary

📖 The Great Migration: Journey to the North by Eloise Greenfield.
Greenfield tells the story of the Great Migration of African Americans from the mostly rural south to the cities of the north through a collection of short, free-verse poems. The collage artwork enhances this lovely book.​ – ​Preschool • Elementary

📖 This is the Rope: A Story from the Great Migration by Jacqueline Woodson. This lyrical story follows an African American family through three generations, as they leave the segregated south for the promise of a better life in New York. – ​Preschool • Elementary

📖 Shades of Gray by Carolyn Reeder. "The Civil War may be over, but for twelve-year-old Will Page, the pain and bitterness haven't ended. How could they have, when the Yankees were responsible for the deaths of everyone in his entire immediate family?" Winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. – Elementary • Middle

📖 40 Acres and Maybe a Mule by Harriette Gillem Robinet. "Like other ex-slaves, Pascal and his older brother Gideon have been promised forty acres and maybe a mule. With the family of friends they have built along the way, they claim a place of their own. Green Gloryland is the most wonderful place on earth, their own family farm with a healthy cotton crop and plenty to eat. But the notorious night riders have plans to take it away, threatening to tear the beautiful freedom that the two boys are enjoying for the first time in their young lives." Winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. – Elementary • Middle

📖 Sugar by Jewell Parker Rhodes. "Ten-year-old Sugar lives on the River Road sugar plantation along the banks of the Mississippi. Slavery is over, but laboring in the fields all day doesn't make her feel very free. Thankfully, Sugar has a knack for finding her own fun, especially when she joins forces with forbidden friend Billy, the white plantation owner's son." – Elementary • Middle

📖 The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly. "As Callie explores the natural world around her, she develops a close relationship with her grandfather, navigates the dangers of living with six brothers, and comes up against just what it means to be a girl at the turn of the century." Newbery Honor Book. Also see the sequel, The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate. – Elementary • Middle

📖 The Land by Mildred Taylor. "The son of a prosperous landowner and a former slave, Paul-Edward Logan is unlike any other boy he knows. His white father has acknowledged him and raised him openly-something unusual in post-Civil War Georgia. But as he grows into a man he learns that life for someone like him is not easy." Winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. – Middle