Dr. Lora L. Tyson Education Curriculum Resource Center

This book explains what it was like to be a pioneer and travel west to Oregon in the 1840s.

Relates the story of the man who traveled west planting apple seeds to make the country a better place to live.

Zoe and her family find strength in each other as they make a new home in the Nebraska territory.

This fun and interesting book presents the history of American pioneers by describing the quilts they made, linking common experiences they had with various quilt patterns.

A brief biography of Sacagawea, the Shoshoni woman who accompanied explorers Lewis and Clark on their expedition in the early 1800s.

Sacajawea, a Shoshoni Indian interpreter, peacemaker, and guide, and William Clark alternate in describing their experiences on the Lewis and Clark Expedition to the Northwest.

A true Renaissance man, Benjamin Franklin was the first American celebrity. In pictures and text, master artist Robert Byrd documents Franklin's numerous and diverse accomplishments, from framing the Constitution to creating bifocals.

Surveys the life of Benjamin Franklin, highlighting his work as an inventor and statesman.

Describes some of the well-known as well as the lesser-known details of Paul Revere's life and exciting ride.

A biography of the patriot of the Revolution who had many trades, among them silver work, manufacture of copper, casting of bells, engraving, and destistry.

A biography of the first signer of the Declaration of Independence outlining all that he did for himself as well as what he did for Massachusetts and his new nation.

Joseph Plumb Martin was only 15 in 1776 when he joined the revolutionary army in Milford Massachusetts. He spent the rest of his teen and young adult years marching, working, fighting, foraging and sometimes almost freezing and starving with his fellow patriots until the war ended in 1783. As an older man, he wrote and published his account of his wartime experiences.

A biography of the eighteenth-century printer, publisher, inventor, scientist, and statesman who played an influential role in the early history of the United States.

As the Revolutionary War begins, thirteen-year-old Isabel wages her own fight for freedom. Promised freedom upon the death of their owner, she and her sister, Ruth, in a cruel twist of fate become the property of a malicious New York City couple who have no sympathy for the American Revolution and even less for Ruth and Isabel. Isabel realizes her loyalty is available to the bidder who can provide her with freedom.

Separated from his friend Isabel after their daring escape from slavery, fifteen-year-old Curzon serves as a free man in the Continental Army at Valley Forge until he and Isabel are thrown together again, as slaves once more.

An introduction to the duties of the U.S. president, from George Washington to Barack Obama.

These famous American presidents have changed the world with their ideals, courage, and force of personality. Find out how their amazing accomplishments won them a lasting place in American--and world--history.

Presents an assortment of facts about the qualifications and characteristics of U.S. presidents, from George Washington to Bill Clinton.

An introduction to the United States Constitution, presented in graphic form, detailing important people and events in the creation of the founding document, its Preamble, and twenty-seven amendments.

A young girl's courage is tested in this haunting, wordless story. When a farm girl discovers a runaway slave hiding in the barn, she is at once startled and frightened. But the stranger's fearful eyes weigh upon her conscience, and she must make a difficult choice. Will she have the courage to help him?

A fictionalized account of how in 1849 a Virginia slave, Henry "Box" Brown, escapes to freedom by shipping himself in a wooden crate from Richmond to Philadelphia.

They called her "Minty." When she grew up, she became Harriet Tubman, the courageous and heroic woman who helped hundreds of slaves escape to freedom through the Underground Railroad. Minty, short for Araminta, was a feisty and headstrong young slave, whose rebellious spirit often got her into trouble. And when her father began to teach her the skills necessary for escape, she listened carefully, and learned.

Ashley Bryan goes to the heart of how a slave is given a monetary value by the slave owner, tempering this with the one thing that CAN'T be bought or sold -- dreams. Inspired by the actual will of a plantation owner that lists the worth of each and every one of his "workers", Bryan has created collages around that document, and others like it. Through paintings and poetry he imagines and interprets each person's life on the plantation, as well as the life their owner knew nothing about -- their dreams and pride in knowing that they were worth far more than an Overseer or Madam ever would guess.

When the barn used for hiding runaway slaves burns to the ground, Luke, who is deaf, finds a unique way to pass along information about the next safe haven.

Paintings by Rod Brown and text by Julius Lester vividly tell the story of slavery in America.

This book offers readers a unique look at the events that led to the Emancipation Proclamation. Filled with little-known facts and fascinating details, it includes excerpts from historical sources, archival images, and new research that debunks myths about the Emancipation Proclamation and its causes.

In 1859, eleven-year-old Elijah Freeman, the first free-born child in Buxton, Canada, which is a haven for slaves fleeing the American south, uses his wits and skills to try to bring to justice the lying preacher who has stolen money that was to be used to buy a family's freedom.

Award-winning author Amina Luqman-Dawson pens a lyrical, accessible historical middle-grade novel about two enslaved children's escape from a plantation and the many ways they find freedom.

Traces the life of a slave who suffered mistreatment from her master, spent years as a fugitive from slavery in North Carolina, and was eventually released to freedom with her children.

Say Curtis describes his meeting with Pinkus Aylee, a black soldier, during the Civil War, and their capture by Southern troops. Based on a true story about the author's great-great-grandfather.

At the end of the Civil War, twelve-year-old Will, having lost all his immediate family, reluctantly leaves his city home to live in the Virginia countryside with his aunt and the uncle he considers a "traitor" because he refused to take part in the war.

Fourteen-year-old Tillie becomes involved in the tragic battle of July 1-3, 1863.

A carefully researched account of two surprisingly parallel lives and how they intersected at a critical moment in U.S. history.

Northerners, Southerners, generals, couriers, dreaming boys, and worried sisters describe the glory, the horror, the thrill, and the disillusionment of the first battle of the Civil War.

Photographs and text trace the life of the Civil War President in this Newbery Award winning book.

This picture book is a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the momentous Woolworth's lunch counter sit-in, when four college students staged a peaceful protest that became a defining moment in the struggle for racial equality and the growing civil rights movement.

In exuberant verse and stirring pictures, Patricia Hruby Powell and Christian Robinson create an extraordinary portrait for young people of the passionate performer and civil rights advocate Josephine Baker, the woman who worked her way from the slums of St. Louis to the grandest stages in the world. Meticulously researched by both author and artist, Josephine's powerful story of struggle and triumph is an inspiration and a spectacle, just like the legend herself.

The lives these 10 women led are part of an incredible story about courage in the face of oppression, about the challenges and triumphs of the battle for civil rights, and about speaking out for what you believe in-- even when it feels like no one is listening.

The 1870 passage of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, that no man could be denied the right to vote, was a big step forward in the civil rights movement. However, nearly 100 years later, most African Americans in the South still could not vote. In March 1965, a march from Selma, Alabama, to the state Capitol in Montgomery was planned to demand voting rights. But the marches only made it six blocks before they were stopped and brutally attacked by state troopers. March 7 became known as Bloody Sunday. The beatings outraged Americans who rallied to support the civil rights movement.

Presents an account of the 1944 civil rights protest involving hundreds of African-American Navy servicemen who were unjustly charged with mutiny for refusing to work in unsafe conditions after the deadly Port Chicago explosion.

Presents a collection of speeches, articles, and personal narratives describing the early years of the Civil Rights Movement.

A look at the Freedom Rides of 1961, in which activists rode buses throughout the South in nonviolent protest against racial discrimination.

When America makes progress toward racial equality, the systemic response is a backlash that rolls back those wins. This edition especially for teens, adapted from the author's White Rage, illuminates these dark moments of history.

This graphic novel 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. Book one spans Lewis' youth in rural Alabama, his life-changing meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., the birth of the Nashville Student Movement, and their battle to tear down segregation through nonviolent lunch counter sit-ins, building to a stunning climax on the steps of City Hall.

As the youngest marcher in the 1965 voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Albama, Lynda Blackmon Lowery proved that young adults can be heroes. Jailed nine times before her fifteenth birthday, Lowery fought alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. for the rights of African-Americans. In this memoir, she shows today's young readers what it means to fight nonviolently (even when the police are using violence, as in the Bloody Sunday protest) and how it felt to be part of changing American history.