Martin Luther King at Loutit District Library!

The sword and the shield : the revolutionary lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr./ Peniel E. JosephThe Sword and the Shield is a dual biography of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King that transforms our understanding of the twentieth century's most iconic African American leaders. Peniel E. Joseph reveals a nuanced portrait of two men who, despite markedly different backgrounds, inspired and pushed each other throughout their adult lives. This is a strikingly revisionist biography, not only of Malcolm and Martin, but also of the movement and era they came to define. Click here to request this book!

Kindred / Octavia E. Butler ; with an introduction by Robert CrossleyDana, a black woman, finds herself repeatedly transported to the antebellum South, where she must make sure that Rufus, the plantation owner's son, survives to father Dana's ancestor. Click here to request this book!

A city within a city : the Black freedom struggle in Grand Rapids, Michigan / Todd E. RobinsonFocusing on Grand Rapids, Michigan, Robinson reveals how African Americans in this city fought against white racism in housing, education, economy, and other facets of black lives. Diary entries, published and unpublished documents of local and state organizations, local newspapers, and other sources enable a rich, deep investigation into the city's black history in the 20th century, especially the period between just before WW II and through the long civil rights era. Click here to request this book!

The color of law : a forgotten history of how our government segregated America / Richard Rothstein In this groundbreaking history of the modern American metropolis, Richard Rothstein, a leading authority on housing policy, explodes the myth that America's cities came to be racially divided through individual prejudices, income differences, or the actions of private institutions like banks and real estate agencies. Click here to request this book!

Sing, unburied, sing : a novel / Jesmyn WardJojo and his toddler sister, Kayla, live with their grandparents, Mam and Pop, and the occasional presence of their drug-addicted mother, Leonie, on a farm on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Leonie is simultaneously tormented and comforted by visions of her dead brother, which only come to her when she's high; Mam is dying of cancer; and quiet, steady Pop tries to run the household and teach Jojo how to be a man. When the white father of Leonie's children is released from prison, she packs her kids and a friend into her car and sets out across the state for Parchman farm. Click here to request this book!

Turning 15 on the road to freedom : my story of the 1965 Selma voting rights march / by Lynda Blackmon Lowery ; as told to Elspeth Leacock and Susan Buckley ; illustrated by PJ LoughranA 50th-anniversary tribute shares the story of the youngest person to complete the momentous Selma to Montgomery March, describing her frequent imprisonments for her participation in nonviolent demonstrations and how she felt about her involvement in historic Civil Rights events. Click here to request this book!

New kid / Jerry Craft with color by Jim Callahan Seventh grader Jordan Banks loves nothing more than drawing cartoons about his life. But instead of sending him to the art school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school known for its academics, where Jordan is one of the few kids of color in his entire grade. As he makes the daily trip from his Washington Heights apartment to the upscale Riverdale Academy Day School, Jordan soon finds himself torn between two worlds--and not really fitting into either one. Click here to request this book!

March / written by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin ; art by Nate PowellThis graphic novel trilogy is a first-hand account of Congressman John Lewis' lifelong struggle for civil and human rights, meditating in the modern age on the distance traveled since the days of Jim Crow and segregation. Rooted in Lewis' personal story, it also reflects on the highs and lows of the broader civil rights movement. His commitment to justice and nonviolence has taken him from an Alabama sharecropper's farm to the halls of Congress. Click here to request this book!

Dear Martin / Nic Stone Justyce McAllister is top of his class and set for the Ivy League—but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. And despite leaving his rough neighborhood behind, he can't escape the scorn of his former peers or the ridicule of his new classmates. Justyce looks to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for answers. But do they hold up anymore? Click here to request this book!

Twelve days in May : Freedom Ride 1961 / Larry Dane Brimner For twelve history-making days in May 1961, thirteen black and white civil rights activists, also known as the Freedom Riders, traveled by bus into the South to draw attention to the unconstitutional segregation still taking place. Despite their peaceful protests, the Freedom Riders were met with increasing violence the further south they traveled. Click here to request this book!

Stamped : racism, antiracism, and you / Jason Reynolds A history of racist and antiracist ideas in America, from their roots in Europe until today, adapted from the National Book Award winner Stamped from the Beginning. Click here to request this book!

Betty before X / Ilyasah Shabazz ; with Renée WatsonIn Detroit, 1945, eleven-year-old Betty’s house doesn’t quite feel like home. She believes her mother loves her, but she can’t shake the feeling that her mother doesn’t want her. Church helps those worries fade, if only for a little while. The singing, the preaching, the speeches from guest activists like Paul Robeson and Thurgood Marshall stir African Americans in her community to stand up for their rights. Betty quickly finds confidence and purpose in volunteering for the Housewives League. Soon, the American civil rights icon we now know as Dr. Betty Shabazz is born Click here to request this book!

The Port Chicago 50 : disaster, mutiny, and the fight for civil rights / Steve Sheinkin “Sheinkin delivers another meticulously researched WWII story, one he discovered while working on his Newbery Honor book, Bomb....Archival photos appear throughout, and an extensive bibliography, source notes, and index conclude this gripping, even horrific account of a battle for civil rights predating Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr.” ―Publishers Weekly, starred review Click here to request this book!