Helen Plum Library

"Race Cars is a children's book about white privilege created to help facilitate tough conversations with their kids about race, privilege and oppression. It tells the story of two best friends, a white car and a black car, that have different experiences and face different rules while entering the same race. This book is important because as early as 6 months, a baby's brain can notice race-based differences, by ages 2 to 4, children can internalize...

For months six-year-old Ruby Bridges must confront the hostility of white parents when she becomes the first African American girl to integrate Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans in 1960

"A mother's account of her experience as the only Black child in school serves as an empowering message to her daughter"--

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

"In a beautiful prose telling, the story of a groundbreaking civil rights leader, John Lewis. John Lewis left a cotton farm in Alabama to join the fight for civil rights. He was only a teenager. He soon became a leader of a moment that changed a nation. Walking at the side of his mentor, Dr. Martin Luther King, Lewis was led by his belief in peaceful action and voting rights. Today and always his work and legacy will live on"--

"A picture book biography about Ida B. Wells and her life as a suffragist, with a focus on the Women's March of 1913"--

Rosa Parks grew up during segregation in Alabama, but she was taught to respect herself and stand up for her rights. In 1955, Rosa refused to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated bus, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Her decision had a huge impact on civil rights, eventually leading to the end of segregation on public transport. Rosa was described as "the mother of the freedom movement". This inspiring story of Rosa's life is moving,...

Presents the life and accomplishments of the activist, educator, writer, journalist, suffragette, and pioneering voice against the horrors of lynching who set out to better the lives of African-Americans long before the Civil Rights Movement

"When Ruby Bridges was six years old, she became the first African American student to integrate an elementary school in the South. Told in the perspective of her six year old self and based on the pivotal events that happened in 1960, Ruby tells her story like never before. Embracing her name and learning that even at six years old she was able to pave the path for future generations, this is a story full of hope, innocence, and courage"--

"This picture book biography in verse tells the story of Mary Hamilton, an African American woman and Civil Rights activist, who was found to be in contempt of court when she would not respond to questions from an Alabama judge who used only her first name, while calling white people "Mr.," "Mrs.," or "Miss." The NAACP took her case, which appealed all the way to the US Supreme Court, which ruled in Mary Hamilton's favor." --