2021 #BlackHistoryMonth Recommendations for All Ages

This list is nowhere near exhaustive. A multitude of other great resources like Reading While Black by Esau McCaulley, Who Will Be a Witness by Drew G.I. Hart, Becoming by Michelle Obama, The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B Du Bois, The Miseducation of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson, and The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler could very well be on a list of this nature. However, for brevity, this is my top 10 list of books and viewing for February 2021. 

For adults 

Watch

1. When They See Us (Netflix)
2. True Justice (HBO—or EJI)
3. I Am Not Your Negro (Prime)
4. Banished (documentary)
5. One Night in Miami (Prime)
6. Between the World and Me (HBO)
7. All In: The Fight for Democracy (Prime)
8. Just Mercy (HBO Max)
9. Slavery By Another Name (PBS—or YouTube)
10. The Best of Enemies (Hulu)

Read

1. Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman
2. The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby
3. The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race by Willie James Jennings
4. After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging by Willie James Jennings
5. Rethinking Incarceration by Dominique DuBois Gilliard
6. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
7. The Cross and the Lynching Tree by James H. Cone
8. In My Grandmother’s House by Yolanda Pierce
9. A Knock at Midnight by Brittany K. Barnett
10. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents (University Press)

For high schoolers:

Watch

1. Hidden Figures
2. The Great Debaters
3. Just Mercy 
4. 42 
5. Salute documentary 
6. Selma
7. Betty & Coretta
8. Four Little Girls Documentary 
9. Freedom Riders
10. Something the Lord Made 

* The final 5 recommendations are best for Jr’s & Sr’s

11. Between the World and Me
12. When They See Us (some foul language)
13. Malcolm X  (some foul language)
14. BlacKkKlansman (some foul language)
15. 13th 

Read 

1. March (Trilogy) by John Lewis and Andrew Aiden
2. Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas
3. Dear Martin by Nic Stone
4. Dear Justice by Nic Stone
5. Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham
6. She Came to Slay: The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman by Erica Armstrong Dunbar
7. The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks Brandy Colbert and Jeanne Theoharis
8. Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-Winning Stamped from the Beginning by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
9. Just Mercy (Adapted for Young Adults): A True Story of the Fight for Justice by Byran Stevenson
10. All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendon Kiely

READ: The Week After MLK Day

For Middle schoolers:

Watch

1. Hidden Figures
2. Akeelah and the Bee
3. Ruby Bridges
4. 42
5. Dancing in the Light (the Janet Collins story)
6. Selma Lord Selma
7. Remember the Titans
8. Watsons Go to Birmingham
9. Glory Road
10. “The Breathtaking Courage of Harriet Tubman”

Read

1. Black Heroes: A Black History Book for Kids: 51 Inspiring People from Ancient Africa to Modern-Day U.S.A. by Arlisha Norwood
2. The Story of Barack Obama by Tonya Leslie
3. Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library by Carole Boston Weatherford
4. Skin Like Mine by Latashia M. Perry
5. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
6. Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes
7. Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes
8. The Lions of Little Rock by Kristen Levine
9. What Do You Do With A Voice Like That?: The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan by Chris Barton
10. One Crazy Summer  by Rita Williams-Garcia

For elementary students:

Watch

1. Garrett’s Gift
2. Hair Love  (won Best Animated Short Film at the 2020 Academy Awards)
3. The Journey of Henry Box Brown
4. March On! . . . and More Stories About African American History
5. Ruby Bridges
6. And the Children Shall Lead
7. Duke Ellington . . . and more stories to celebrate great figures in African American history
8. Torchlighters: The Harriet Tubman Story
9. The Journey of Henry Box Brown
10. Our Friend Martin

Read

1. Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement by Carole Boston Weatherford
2. Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford
3. Lift as You Climb: The Story of Ella Baker by Patricia Hruby Powell
4. Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968 by Alice Faye Duncan
5. Kamala Harris: Rooted in Justice by Nikki Grimes
6. So Tall Within: Sojourner Truth’s Long Walk Toward Freedom by Gary D. Schmidt
7. The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander
8. All Because You Matter by Tami Charles
9. Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13 by Helaine Becker
10. Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad by Ellen Levine
11. Mamie on the Mound: A Woman in Baseball’s Negro Leagues by Leah Henderson

Lastly, for this list, here’s a Black History musical playlist full of songs of celebration, lament, sociological analysis, theological reflections, and calls to pursue racial justice. This playlist is designed to introduce you to old and new perspectives on the struggle for Black dignity in a world that all too often feels like Black Lives do not matter.

Please engage these resources this Black History Month and beyond!