Children's Books About Civil Rights Movement

Eddie came home from school the other week parroting the usual first-grade story that Martin Luther King, Jr. single-handedly got a bunch of unfair laws changed by making one great speech. Granted, he was working off a lesson in his second language (it's a bilingual program), but still. We jumped back into our ongoing conversations about the decades of work by countless individuals that made up the modern civil rights movement, not to mention the centuries of activism and resistance prior to that. Such a big, big topic.

I asked whipsmart internet friend Shannon (via Twitter) if she had any recommendations for quality picture books that we could use to augment our discussions with the kids, because I've been pretty underwhelmed with what I've found so far. And did she ever! I know some of you will also be interested, so I wanted to share her list of children's books about the civil rights movement. Thanks, Shannon!