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6 books to help young readers learn about Black history
Brittni Robertson Powell, with the New Orleans-based bookstore Baldwin & Co. looks through her choice for Black History Month: I Am Ruby Bridges.
Aubri Juhasz /Aubri Juhasz
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Brittni Robertson Powell, with the New Orleans-based bookstore Baldwin & Co. looks through her choice for Black History Month: I Am Ruby Bridges.
Aubri Juhasz /Aubri Juhasz
Each February, the U.S. honors the contributions and sacrifices of African Americans who have shaped the nation. If you’re struggling with the best way to educate children about Black history, this month or year-round, experts often suggest turning to literature to assist.
Books can help children engage with all kinds of history, but can be particularly helpful for the nuanced aspects of Black history, said Meg Medina, an award-winning children’s author and the 2023-2024 National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature.
“I think when we give kids really rich texts, and trust them with the information, trust them to be curious, allow them to follow their curiosity, we do them an enormous service,” she said.
And 2024 is a wonderful time to find the best texts to do this, Medina said.
“I tell people we are in a golden age of children’s books. So many incredible people are producing really meaningful work that respects kids intelligence, respects their curiosity,” she said.
Here are six picks for Black History Month reading, recommended by authors, librarians and book shop employees, appropriate for a range of ages from toddlers to teens.
Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden recommends A Library and Bright April
Dr. Carla Hayden, the nation’s Librarian of Congress, holds her picks for Black History Month reading: A Library and Bright April.
Jaclyn Diaz/NPR
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As the Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden oversees the national library of the United States, which contains a collection of approximately 164 million items. For Black History Month, she has two recommendations for children — firstly, A Library by Nikki Giovanni, with colorful illustrations by Erin K. Robinson.
“It’s a book that I would recommend for anyone, and particularly though, in Black History Month because it features a young African American girl and she takes so many adventures through books. And to have a young African American child having those adventures in a library at this time is very significant when so many things are being challenged,” Hayden said.
“Books can do so much. And during Black History Month, I think we owe it to the young people in our lives to introduce them to that free resource: The library,” Hayden said. “I’m a little prejudiced.”
Hayden shows a photo of herself as a young girl who loved the book Bright April.
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Hayden shows a photo of herself as a young girl who loved the book Bright April.
Jaclyn Diaz
She said A Library also reminded her of her second pick, a lifelong favorite book of hers, Bright April by Marguerite de Angeli.
The book, published in 1946, is about a young African American girl named April who experiences racial prejudice for the first time. The main character has pigtails and is a Brownie — a Girl Scout in the second or third grade of elementary school — which blew the mind of a young Hayden, who also was a Brownie with pigtails.
Bright April “even now makes me smile, because it was the first time I saw myself in a book,” she said. “I thought that I was April.”
She now owns a well-worn copy of the book, which serves as an important reminder: “It’s important during African American History Month, too, that we present materials, especially for children, where they can have windows on the world, of course, but also mirrors and they see themselves.”
Brittni Robertson Powell, a bookstore program director, recommends I Am Ruby Bridges
Brittni Robertson Powell, with the bookstore Baldwin & Co. in New Orleans, holds her pick, I Am Ruby Bridges.
Aubri Juhasz /Aubri Juhasz
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“I didn’t know what being the first really meant until the day I arrived,” Ruby Bridges writes in I Am Ruby Bridges, channeling the voice of her 6-year-old self.
Brittni Robertson Powell, program director for the New Orleans bookstore Baldwin & Co., said she picked the picture book to highlight her hometown’s not-so-distant history.
“Ruby is younger than my mom,” Robertson Powell said. “How is that possible?”
Robertson Powell said she and her 10-year-old son regularly drive past the New Orleans elementary school Bridges integrated in 1960 in the wake of Brown v. Board of Education.
“I told him, ‘This is where it happened.’ He cannot fathom that,” she said.
They recently read Bridge’s book together, and since then, he’s been applying the story to his own life, she said. When someone didn’t want to play with him recently, “He was like, ‘I wonder if that’s how Ruby felt?,” she said.
Robertson Powell likes the lessons the book teaches — among them, to be confident, be kind and accept people who are different from you.
“I’m glad she’s penned it because it’s being told by her, as opposed to other individuals who want to tell her story,” she said.
The importance of telling your own story, she said, is an important lesson for kids. too.
Meg Medina, children’s book author, recommends Schomburg: The Man Who Built A Library
Meg Medina, the 2023 – 2024 National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature and a children’s author, holds her book choice for Black History Month.
Meg Medina
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Meg Medina
Picture books aren’t just for little kids, said Meg Medina.
That’s partially why she chose Carole Boston Weatherford’s book Schomburg: The Man Who Built A Library.
“Even though it is a picture book, I think we should think about picture books as everybody books, especially a book like this,” she said.
The book tells the story of Arturo Schomburg, a historian, writer, book collector and activist who lived during the Harlem Renaissance.
As a child, he asked a teacher why the class wasn’t learning about the contributions of Black men and women to their country. The teacher told him that Black culture had nothing worthy to preserve.
“And that horrible statement stayed with him and fueled his lifelong passion for discovering, documenting and collecting proof and evidence of Black greatness across the globe,” Medina said.
Schomburg’s initial collection of around 5,000 items eventually led to the creation of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a research library within the New York Public Library which now holds about 11 million items.
The book highlights some of the many people that Schomburg collected books and other items about, including Frederick Douglass and Phillis Wheatley, who is considered the first African-American author of a published book of poetry.
He was also from Puerto Rico, born of African and German descent, so the book highlights Afro-Latino history and identity as well.
“I love the idea of intersecting identities, which sometimes get cast aside when when we’re forcing people to sort of think of their identity as one thing or another,” Medina said.
Medina said the book is a springboard for learning about a man who wanted to discover the truth about his culture and its contributions. From there, the reader can learn about the many other people Schomburg highlights in his collection.
The depth of contributions of Black Americans to the country’s history and greatness are vast, Medina said. “I think kids deserve to know those things and deserve to learn about it and at least have the information so that they themselves can become little Arturo Schomburgs.”
Juno Kling, a Denver teen librarian, recommends The Black Kids
Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library teen librarian Juno Kling holds some of her favorite books. Jan. 16, 2024.
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The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed follows a Black teenager named Ashley, who attends a predominantly white high school in Los Angeles and has lived a fairly cushioned life. Then, her world is upended by the Rodney King riots, which broke out in 1992 after four L.A. policemen, three of whom were white, were acquitted for the brutal beating of King, a Black man. Afterwards, Ashley is left questioning her life, identity and her position in society.
“I feel like it’s kind of an untold story because it talks about the intersection of race and class,” said Juno Kling, a teen librarian at the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library in Denver.
Kling said she recommends the book for teens ages 14 through 18, because it’s easy for readers to relate to Ashley, since the book reads like a memoir or autobiography. While the King riots might be a heavy topic, Kling said reading about these issues through Ashley’s eyes gives people a “safe way to interface with those difficult topics.”
“These are lived experiences that teens have and they deserve to see themselves represented,” Kling said. “For teens who don’t share those identities, they deserve to know what their peers are going through and be able to have an understanding of that.”
The book also touches on how teens inadvertently find themselves in the middle of political issues, Kling said.
“You might not set out to be an activist and be a voice but sometimes events happen in real life and you have to step up and talk about those things,” Kling said. “That’s one of my favorite things about working with teens is the way that they’re starting to find those issues that are really key and important to them…That’s the age where your identities start to get politicized and you have to react to that.”
Jameka Lewis, a Denver library branch manager, recommends ABC Black History and Me
Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library senior librarian Jameka Lewis holds some of her favorite books. Jan. 16, 2024.
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ABC Black History and Me by Queenbe Monyei is a classic ABC picture book, featuring Black historical figures for to each letter of the alphabet.
Jameka Lewis, the branch supervisor at the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library, recommends the book for children under the age of 5, because it’s geared toward learning the alphabet while also introducing young minds to key figures in history.
“I think it’s really important that kids are able to kind of put a face with a name,” she said.
It’s also one of the few board books — tough enough to withstand a toddler’s hands and mouth — that she’s come across that feature Black characters, she said.
Lewis also loves the illustrations of the historical figures, because they show a wide variety of Black skin tones.
“This book does a really good job of just highlighting how diverse and how eclectic and how unique Black people are, in different industries and in different ways that we’ve made history,” she said
Lewis said her favorite letter in the book is “P” for president, which features former President Barack Obama and current Vice President Kamala Harris.
Desiree Mathurin is a reporter with Denverite, part of Colorado Public Radio. Aubri Juhasz is an education reporter with WWNO in New Orleans. This story is part of NPR’s collaborative initiative with member stations.
“She’s like a female Willy Wonka,” Sakief Baron, 36, said about Kendra Austin, 32, after she explained that her personal style had a playful and cartoonish spirit.
Dressed in loose, oversize layers in blue and neutral shades, the couple were walking on the Upper East Side of Manhattan when I noticed them on a Saturday in April. There was a symmetry to their ensembles, so it wasn’t too surprising when she noted that he had influenced her fashion sense.
Before they met, she said, she was “less sure” about her wardrobe choices. “I also have lost 100 pounds in the time we’ve been together,” she added, which she said had helped her to recalibrate her relationship with clothes.
His style has been influenced by hip-hop culture, basketball players like Allen Iverson and his mother’s Finnish background. “I just take all these pieces and then it kind of comes together,” he said.
Both described themselves as multidisciplinary artists; he also has a job at a youth center, mentoring children. “I want to make sure that I look like someone they want to aspire to be every time they see me,” he said.
In my L.A. Buy Nothing group, I started noticing how some objects, given for free from neighbor to neighbor, carry emotional weight. An item was more than it appeared. It was a piece of personal history, perhaps one with generational memories.
From one person’s hands to another’s, objects find new life through the free gift economy on Facebook or the Buy Nothing app. Buy Nothing Project, a public benefit corporation, reports having 14 million members across more than 50 countries who give away 2.6 million items a month. There are more than 100 groups in Los Angeles alone.
Buy Nothing reduces waste by keeping items out of landfills. It also builds community. When our lives are increasingly online, Buy Nothing encourages us to get out of our cars and make connections with neighbors, even if the interaction is no more than a wave when picking something up left by a doorstep. Researchers have found that even small social interactions can foster a sense of belonging.
Still, Buy Nothing has its challenges. For years, some have complained that the groups shouldn’t be limited to neighborhoods, but rather have more open borders. Last year, many longtime members complained about the project enforcing its trademark, leading Facebook to shut down unregistered groups even if they were serving people under economic strain. Critics saw the tattling as a shift from mutual aid toward control and branding. For its part, Buy Nothing says its decisions are based on building community, trust and safety.
Despite those disagreements, Buy Nothing offers a platform for special connections. As much as there are jokes about people offering half-eaten cake, many have passed along treasured items. Buy Nothing items may feel too valuable for the trash or too personal for Goodwill. The interaction between giver and receiver becomes just as meaningful as the object itself.
I set out to document these quiet exchanges in my Buy Nothing group, drawn to the question of why people choose to pass their belongings from one neighbor to another.
Tiny builders, big exchange
Lidia Butcher gives a toolbox and worktable her two sons used to Chelsea Ward for her 17-month-old son.
“We’ve had the toolbox and worktable for the last 10 years, it’s been very special. When I told my youngest son we were going to give it away, he was a little sad. He said he was still playing with it, but then I explained that it’s been sitting untouched for a year and that if we gave it to someone else, maybe someone else would be happy about it. So he felt joy about giving it to another child who would want to play with it. I have this little emotional feeling letting it go, but at the same time, it’s a good feeling. Like a new beginning.”
— Lidia Butcher, 35, joined the group several years ago when someone told her a person in the group once asked for a cup of sugar.
“We’re getting a worktable. Benji is now old enough to be interested in playing with tools. I’m going to move my drafting table out of his room. His bedroom is my office. So that will go into storage or the Buy Nothing group and the worktable will go in its place. We live in an apartment, and as he’s growing, his needs change but our space doesn’t. Buy Nothing is really helpful to be able to cycle out of stuff.”
— Chelsea Ward, 38, has found the Buy Nothing group extremely helpful since becoming a mom.
Something borrowed
Abby Rodriguez lends Sophie Janinet a veil for her wedding.
“Sophie had asked for a wedding veil on our Buy Nothing group and I’m lending it to her because I wanted it to have a second life. I hate the idea that precious things just sit there and never get touched. My wedding day was one of the best days of my life. At one point the power went out and now we have this amazing picture with my husband and I and everyone using their phone to light up the dance floor.”
— Abby Rodriguez, 40, discovered Buy Nothing when she moved to her northeast L.A. neighborhood in 2020.
“I moved to Los Angeles from France four years ago. The day I joined Buy Nothing was the first time I felt connected to the community. It played a huge role in my adapting to life here. I’m receiving a veil because I want my wedding to look and feel like my values. I thrifted my dress, I chose a local seamstress to alter the dress but when I tried it on, I felt something was missing. I wanted a veil but I didn’t want to buy new because I didn’t want to add anything to the landfill. So I posted a request for the veil on Buy Nothing.”
— Sophie Janinet, 37, is recreating the low-waste, slower-paced values she once lived by in France through her local Buy Nothing community.
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1. Abby Rodriguez, left, holds her wedding veil that she is lending Sophie Janinet, right, for her upcoming wedding. 2. Michele Sawers, left stands with Beth Penn, right, while giving her a decorative owl.
A pigeon-spooking owl gets a second life
Michele Sawers gives Beth Penn a decorative owl.
“Coming from a place of luck, now I have plenty to give. The owl has been with me for 26 years. I bought the owl soon after I bought this house. The owl was purchased because I had a pigeon problem, they would camp out under my eves and I would have bird poop everywhere. The owl must have worked because they’re gone and they haven’t come back.”
— Michele Sawers, 58, uses Buy Nothing regularly to connect with her community and support her low-consumption values.
“There are things I don’t want to own. So borrowing those things on Buy Nothing is really nice. There is a person who I borrowed their cooler twice and their ladder twice so I feel like they are my neighbor even though they are not [right next door]. We get these birds that poop on the deck and the recommendation online was to get a fake owl. When it was posted on Buy Nothing, I thought, ‘I have to have that owl!’ It’s going to have a good home with me on the deck with some cats, a dog and some kids.”
— Beth Penn, 47, once helped build her local Buy Nothing group and now experiences it from the other side, as a member.
Stuffed toys find a new purpose
Magaly Leyva, left, stands with Tatiana Lonny, right, with the stuffed toys and play balls she is gifting her.
(Dania Maxwell/For The Times)
Magaly Leyva gives stuffed toys and plastic play balls to Tatiana Lonny.
“My mother-in-law gave the dolls and plastic play balls to my daughter, but she has so much. My daughter is not going to play with them with the same intent that another kid would, because she’s really little. I’d rather another kid use these things.”
— Magaly Leyva, 35, joined Buy Nothing nearly four years ago to find clothes for her nephew.
“I’m taking these new items to a township called Langa in South Africa. I know the kids there will be so happy. They have so little there. I’m doing this all by myself, I’m just collecting a GoFundMe for the suitcase fee at the airport.”
— Tatiana Lonny, 51, began using Buy Nothing in hopes of finding resources to support the animals she rescues.
A second helping
Laura Cherkas gives Aurora Sanchez a cast iron pan.
“Buy Nothing gives me the freedom to let go of things because I know that they will stay in the community and the neighborhood. I’m giving a couple of cast iron items that my husband and I got when we were on a cast iron kick, probably during COVID. We determined that we don’t actually use these particular pans and they were just making our drawers heavy. So we decided to let someone else get some use out of them.
“I hate throwing things away. I want to see things have another life. Sometimes I take things to a donation center, but I like the personal connection with Buy Nothing and that you know that there is someone who definitely wants your item.”
— Laura Cherkas, 40, has built connections with other moms through Buy Nothing and values it as a way to cycle toys in and out for her child.
Laura Cherkas, left, holds the pan she is gifting Aurora Sanchez, right, through Buy Nothing.
(Dania Maxwell/For The Times)
“I wanted a cast iron pan because I cook a lot of grilled meat. I’m excited to try this style of cooking out and it will help me when I cook for only one or two people. I got lucky because I was chosen to receive it.”
— Aurora Sanchez, 54, has spent the past two years engaging with Buy Nothing, finding in it a sense of neighborly support that makes her feel valued while strengthening her connection to the community.
Next player up
Joe Zeni, 70, is using his local Buy Nothing group on Facebook to give away a basketball hoop he used with his son when he was little.
(Dania Maxwell/For The Times)
Joe Zeni first offered a basketball hoop on Buy Nothing in 2023, where it remains unclaimed.
“I’m giving away a Huffy basketball freestanding hoop because it’s just taking up space. We used to play horse and shoot baskets together. My son is now 35, he doesn’t live here anymore.”
— Joe Zeni, 70, uses Buy Nothing often to give items away, believing many of the things he no longer needs still have purpose.
In the year since his death, there has been no hard pivot at Armani. The shadow of the founder has stayed in place over the Milan HQ, where the brand seems happy to leave it. Armani is not just plumbing the past for continued inspiration, it’s reselling it.
Today, Giorgio Armani is announcing Archivio, a grouping of 13 men’s and women’s looks, plucked from the brand’s back catalog and remade for today. (And, yes, at today’s prices.) There’s a jacket in pinstriped alpaca of 1979 vintage; a buttery one-and-a-half breasted jacket with a maitre d’s flair that first appeared in 1987; and an unstructured silk-linen suit that will activate ’90s flashbacks for die-hard Armani clients and those who want to capture that era’s nostalgia. The advertising campaign was shot and styled by Eli Russell Linnetz, who has his own label, ERL, but always seems to be the first call brands make when they want sultry photos with the aura of Details magazine circa 1995. (He did a similar thing for Guess recently.)
Linnetz’s images are a reminder of how Armani’s work still reverberates decades later.
Archivio is also a canny recognition of what shoppers crave now. On the resale market, Armani wares are as coveted as can be. Every week it seems as if I get an email from Ndwc0, a British vintage store, announcing a new drop of meaty-shouldered ’90s Armani power suits. They sell for less than $500. At Sorbara’s in Brooklyn, you can buy a tan Giorgio Armani vest for $225.
That vintage-mad audience is in Armani’s sights: To introduce the collection, it’s staging an installation, opening today, at Giorgio Armani’s Milan boutique. It will feature the hosts of “Throwing Fits,” a New York-based podcast whose hosts wear vintage Armani button-ups and shout out stores like Sorbara’s.
It’s prudent, if a bit disconnected. Part of the charm of old Armani is that it can be found on the cheap. I’m wearing a pair of vintage Giorgio Armani corduroys as I write this. I bought them for $76 on eBay. Archivio is reverent, but its prices, which range from $1,025 to $12,000, may scare off shoppers willing to do the searching themselves.
If you ask me, the next frontier of this archive fixation is that a brand — and a big one — will release a mountain of genuine vintage pieces. J. Crew and Banana Republic have tried this at a small scale, but a luxury house like Armani hasn’t gone there. Yet. Eventually, Armani (or a brand like it) is going to grab hold of the market that exists around its brand, but through which it gets no cut.
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