Civil Rights History

Follow the story of Carlotta Walls LaNier, who in 1957 at the age of fourteen was one of nine black students who integrated the all-white Little Rock Central High School and became known as the Little Rock Nine. At fourteen years old, Carlotta Walls was the youngest member of the Little Rock...

After serving in the Civil War as a Confederate officer and then achieving business success in the North, Colonel Henry French returns to his hometown of Clarendon, North Carolina, and dreams of building a better future. In his absence, Clarendon has endured as a deeply prejudiced place—still permeated by systems of racist oppression even after the Civil War—but Henry believes he has what it takes to make a difference.

If greatness is measured by achievement, Orrin Hatch was the greatest U.S. senator of modern times—discover the life and career of the senator through archival material, original research, and exclusive interviews. This is the dramatic story of a conservative champion who shaped modern...

One of our preeminent historians of race and democracy argues that the period since 2008 has marked nothing less than America’s Third Reconstruction In The Third Reconstruction, distinguished historian Peniel E. Joseph offers a powerful and personal new interpretation of recent history. The...

The remarkable and inspiring story of William Still, an unknown abolitionist who dedicated his life to managing a critical section of the Underground Railroad in Philadelphia—the free state directly north of the Mason-Dixon Line—helping hundreds of people escape from slavery. Born free in...

Why is racism still with us, and what can the Civil Rights Movement tell us about today? David Billings, a self-described “son of the South,” tackles these questions in his well-researched, deeply personal and eminent new audio book, Deep Denial: The Persistence of White Supremacy in United States History and Life.

ONE OF LIT HUB'S MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2026 A radically vulnerable and virtuosic inquiry into the pursuit of freedom and the interminable nature of struggle, from the award-winning author of What We Lose Weaving personal reflections with piercing insight and expansive vision across nine...

In the years following Brown v. Board of Education, countless Black citizens endured violent resistance and even death while fighting for their constitutional rights. One of those citizens, Clyde Kennard, a Korean War veteran and civil rights leader from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, attempted repeatedly to enroll at the all-white Mississippi Southern College in the late 1950s. In A Slow, Calculated Lynching, Devery S. Anderson tells the story of a man who paid the ultimate price for trying to attend a white college during Jim Crow.

An acclaimed sportswriter offers an inside look at the Black quarterbacks whose skill and grit transformed the NFL In Rocket Men, John Eisenberg offers the definitive history of Black quarterbacks in the NFL—men who shaped not only the history of football but the cause of civil rights in...

A chorus of Black student voices that renders a new story of US education—one where racial barriers and violence are confronted by freedom dreaming and resistance Black students were forced to live and learn on the Black side of the color line for centuries, through the time of slavery...

“Profound and revelatory, Racial Innocence tackles head-on the insidious grip of white supremacy on our communities and how we all might free ourselves from its predation. Tanya Katerí Hernández is fearless and brilliant . . . What fire!”—Junot Díaz The first comprehensive book about...

There are more slaves in the world today than any other time in history.Enter the world of human trafficking and explore what we can do together to end this global crime. Where Were You?: A Profile of Modern Slavery by Matthew Friedman provides an up-to-date overview of human trafficking, a...

Perfect for fans of Sawkill Girls, Bone Gap, and Dark and Shallow Lies, this suspenseful contemporary mystery delves into a small town’s supernatural, multigenerational curse—and the girl determined to break it. Mercy was named for her mother’s hopes. Mercy, in the hope that the...

The first full and definitive narrative of one of the most shocking and largely unknown events of racial injustice in US history: the execution of nineteen Black soldiers in Texas. On the sweltering, rainy night of August 23, 1917, one of the most consequential events affecting America’s long...

Radical Volunteers tells the largely unknown story of southern student activism in Tennessee between the Brown decision in 1954 and the national backlash against the Kent State University shootings in May 1970. As one of the first statewide studies of student activism—and one of the few examinations of southern student activism—it broadens scholarly understanding of New Left and Black student radicalism from its traditionally defined hotbeds in the Northeast and on the West Coast.

Are radical climate activists hurting the cause? Germany should have been a global leader in combating climate change—its voters consider it a major issue and back the world’s most powerful Green Party. Yet, Germany’s climate policies have been disappointing. What happened? In Climate...

An acclaimed historian narrates the stories of newly emancipated children who were re-enslaved by white masters through apprenticeships and their parents fights to free them While the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery, white southerners established a system of apprenticeship after the Civil...

The stories of thirteen Black Minor League baseball players during the post-Jackie Robinson era, from the 1960s to the mid-1970s, who were figuratively and literally left behind even as both baseball and the country claimed a newfound racial progressiveness.

Read about the electrifying and continuing fight for voting rights—and discover your place in it—in this dramatic exploration of American democracy, from renowned thought leader Michael Eric Dyson and widely celebrated author Marc Favreau. One of the most important and least understood true...

Until now, you've only heard one side of the story, about migrants crossing borders, drawn to the promise of a better life. In reality, Mexicans were on this land long before any borders existed. Here's the true story of America, from the Mexican American perspective. A SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL...