MHL will be closed on Monday, January 16th in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. (We will be open our usual hours on Saturday the 14th and Sunday the 15th). If you're looking to something to read over the weekend, you might be interested in one of these works of historical fiction set during the civil rights era. (You might also want to check out past lists like this Martin Luther King, Jr. reading list or this list of nonfiction about civil rights movements).
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All the days past, all the days to come
by Mildred D Taylor A long-awaited conclusion to the story that began in the Newbery Medal-winning Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry finds young adult Cassie Logan searching for a sense of belonging before joining the Civil Rights Movement in 1960s Mississippi. |
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The awakening of Malcolm X
by Ilyasah Shabazz A fictionalized account of Malcolm X’s adolescent years in prison, written by his daughter and a Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe Award-winning author, depicts Malcolm Little’s struggles with race, politics, religion and justice before his emergence as a civil rights leader. |
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Confessions in B-flat
by Donna Hill A multimedia retelling of Romeo and Juliet follows the 1964 Civil Rights-era relationship between a passive-resistance protege of Martin Luther King, Jr. and a Harlem black culture supporter of Malcolm X. |
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Malcolm and me : a novel
by Robin Farmer After clashing with her Catholic school teacher over Thomas Jefferson's enslavement of people, Roberta Forest, a thirteen-year-old, questions religion and hypocrisy--at school, home, and nationwide--as the Watergate scandal unfolds. |
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The nickel boys
by Colson Whitehead A follow-up to the Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning, The Underground Railroad, follows the harrowing experiences of two African-American teens at an abusive reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. |
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One crazy summer
by Rita Williams-Garcia In the summer of 1968, after travelling from Brooklyn, New York, to Oakland, California, to spend a month with the mother they barely know, 11-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters arrive to a cold welcome as they discover that their mother, a dedicated poet and printer, is resentful of their intrusion and wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp. |
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One night in Georgia : a novel
by Celeste O Norfleet In the summer of 1968 three Manhattan co-eds embark on a road trip to Atlanta and find tensions running high as they make their way south via racially friendly locations for gas, rest and food. |
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The rib king : a novel
by Ladee Hubbard Exploited by the white family that took him in as a servant 15 years earlier, a Black orphan becomes tragically enraged by how his employers mindlessly profit from the talents of a hired black cook. |
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The rock and the river
by Kekla Magoon In 1968 Chicago, fourteen-year-old Sam Childs is caught in a conflict between his father’s nonviolent approach to seeking civil rights for African-Americans and his older brother, who has joined the Black Panther Party. |
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The two lives of Sara
by Catherine Adel West During the racially divided 1960s, a Black young, unwed mother named Sara, working for Mama Sugar at a popular boarding house in Memphis, Tennessee, finds friendship and refuge until secrets from Mama Sugar's are revealed, forcing Sara to make a decision that will reshape the rest of her life. |