Christopher Paul Curtis is an American children's book author. His first novel, The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963, was published in 1995 and brought him immediate national recognition, receiving the Coretta Scott King Honor Book Award and the Newbery Honor Book Award in addition to numerous other awards. In 2000, he became the first person to win both the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award—prizes received for his second novel Bud, Not Buddy—and the first African-American man to win the Newbery Medal. His novel The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 was made into a television film in 2013.
Elijah of Buxton is a 2007 children's novel by Christopher Paul Curtis. The book won critical praise and was a Newbery Honor book and the winner of the Coretta Scott King Award. It also was a children's book bestseller.
The Great Dismal Swamp maroons were people who inhabited the swamplands of the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia and North Carolina after escaping enslavement. Although conditions were harsh, research suggests that thousands lived there between about 1700 and the 1860s. Harriet Beecher Stowe told the maroon people's story in her 1856 novel Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp. The most significant research on the settlements began in 2002 with a project by Dan Sayers of American University.
Mildred DeLois Taylor is a Newbery Award-winning American young adult novelist. She is best known for her novel Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, part of her Logan family series.
Jerry Craft is an American cartoonist and children's book illustrator best known for his syndicated newspaper comic strip Mama's Boyz and his graphic novels New Kid, Class Act, and School Trip. Craft is one of only a handful of syndicated African American cartoonists in the US.
Show Way is a 2005 children's picture book by American author Jacqueline Woodson with illustrations by Hudson Talbott. The book was made into a film in 2012 by Weston Woods Studios, Inc., narrated by the author. It recounts the stories of seven generations of African-Americans and is based on the author's own family history. Show Way was a John Newbery Medal Honor Book in 2006 and was featured in Reading Rainbow that same year in the series finale.
Kwame Alexander is an American writer of poetry and children's fiction.
Last Stop on Market Street is a 2015 children's book written by American author Matt de la Peña and illustrated by Christian Robinson, which won the 2016 Newbery Medal, a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor, and a Caldecott Honor. The book follows a young boy named CJ as he learns to appreciate the beauty in everyday things during a bus ride. De la Peña and Robinson both drew on personal experiences when working together to create the book. Through its story and illustrations, Last Stop on Market Street tackles issues of race and class as they may be seen through the eyes of a young teen. Last Stop on Market Street was met with widespread acclaim after its release, receiving positive reviews from Kirkus Reviews and the New York Times Book Review amongst many others. Last Stop on Market Street's Newbery win was monumental, as it is extremely rare for picture books to be awarded this medal. In 2018, the children's book was adapted into a children's musical which has been performed by various children's theater groups across the country.
Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman is a 1996 children's picture book by Alan Schroeder and is illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. Released in 1996 by Dial Press, it is a fictionalized story of Harriet Tubman as a young girl.
Rebels Against Slavery: American Slave Revolts is a 1996 book by Patricia and Fredrick McKissack.
Kimberly Brubaker Bradley is an American children's and young adult book author. In 2016, her children's book The War That Saved My Life received the Newbery Honor Award and was named to the Bank Street Children's Book Committee's Best Books of the Year List with an "Outstanding Merit" distinction and won the Committee's Josette Frank Award for fiction.
Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat is a 2016 picture book biography by Javaka Steptoe about Jean-Michel Basquiat. Using a style similar to Basquiat's, the book tells the story of his childhood and early career. It won the 2017 Caldecott Medal and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for its illustrations.
Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut is a 2017 picture book by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Gordon C. James. The book, Barnes' first picture book, is a poem describing a boy's feelings and experience while getting a haircut. James, who was not the first choice to be the illustrator, wanted the oil color illustrations to have the feel of fine art.
New Kidis a 2019 graphic novel by Jerry Craft. The novel tells the story of a 12-year-old African American boy named Jordan Banks who experiences culture shock when he enrolls at a private school. During Jordan's freshman year at a prestigious private school, he has to adjust to a new school, experiences and witnesses microaggressions, and makes friends with other students. The book is semi-autobiographical for Craft, who based the book on his experiences in a private school and those of his two sons. While he wishes the book to be appreciated by a wide range of readers, Craft particularly wanted it to accurately reflect a present-day African American experience.
Genesis Begins Again is a 2019 children's book by Alicia D. Williams. It tells the story of thirteen-year-old Genesis Anderson, whose family has been evicted several times from their home due to the father's gambling addiction. Genesis is also a victim of bullying and colorism, both at home and school, two recurring themes of the novel. Genesis Begins Again, Williams' debut novel, received general praise and won a Newbery Honor and "Steptoe Award for New Talent".
Alicia Diane Williams is an American author and teacher. Her debut novel, Genesis Begins Again, published in 2019, received wide praise and won a Newbery Honor, the Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe Award for New Talent, and was a finalist for the William C. Morris Award and Kirkus Prize for Young Readers Literature.
A Wish in the Dark is a 2020 children's fantasy novel by American author Christina Soontornvat. It is a retelling of the 1862 novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, and contains elements inspired by Thai culture. The book received positive reviews from critics and won a Newbery Honor and a Jane Addams Children's Book Award.
African Americans are the largest racial minority in Virginia. According to the 2010 Census, more than 1.5 million, or one in five Virginians is "Black or African American". African Americans were enslaved in the state. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, African Americans were 18.6% of the state's population.
Amina Luqman-Dawson is an American writer and author of the book Freewater. She is also the author of the pictorial book Images of America: African Americans of Petersburg and has published op-eds in both The Washington Post and San Francisco Chronicle. She is the first black woman to win both the Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Book Award, which she won for the children's book Freewater in 2023.
Hot Dog is a 2022 children's picture book written and illustrated by Doug Salati. It was awarded as a winner of the Caldecott Medal in 2023.
