civil rights biographies for children?

[ijack]

DD1 has been really into learning about civil rights lately and needs to pick a non fiction book to read this month, so I thought it would be a good topic. Any recommendations on books or specific people I should look into? They discussed MLK Jr, Rosa Parks, and Ruby Bridges in her class - she's kind of obsessed with Ruby and we've read a lot about her so maybe someone else?

[WOT?*]

I have a book I bought for the GDs called Freedom Heroines which has bios of six female leaders of suffrage and civil rights including Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Jane Addams, Ida B. Wells, Alice Paul and Rosa Parks.

Also, try "I am Malala" which has a youth readers edition, or "Malala Yousafzai, Warrior With Words." While technically not part of the US Civil Rights movement from "way back" she is a current leader in world civil rights, which includes US rights for education for all, and as a young Civil Rights leader, an amazing example of what youth can accomplish and therefore a great example for your DD1 to learn from.

Or pick someone from the wiki list and do an interwebs or Amazon search for an appropriate book you can borrow or buy. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_civil_rights_leaders

Claudette Colvin preceded Rosa Parks by 6-9 months but she wasn't as "presentable" so she didn't get the press that Rosa did. She might be an interesting case study. She's also still alive.

[mominatrix]

How old?

A shorter book, (School Library Journal says grades 2-5) I kind of love Of Thee I Sing: A Letter To My Daughters, by a kind of unknown author named Barack Obama.

It's little mini-bios (one page each) of people from George Washington to Billy Holiday to Cesar Chavez to Helen Keller. They're a great jumping off point for other conversations. The illustrations are beautiful...

[ijack]

She's in 1st grade, but it can be a book that we read to her as well. She loves her some Barack, so that might be a good option too!

[downtoearth]

There is a series on Amazon called "History for kids: The illustrated Life of..." and they have Rosa Parks and MLK Jr, but I'm not sure of anyone else in the civil rights area. My son used one of those for research last year in 2nd grade. We got it on the kindle.

My son got really into biographies for awhile and you can actually get to an area in Amazon where you can search "children's historical biographies" and put "civil rights" in the search. I found a lot of books on topics he wanted to learn about by searching in that category.

ETA: This book 28 Days: Moments in Black History that Changed the World looks pretty interesting.  I haven't read it, but I it might work for your DD's book report.