You can sign up for a free library card here.
If you need help using our Digital Media tools to access these selections, visit our Online Resources Support page.
If you’re looking for more book suggestions, we’re happy to recommend them to you! Use this Book Recommendation form to send us some information about what you like to read and we’ll curate a list just for you.
If you have any additional questions, you can call us at 412-622-3114 or email us at [email protected]. You can find additional ways to contact us on the Need Help? page.
In the Catalog
Be the Light
How She Became Angela Davis
Daria Peoples
A biography of the Civil Rights icon, activist, and scholar, Angela Davis.
From the Catalog
Go Forth and Tell
The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master Storyteller
Breanna J. McDaniel
A luminous picture book biography about librarian and storyteller Augusta Baker, the first Black coordinator of children’s services at all branches of the New York Public library.
From the Catalog
Go Tell It
How James Baldwin Became A Writer
Quartez Harris
A boy who loves stories grows into a teenager who escapes into his writing and then a young man who plays his typewriter like a piano to show the fullness of Black life, in this lyrical picture book biography of James Baldwin, the celebrated novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and activist.
From the Catalog
Shirley Chisholm Dared
The Story of the First Black Woman in Congress
Alicia Williams
A picture book biography of Shirley Chisholm, the daughter of West Indian immigrants and the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Congress.
From the Catalog
Small-girl Zora and the Shower of Stories
Giselle Liza Anatol
Hoping to save her mother’s drought-stricken garden, imaginative small-girl Zora roams the town sharing her stories to gather joyous tears, only to discover that her words hold a magic all their own.
From the Catalog
Susie King Taylor
Nurse, Teacher & Freedom Fighter
Erica Armstrong Dunbar
A groundbreaking figure in every sense of the word, Susie King Taylor was one of the first Black nurses during the Civil War, a key figure in establishing a postbellum educational system for formerly bonded Black people, and she was also one of the first Black women to publish her memoirs.
From the Catalog
Unstoppable John
How John Lewis Got His Library Card — and Helped Change History
Pat Zietlow Miller
“A poignant picture book biography on how John Lewis got his library card and helped change history. All John Lewis wanted was a library card, but in 1956, libraries were only for white people. That didn’t seem fair to John, and so he spent a lifetime advocating for change and fighting against unfair laws until the laws changed. Finally, black people could eat at restaurants, see movies, vote in elections, and even get library cards. With an in-depth author’s note, a timeline of John Lewis’s life, and a lengthy list of resources, Unstoppable John, illustrated by Jerry Jordan and written by New York Times bestselling author Pat Zietlow Miller, explores the profound impact John had on the world and that books had on him”–Amazon.com
From the Catalog
What I Must Tell the World
How Lorraine Hansberry Found Her Voice
Jay Leslie
As a young girl, playwright Lorraine Hansberry walked everywhere with a notebook, eager to capture the sights, sounds, and stories of the people around her. First Lorraine watched her parents’ triumph in the Supreme Court case of Hansberry v. Lee. Then she discovered the magic of theater. Next, she unlocked the power of her voice, crafting A Raisin in the Sun. Her play went on to influence generations of artists and the world was never the same.