Categories: Audiobook Library
Through years of struggle, strife and resilience Black Americans have been at the forefront of changing laws, policies, and perspectives relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Check out our Learning Ally blog including a list of good reads.. This is a great opportunity to sit with your child, get immersed in American history and facilitate family conversations regarding past and current civil rights issues.
by Andrea Davis Pinkney Elementary School: Grades 0-3
A portrait of the great African-American dancer and choreographer describes Alvin Ailey's early life, his growth as a dancer, and his creation of his own critically acclaimed dance company, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, in 1958.
by Margot Lee Shetterly Elementary School: Grades 0-3
Based on a true story of four black women who helped NASA launch men into space to picture book readers Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden were good at math... really good. They participated in some of NASA's greatest successes, like providing the calculations for America's first journeys into space.
by Chris Barton Elementary School: Grades 2-5
Growing up in a house full of brothers and sisters, persistence and a passion for problem solving became the cornerstone for a career as an engineer and his work with NASA. But it is his invention of the Super Soaker water gun that has made his most memorable splash with kids and adults.
by Yona Zeldis McDonough Middle School: Grades 5-7
It was from other field hands that she first heard about the Underground Railroad which she travelled by herself north to Philadelphia. Throughout her long life (she died at the age of ninety-two) and long after the Civil War brought an end to slavery, this amazing woman was proof of what just one person can do.
by Carol Boston Weatherford Middle School: Grades 5-7
Amid the scholars, poets, authors, and artists of the Harlem Renaissance stood an Afro-Puerto Rican named Arturo Schomburg. This law clerk's life's passion was to collect books, letters, music, and art from Africa and the African diaspora and bring to light the achievements of people of African descent through the ages.
by Tonya Bolden High School: Grades 7-9
Facing Frederick captures the whole complicated, and at times perplexing, person that he was. Statesman, suffragist, writer, and newspaperman, this book focuses on Douglass the man rather than the historical icon.
by Ilyasah Shabazz High School: Grades 9+
X follows Malcolm from his childhood to his imprisonment for theft at age twenty, when he found the faith that would lead him to forge a new path and command a voice that still resonates today.
About Learning Ally
Learning Ally's reading accommodation and audiobooks will help you level the learning field for students with reading deficits. Use the library to ensure that all students receive equitable access to grade-level text on their intellectual level, as well as to popular books and genres that interest them. Learn more about membership or if you are a school representative sign up for a demo to experience the satisfaction of seeing your emerging and early learners, as well as older students, improve their foundational reading skills, learning confidence, and academic potential.