Inside: Children’s books about famous Alabamians that are sure to be your new favorite!
Alabama may be known for their delicious food, hot and humid summers, and college football, but it is also home to some very famous people in history including Rosa Parks, Helen Keller, and Jesse Owens just to name a few!
If you are a homeschooler, one of my favorite ways to learn about a place is through what Charlotte Mason calls, living books. Living books are books that make the subject you are studying come alive and are written by people who love the subject.
For example, if you wanted to get a feel for what life was like in Alabama in the 1930s To Kill a Mockingbird would be an excellent choice! Harper Lee lived in Alabama her entire life. She knew the people, the landscape, and the culture. That’s what makes her writing, and all living books, so special.
This book list includes people who born in or perhaps just lived in Alabama at some point in their lives. Enjoy!
Children’s Books about Famous Alabamians
Click on each name to be taken to a individual book list about that person.
- John Lewis
- Helen Keller
- Rosa Parks
- Jesse Owens
- George Washington Carver – Agricultural scientist at the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, AL.
- Booker T. Washington – Founder of the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, AL.
This post contains affiliate links. If you click and make a purchase, we earn a commission at NO extra cost to you. For more information, please read my full disclosure policy.
Claudette Colvin was a civil rights pioneer who at age 15 was arrested for not giving up her seat to a white woman on Montgomery, Alabama bus.
- Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose
- Because Claudette by Tracey Baptiste
- She Persisted: Claudette Colvin by Lesa Cline-Ransome
- Claudette Colvin Refuses to Move: Courageous Kid of the Civil Rights Movement by Ebony Joy Wilkins
Harper Lee was a Pulitzer Prize-award winning author from Monroeville, AL.
- Alabama Spitfire: The Story of Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird by Bethany Hegedus
- Tru & Nelle by G. Neri
Hank Aaron was a Major League Baseball player for 23 years. He was born in Mobile, AL in 1934.
- Hank Aaron: Brave in Every Way by Peter Golenbock
- Henry Aaron’s Dream by Matt Tavares
- Swinging for the Fences: Hank Aaron and Me by Mike Leonetti
- I Had A Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story by Hank Aaron
Mae Jemison was the first black woman to travel into space. On September 12, 1992, she served as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. She was born in Decatur, AL in 1956.
- Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed
- Mae C. Jemison: Women in Science and Technology by Meeg Pincus
- Mae Jemison by Laurie Calkhoven
- Blast off into Space Like Mae Jemison by Caroline Moss
Other notables
- It Jes’ Happened: When Bill Traylor Started to Draw by Don Tate
- Whoosh!: Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions by Chris Barton
- Benny Goodman & Teddy Wilson: Taking the Stage as the First Black-and-White Jazz Band in History by Lesa Cline-Ransome
- You Never Heard of Willie Mays?! by Jonah Winter
- Twice as Good: The Story of William Powell and Clearview, the Only Golf Course Designed, Built, and Owned by an African American by Richard Michelson
- Odetta: The Queen of Folk by Stephen Alcorn
- Winners Never Quit! Mia Hamm
- The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read by Rita Lorraine Hubbard
Don’t forget to bookmark this page as I will continue to add books in the future.
Thanks for stopping by and happy reading!
