Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm was the first African American woman in Congress (1968) and the first woman and African American to seek the nomination for president of the United States from one of the two major political parties (1972). Her motto and title of her autobiography—Unbought and Unbossed—illustrates her outspoken advocacy for women and minorities during her seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Source: Debra Michals, PhD for the National Women's History Musem.

These books are available from the Mercer Country Library:

  • Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed

  • The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles

  • Rosa by Nikki Giovanni

  • I, Too, Am America by Langston Hughes

  • Molly, by Golly! by Dianne Ochiltree

  • Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña

  • Coretta Scott by Ntozake Shange

  • Bippity Bop Barbershop by Natasha Tarpley

  • Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford


  • Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman by Alan Schroeder

  • The Secret Garden of George Carver Washington by Gene Barretta

  • Freedom in Congo Square by Carole Boston Weatherford

  • Black is a Rainbow Color by Angela Joy

  • The ABCs of Black History by Rio Cortez

  • The Power of Her Pen by Lesa Cline-Ransome

  • Josephine by Patricia Hruby Powell

  • Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America by Carole Boston Weatherford



  • The Case for Loving by Selina Alko

  • Let the Children March by Monica Clark-Robinson

  • Muddy by Michael James Mahin

  • Of Thee I Sing by Barack Obama

  • Mr. Crum’s Potato Predicament by Ann Renaud

  • Child of the Civil Rights Movement by Paula Young Shelton

  • Radiant Child by Javaka Steptoe

  • Voice of Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford

  • The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson

  • The United States v. Jackie Robinson by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen


  • Preaching to the Chickens by Jabari Asim

  • Ron’s Big Mission by Rose Blue

  • Juneteenth for Mazie by Floyd Cooper

  • We March by Shane W. Evans

  • Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson

  • Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine

  • Martin’s Big Words by Doreen Rappaport

  • This is the Rope: A Story from the Great Migration by Jaqueline Woodson