reading list for courageous conversations about race

And when he got put in jail for resisting, he knew he couldn’t give up. He knew that what the government was doing was unfair. This included Fred, whose parents had immigrated to the United States from Japan many years before. The government forced all people of Japanese descent to leave their homes on the West Coast and move to concentration camps.

But everything changed when the United States went to war with Japan in 1941. Ages 5–10.įred Korematsu Speaks Up: Fred Korematsu liked listening to music on the radio, playing tennis, and hanging around with his friends - just like lots of other Americans. This is the remarkable and inspiring story of one child’s role in the Civil Rights Movement. When nine-year-old Audrey Faye Hendricks heard grown-ups talk about wiping out Birmingham’s segregation laws, she volunteered to get arrested, even though it meant she would have to go to jail. This moving picture book proves you’re never too little to make a difference. The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, A Young Civil Rights Activist: Meet the youngest known child to be arrested for a civil rights protest in Birmingham, Alabama, 1963. When We Were Alone is a story about a difficult time in history and, ultimately, one of resilience, empowerment and strength. Why does her grandmother have long braided hair and beautifully colored clothing? Why does she speak another language and spend so much time with her family? As she asks her grandmother about these things, she is told about life in a residential school a long time ago, where all of these things were taken away. When We Were Alone: When a young girl helps tend to her grandmother’s garden, she begins to notice things that make her curious. Their success eventually brought an end to the era of segregated education in California. Her parents took action by organizing the Latinx community and filing a lawsuit in federal district court.

Mendez, an American citizen of Mexican and Puerto Rican heritage, was denied enrollment to a “Whites only” school. Board of Education, Sylvia Mendez and her parents helped end school segregation in California. Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation: Almost 10 years before Brown v. The lives of ten Black women activists are featured in an incredible story about courage in the face of oppression about the challenges and triumphs of the battle for civil rights and about speaking out for what you believe in - even when it feels like no one is listening. Harriet Tubman helped hundreds of slaves escape the South on the Underground Railroad. Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters: Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus and sparked a boycott that changed America.

The essential work of white activists is also included - to underscore that anti-racist work is not the responsibility of people of color and exemplify the ways white allies have stood up against racial injustice. The majority of books center activists of color, whose lives and bodies have been on the front lines of racial justice work, yet whose stories often go untold. These books showcase the diverse ways people of all ages and races have engaged in anti-racist activism, and highlight how race intersects with other issues, such as capitalism, class and colonization. It highlights resistance, resilience and activism and seeks to empower youth to participate in the ongoing movement for racial justice. Beyond addressing issues of race and racism, this children’s reading list focuses on taking action. To counter this bias, experts recommend acknowledging and naming race and racism with children as early and as often as possible.Ĭhildren’s books are one of the most effective and practical tools for initiating these critical conversations and they can also be used to model what it means to resist and dismantle oppression. By age 5, white children are strongly biased towards whiteness. Research from Harvard University suggests that children as young as three years old, when exposed to racism and prejudice, tend to embrace and accept it, even though they might not understand the feelings.

This list was curated by The Conscious Kid Library and American Indians in Children’s Literature, in partnership with Raising Race Conscious Children.

Reading list for courageous conversations about race