Celebrating Juneteenth

Happy Juneteenth! Juneteenth is a federal holiday that celebrates the emancipation of slaves in the U.S., along with African American culture, and it is celebrated annually on June 19. It celebrates a day a few years after the Emancipation Proclamation, when African American slaves in Texas were finally told that they were free. Texan slaves were the last to become free, because many slave owners moved west after the Emancipation Proclamation to try to escape it. African Americans began celebrating Juneteenth on June 19th, 1866, and today it is a celebration of freedom, culture, and history. 

Here are some great books that celebrate the rich Black history in the U.S.

Nonfiction

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

Set during the civil rights movement, Hidden Figures tells the story of five of the many Black women who worked as "Human Computers" at NASA during the 1950s. These women worked tirelessly through segregation to send humans into space, calculating almost everything by hand before computers. This bestselling novel is now a movie focusing on Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughn.

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

Brown Girl Dreaming is a stunning memoir in verse that weaves between New York and South Carolina and spans the 1960s and 70s in the aftermath of segregation and the Jim Crow laws. Jacqueline's love of stories drives her to become the bestselling author she is today.

Betty Before X by Ilyasah Shabazz and Renée Watson

Eleven-year-old Betty takes refuge in her church, trying to forget her feelings that her mother doesn't want her. Through her church, Betty discovers her love of justice and begins volunteering for the Housewives League, which supports Black-owned businesses. Through four years of Betty Shabazz's childhood, this novel of belonging and activism illuminates the life of Malcolm X's wife, written by their daughter.

Fiction

How High the Moon by Karyn Parson

Growing up in a small South Carolina town in 1944, twelve-year-old Ella spends her time playing with her best friend Henry, and cousin Myrna. But she also gets bullied for her light skin tone, and misses her mother, who is pursuing a jazz career in Boston. 

Ella is delighted to visit her mother in the North, where she realizes how different it is from the segregated South and discovers things she never knew about her father. But Ella comes home to the news that a Black classmate has been accused of murdering two white girls. 

Sugar by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Slavery is over, but laboring for hours every day on a sugar plantation doesn't make ten-year-old Sugar feel very free. But she makes her own fun, playing with the white plantation owner's son, Billy, and befriending two Chinese workers who are brought to her home to help harvest the sugar. As Sugar and her new friends trade their cultures and lives, she realizes that she must be the one to connect the cultures in her community.

Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper

Stella thinks her life in North Carolina is pretty balanced. There are some stores she can go in, and some she can't. Some folks are friendly, some aren't. But when Stella and her younger brother go walking at night and see something they shouldn't have, Stella's community is changed forever and she learns that she needs to fight back.

Midnight Without a Moon by Linda Williams Jackson

Rose Lee Carter dreams of going beyond the Mississippi cotton fields in the summer of 1955. But when an African American boy, Emmett Till, is killed for supposedly whistling at a white woman, Rose's world is upended as the civil rights movement enters her town.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

The Logan family land has always been special to Cassie and her family, but it takes a turbulent year of burnings, threats, and mistreatment to show Cassie how important the land really is. But no matter what happens to the Logan family, they will always push through.

Glory Be by Augusta Scattergood

Glory wishes that things could go back to what they used to be like. When her sister, Jesslyn, would talk to her, and her best friend, Frankie, was easier to be around. It could be the new girl from the North who's changed everything, or the heated debate about whether or not the local segregated public pool should remain open.

Happy Juneteenth!

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