Black History Month: Graphic Nonfiction & Biographies

Updated February 3, 2026
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March. Book one
Lewis, John
Paper Book
#1New York TimesBestseller Congressman John Lewis (GA-5) is an American icon and key figure of the civil rights movement. His commitment to justice and nonviolence has taken him from an Alabama sharecropper's farm to the halls of Congress, from a segregated schoolroom to...
March. Book two
Lewis, John
Paper Book
Congressman John Lewis, an American icon and one of the key figures of the civil rights movement, continues his award-winning graphic novel trilogy with co-writer Andrew Aydin and artist Nate Powell, inspired by a 1950s comic book that helped prepare his own generation to join the struggle. Now,...
March. Book three
Lewis, John
Paper Book
Welcome to the stunning conclusion of the award-winning and best-selling MARCH trilogy. Congressman John Lewis, an American icon and one of the key figures of the civil rights movement, joins co-writer Andrew Aydin and artist Nate Powell to bring the lessons of history to vivid life for a new...
Run. Book one
Lewis, John
Paper Book
First you march, then you run. From the #1 bestselling, award-winning team behind March comes the first book in their new, groundbreaking graphic novel series, Run: Book One "Run recounts the lost history of what too often follows dramatic change-the pushback of those who...
Victory. Stand! : raising my fist for justice
Smith, Tommie
Paper Book
On October 16, 1968, during the medal ceremony at the Mexico City Olympics, Tommie Smith, the gold medal winner in the 200-meter sprint, and John Carlos, the bronze medal winner, stood on the podium in black socks and raised their black-gloved fists to protest racial injustice inflicted upon...
Wake : the hidden history of women-led slave revolts
Hall, Rebecca
Paper Book
A Best Book of 2021 by NPR and The Washington Post Part graphic novel, part memoir, Wake is an imaginative tour-de-force that tells the "powerful" (The New York Times Book Review) story of women-led slave revolts and chronicles scholar Rebecca Hall's...
Knock out! : the true story of Emile Griffith
Kleist, Reinhard
Paper Book
An intoxicating portrait of boxer Emile Griffith, an African American bisexual athlete and one of the world's greatest fighters The American boxing champion Emile Griffith gained notoriety in 1962 when he brutally defeated the Cuban fighter Benny Paret. Ten days after the...
Across the tracks : remembering Greenwood, Black Wall Street, and the Tulsa Race Massacre
Ball, Alverne
Paper Book
One hundred years after the Tulsa Race Massacre, Across the Tracks is a celebration and memorial of Greenwood, Oklahoma In Across the Tracks: Remembering Greenwood, Black Wall Street, and the Tulsa Race Massacre, author Alverne Ball and illustrator Stacey...
Run home if you don't want to be killed : the Detroit uprising of 1943
Williams, Rachel Marie-Crane
Paper Book
In the heat of June in 1943, a wave of destructive and deadly civil unrest took place in the streets of Detroit. The city was under the pressures of both wartime industrial production and the nascent civil rights movement, setting the stage for massive turmoil and racial violence. Thirty-four people...
Monumental : Oscar Dunn and his radical fight in Reconstruction Louisiana
Mitchell, Brian K.
Paper Book
Monumental tells, for the first time, the incredible story of Oscar James Dunn, a New Orleanian born into slavery who became America?s first Black lieutenant governor and acting governor. A champion of universal suffrage, civil rights, and integrated public schools, Dunn fought for radical...
The life of Frederick Douglass : a graphic narrative of a slave's journey from bondage to freedom
Walker, David
Paper Book
A graphic novel biography of the escaped slave, abolitionist, public speaker, and most photographed man of the nineteenth century, based on his autobiographical writings and speeches, spotlighting the key events and people that shaped the life of this great American. Recently...
Harlem hellfighters
Lewis, J. Patrick.
Paper Book
"Lewis's poetics are perfectly complemented by Kelley's evocative pastel illustrations, which both inspire and unsettle." -New York Times They went by many names, but the world came to know them best as the Harlem Hellfighters. Two thousand strong, these black Americans from New...
Uncelebrated narratives from Black history
Gill, Joel Christian
Paper Book
Strange Fruit Volume I is a collection of stories from early African American history that represent the oddity of success in the face of great adversity. Each of the nine illustrated chapters chronicles an uncelebrated African American hero or event. From the adventures of lawman Bass...
Malcolm X : a graphic biography
Helfer, Andrew.
Paper Book
The age of multitasking needs better narrative history. It must be absolutely factual, immediately accessible, smart, and brilliantly fun. Enter Andrew Helfer, the award-winning graphic-novel editor behind Road to Perdition and The History of Violence, and welcome the launch...

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