By Carolyn Danckaert, amightygirl.com
 
 
A Mighty Girl honors the contributions of women and girls to the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. These fiction and nonfiction selections include many biographies of female leaders and the struggle for racial equality—great inspirational stories of African-American women’s history to share with your nieces for Black History Month!


When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marian Anderson by Pam Muñoz Ryan (Ages 4-8)
 
Marian Anderson is best known for her historical concert at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939, which drew an integrated crowd of 75,000 people in pre-Civil Rights America. While this momentous event showcased the uniqueness of her voice, the strength of her character, the struggles of the times in which she lived, it is only part of her story.
 
Like the operatic arias Marian would come to sing, Ryan’s text is as moving as a libretto, Selznick’s pictures as exquisitely detailed and elaborately designed as a stage set. What emerges most profoundly from their shared vision is a role model of courage.


 
Coretta Scott by Nitozake Shange (Ages 4-9)
 
Walking many miles to school in the dusty road, young Coretta knew, too well, the unfairness of life in the segregated south.
 
A yearning for equality began to grow. Together with Martin Luther King, Jr., she gave birth to a vision and a journey—with dreams of freedom for all.
 
This extraordinary union of poetic text by Nitozake Shange and monumental artwork by Kadir Nelson captures the movement for civil rights in the United States and honors its most elegant inspiration, Coretta Scott.


 
Rosa Parks: My Story by Rosa Parks, Jim Haskins (Ages 9-13)
 
Rosa Parks is best known for the day she refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus, sparking the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott. Yet there is much more to her story than this one act of defiance. In this straightforward, compelling autobiography, Rosa Parks talks candidly about the civil rights movement and her active role in it. Her dedication is inspiring; her story is unforgettable.
 
To learn more about Rosa Parks, visit our Rosa Parks Collection.


 
Fire from the Rock by Sharon Draper (Ages 12+)
 
Sylvia is shocked and confused when she is asked to be one of the first black students to attend Central High School, which is scheduled to be integrated in the fall of 1957, whether people like it or not. Before Sylvia makes her final decision, smoldering racial tension in the town ignites into flame.
 
When the smoke clears, she sees clearly that nothing is going to stop the change from coming. It is up to her generation to make it happen, in as many different ways as there are colors in the world.


 
The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles (Ages 4-8)
 
The year is 1960, and 6-year-old Ruby Bridges and her family have recently moved from Mississippi to New Orleans in search of a better life. When a judge orders Ruby to attend first grade at William Frantz Elementary, an all-white school, Ruby must face angry mobs of parents who refuse to send their children to school with her. Told with Robert Coles’s powerful narrative and dramatically illustrated by George Ford, Ruby’s story of courage, faith, and hope is now available in a special 50th anniversary edition with an updated afterword!

Carolyn Danckaert and Aaron Smith live in Washington, D.C., with their four nieces and a nephew nearby. They are very excited to launch their latest labor of love, A Mighty Girl.

Published: February 12, 2013
Photo: monkeybusinessimages