Leo Dillon and Diane Dillon were American illustrators of children's books and adult paperback book and magazine covers. One obituary of Leo called the work of the husband-and-wife team "a seamless amalgam of both their hands". In more than 50 years, they created more than 100 speculative fiction book and magazine covers together as well as much interior artwork. Essentially all of their work in that field was joint.
Kadir Nelson is a Los Angeles–based painter, illustrator, and author who is best known for his paintings often featured on the covers of The New Yorker magazine, and album covers for Michael Jackson and Drake. His work is focused on African-American culture and history. The New York Times describes his work as: "sumptuous, deeply affecting work. Nelson’s paintings are drenched in ambience, and often overt symbolism. He has twice been a Caldecott honor recipient and won the 2020 Caldecott Medal for his illustrations in The Undefeated.
Earl Bradley Lewis is an American artist and illustrator. He is best known for his watercolor illustrations for children's books such as Jacqueline Woodson’s The Other Side and Jabari Asim’s Preaching to the Chickens: The Story of Young John Lewis.
Ashley Frederick Bryan was an American writer and illustrator of children's books. Most of his subjects are from the African-American experience. He was a U.S. nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2006 and he won the Children's Literature Legacy Award for his contribution to American children's literature in 2009. His picture book Freedom Over Me was short-listed for the 2016 Kirkus Prize and received a Newbery Honor.
Jan Spivey Gilchrist is an American author, illustrator, and fine artist from Chicago, Illinois. She is most well known for her work in children's literature, especially illustrations in The Great Migration: Journey to the North, Nathaniel Talking, and My America. Her books have received numerous awards including the Coretta Scott King Medal for Illustration and the Parents' Choice Award.
Ekua Holmes is an American mixed-media artist, children's book illustrator, and arts organization professional. Holmes' primary method of art making is mixed media collage, by layering newspaper, photos, fabric, and other materials to create colorful compositions. Many of these works evoke her childhood in Roxbury's Washington Park neighborhood in Boston, MA.
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.
Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race is a 2018 picture book by Margot Lee Shetterly with Winifred Conkling, illustrated by Laura Freeman. The picture book is adapted from Shetterly's 2016 non-fiction book Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race, that was adapted into the 2016 movie Hidden Figures. In 2019, the picture book was adapted into a 15-minute animated film, narrated by Octavia Spencer and released by Weston Woods Studios.
Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets is a 2017 collection of poems for children's by Kwame Alexander with co-authors Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth and illustrated by Ekua Holmes. The book won the 2018 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award. Each of the 20 poems is written in tribute to and in the style of a well known poet.
I See the Rhythm, illustrated by Michele Wood with text by Toyomi Igus, was published in 1998 by Lee & Low Books. It won the Coretta Scott King Award for Illustrator in 1999.
Before She Was Harriet is a 2017 children's picture book written by Lesa Cline-Ransome and illustrated by James Ransome, first published by Holiday House. It was awarded an honorary Coretta Scott King Award in 2018.
Jazz on a Saturday Night is a 2007 children's picture book by American writers Leo and Diane Dillon published by The Blue Sky Press.
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom is a 2006 children's picture book by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Kadir Nelson, originally published by Hyperion Books for Children. It has received both a Caldecott Honor and the Coretta Scott King Award.
Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968 is a 2018 children's picture book told in poetry and prose by writer Alice Faye Duncan and illustrator R. Gregory Christie, published by Calkins Creek.
Jazz is a 2006 picture book by Walter Dean Myers, illustrated by Christopher Myers. The picture book is a collection of illustrations and rhyming text celebrating the roots of Jazz music.
A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 is a 2017 book by American author Claire Hartfield, published by Clarion Books.
Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave is a 2010 picture book written by Laban Carrick Hill. Illustrator Bryan Collier won the Coretta Scott King Award and Caldecott Medal in 2011 for his artwork in the book. It was originally published by Little, Brown and Company.
Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre is a picture book written by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Floyd Cooper. Published on February 2, 2021, by Carolrhoda, it tells the history behind the Tulsa race massacre in verse.
Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement is a 2015 non-fiction and poetic children's book by written by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Ekua Holmes.
