Middle/Junior High School

Belton, Sandra. McKendree, Greenwillow Books, 2000. Story of a 14-year-old girl trying to understand her mixed-race background in 1948.

Davis, Ossie. Just Like Martin, Simon, 1992. Novel about a 14-year-old boy who wants to participate in the March on Washington and his father who won't allow him to attend.

Fireside, Harvey and Sarah Betsy Fuller. Brown v. Board of Education: Equal Schooling for All. Enslow Publishers, 1994. Explains the process of Brown v. Board of Education as it went through the Supreme Court.

Herda, D.J. Thurgood Marshall: Civil Rights Champion. Enslow Publishers, Inc., 1995. Biography of Thurgood Marshall.

Herschler, Mildred Barger. The Darkest Corner, Front Street, 2000. In the deep South of the 1960s, a 9-year-old white girl becomes alienated from her father as she gets involved in the civil rights movement.

Jones, Douglas B. and Catherine Thimmesh. Madam President: The Extraordinary, True (and Evolving) Story of Women in Politics, 2004. Provides 23 short biographies of women involved in politics in the United States and abroad.

Levine, Ellen. Freedom's Children: Young Civil Rights Activists Tell Their Own Stories, Turtleback Books, 2001. Firsthand accounts from African-Americans who were children during the 1950s and 1960s.

Meltzer, Milton. There Comes a Time: The Struggle for Civil Rights, Random House Books for Young Readers, 2002. An extensive overview of the civil rights movement from one of the original lunch counter sit-in protesters.

Myers, Walter Dean. Now Is Your Time! The African-American Struggle for Freedom, HyperCollins Juvenile Books, 1992. Collection of prominent African-American leaders, with historical write-ups, from the founding of the United States through the civil rights movement.

Rochelle, Belinda. Witnesses to Freedom: Young People Who Fought for Civil Rights, Lodestar Books, 1993. Describes the roles of young African-Americans in the civil rights movement, chronicling the children who participated in nine events such as the integration of Little Rock High and the Montgomery Bus boycott.

Taylor, Mildred D. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Puffin, 1991. Tale of a Southern black family as it faces segregation, poverty, and racism during the 1930s. Lesson plan to supplement this book available from Jim Crow History site: http://jimcrowhistory.org/resources/lessonplans/
amlit_lp_roll_of_thunder.htm

Turck, Mary. Civil Rights Movement for Kids: A History with 21 Activities. Chicago Review Press, 2000. An overview of segregation and civil rights with activities kids can do to further their understanding.

Sources:
Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Site; California Department of Education Recommended Reading List; De Grummond's Children's Literature Collection: Civil Rights Movement Bibliography; The Horn Book Guide; NOW.org; PBS's History of Jim Crow Site: List of Fictional Books Relating to Jim Crow; Scholastic Books Online; and Virginia Center for Children's Books: African American Civil Rights Movement