I’m excited to share this list of children’s black history books set during the 1940s and 1950s! That was a significant period as it bridged the Great Depression and Harlem Renaissance to the birth of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.
If you’re looking for a comprehensive, printable Black History Month book list, you can go here!
If you’d like a list of posts about different topics in black history, you can go here!
A Big Day for Baseball (Mary Pope Osborne)
Jack and Annie journey to 1947 Brooklyn where they become ball boys in a baseball game featuring Jackie Robinson.
Bigmama’s (Donald Crews)
Four children travel with their mother to visit their grandma in Florida for the summer.
The Gold Cadillac (Mildred D. Taylor)
Two young black girls can’t wait to drive their dad’s new Cadillac from Ohio to Mississippi, but they are soon under suspicion because of their skin color.
Ruth and the Green Book (Calvin Alexander Ramsey)
Young Ruth and her family must consult The Green Book on their family trip to the South in order to find places that will serve them during the Jim Crow era.
Goin’ Someplace Special (Patricia C. McKissack)
A young girl’s first solo bus ride opens her eyes to the realities of segregation and Jim Crow laws.
These Hands (Margaret H. Mason)
A young boy learns about segregation through the story of his Grandfather not being able to work in a bread factor in the 1950s.
Summer Sun Risin’ (W. Nikola Lisa)
A young boy spends a full day working on his family’s farm in 1950s Texas.
Courage Has No Color, The True Story of the Triple Nickles: America’s First Black Paratroopers (Tanya Lee Stone)
A portrait of America’s first black paratroopers who fought the Japanese during World War II.
How High the Moon (Karyn Parsons)
A coming-of-age story of 12-year-old Ella, whose life is torn between her home in South Carolina and her mother’s world in Boston during the Jim Crow era.
The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights (Steve Sheinkin)
The fascinating story of a huge explosion on a segregated Navy base in California during World War II and its aftermath.
Wind Flyers (Angela Johnson, Loren Long)
The oft-forgotten story of one soldier from the Tuskegee Airmen, African-American military pilots who fought in World War II.
Midnight Without a Moon (Linda Williams Jackson)
This middle-grade book weaves the fictional story of Rose Lee Carter into real historical events that happened in 1955 Mississippi.
The Hero Two Doors Down: Based on the True Story of Friendship Between a Boy and a Baseball Legend (Sharon Robinson)
This book chronicles the true friendship between Jackie Robinson and his 8-year-old Jewish neighbor, Stephen Satlow.
The Unsung Hero of Birdsong (Brenda Woods)
A young white boy befriends a black World War II vet in the Jim Crow era.
In the Land of Milk and Honey (Joyce Carol Thomas)
The true story of the author’s move from Oklahoma to California in 1948, told from her perspective as a little girl.
This Is The Rope: A Story from the Great Migration (Jacqueline Woodson)
A little girl’s family relocates from South Carolina to New York City during the Great Migration, but a rope is the tie that will bind her family together for generations.
I hope this list of children’s black history books set in the 1940s and 1950s is helpful as you delve deeper into black history! Are there any books you would add to this list? Please feel free to share them in the comments!