Protest movements played a decisive role in shaping the history of our rebellion-born nation. In the 20th century alone, mass protest movements led to women’s suffrage, the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s and the end of the Vietnam War.
This list includes groundbreaking nonfiction books for adults and thought-provoking books for young readers about significant protest movements of the civil rights era.
Books for adults
Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement
By John Lewis and Michael D’Orso
A first-person account of the Civil Rights Movement from one of its most courageous leaders takes the reader behind the scenes, from early lunch counter sit-ins to “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Alabama. Lewis almost lost his life that day when Alabama state troopers brutally attacked more than 500 marchers for voting rights he was leading across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years, 1954–1965
By Juan Williams
A comprehensive account of several instrumental figures in the Civil Rights Movement, this book provided the source material for a celebrated PBS series of the same name.
Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution
By David Carter
A classic account of the 1969 riots against police brutality at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City. The riots are considered to be the beginning of the LGBTQ+ rights movement in the U.S. The book is the basis of the PBS documentary “Stonewall Uprising.”
Until Justice Be Done: America’s First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction
By Kate Masur
This finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in history documents Black Americans who fought racist laws for equality and freedom in a civil rights struggle long before the Civil War.
Waging a Good War: A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement 1954-1968
By Thomas E. Ricks
This Pulitzer Prize-winning war reporter’s novel interpretation of the Civil Rights Movement shows how Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, Fannie Lou Hamer and others used persistent military tactics and strategy to wage successful protest campaigns.
Books for young readers
Written and illustrated by Tessa Allen
A deceptively simple book with watercolor illustrations describing many reasons and ways people march together, namely when they want to resist injustice and notice the need for change in the world “for the freedom to love, live and learn.”
Freedom Song: Young Voices and the Struggle for Civil Rights
By Mary C. Turck
Young and adult readers alike will enjoy this unique book about the Civil Rights Movement and the music that defined that era. The renowned Chicago Children’s Choir sings “Songs on the Road to Freedom,” an accompanying CD featuring the choir’s performances of songs in the book.
By Joyce Markovics
One in a series of six “Protest! March for Change” books for young readers, this installment introduces the issues behind the Jan. 21, 2017, mass march with color photos, a timeline of events, a glossary and additional resources.
Rhonda Sonnenberg is a senior staff writer for the Southern Poverty Law Center.