Welcome! To the San Francisco Freedom School Book List               Last updated: May 26, 2010
Questions? Contact Us! to borrow (curriculum material is available upon request)
Click on the following categories to go to the section:  student_at_desk_community center

Picture (left) is from a COFO flyer promoting participation in Mississippi Freedom Summer (1964).

Freedom Schools and Community Centers were among the many alternative institutions created to support voter registration drives and the creation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.

The SF Freedom School is inspired by the 1964 MS Freedom Schools.


Also see: African American Freedom Struggle in Children’s Literature

Also see: Civil Rights History using Gateway (historically accurate picture) books.

African American History(back to top)
Mississippi: An American Journey (history of Mississippi) Anthony Dalton Alfred Knopf 1996
100 Years of Negro Freedom Arna Bontemps Dodd, Mead 1961
Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement Barbara Ransby UNorth Carolina Press 2003
The Strange Career of Jim Crow C. Vann Woodward Oxford Univ Press, New York 1974
American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia Edmund Morgan New York 1975
Short History of Reconstruction Eric Foner New York 1984
Gender and Jim Crow: Women and the Politics of White Supremacy in North Carolina, 1896-1920 Glenda E. Gilmore Chapel Hill 1996
Essays in the History of the American Negro (1526-1865) Herbert Aptheker International Publishers 1964
Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America Ira Berlin Cambridge 1998
From Slavery to Freedom: A history of negro Americans J.H. Franklin & A. Moss Jr. McGraw Hill 1988
Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Black Women, Work and the Family, from Slavery to the Present Jacqueline Jones Vintage Books, New York 1986
In Hope of Liberty: Culture, Community and Protest Among Northern Free Blacks 1700-1860 James and Lois Horton New York 1997
Holy Warriors: the abolitionists and american slavery James B. Stewart Hill and Wang 1996
ïThey SayÍ : Ida B. Wells and the Reconstruction of Race James W. Davidson Oxford 2007
Black Manhattan James Weldon Johnson Da Capo Press 1991
Reconstruction; After the Civil War John Hope Franklin U of Chicago Press, Chicago 1961
The Silent Army of Abolitionism: Ordinary Women in the Anti-Slavery Movement Julie Joy Jeffrey Chapel Hill 1998
The Peculiar Institution Kenneth Stampp Alfred A. Knopf, New York 1978
The Era of Reconstruction 1865-1877 Kenneth Stampp Vintage Books, New York 1965
Americans and the California Dream: 1850-1915 Kevin Starr Oxford 1973
Thurgood Marshall: Warrior at the Bar, Rebel on the Bench M. Davis & H. Clark Citadel Press 1994
The NAACPÍs Legal Strategy against Segregated Education: 1925-1950 Mark Tushnet Chapel Hill 1987
America's Black Congressmen: The Stories of 34 Blacks who served in Congress 1870-1970 Maurine Christopher Thomas Y. Crowell Comp., New York 1971
Simple Justice: The history of Brown v. Board and black AmericaÍs struggle for Equality Richard Kluger Vintage 1977
American Babylon: Race and the Struggle for Postwar Oakland Robert O. Self Princeton 2003
American Reformers: 1815-1860 Ronald Walters Hill and Wang 1997
The Black New Yorkers:: 400 Years of African American History Schomburg Ilustr chronology Wiley 2000
The Fires of Jubilee: Nat Turner's Fierce Rebellion Stephen Oates New American Library, New York 1975
Harlem Renaissance: Art of Black America Studio Museum of Harlam Abradale Press 1987
There is a River: The Black Struggle for Freedom [from slavery] in America Vincent Harding Harcourt Brace 1981
Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market Walter Johnson Cambridge 1999
Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves and the making of the American Revolution in Virginia Woody Holton Chapel Hill 1999
The Abolitionist Sisterhood: Women's Political Culture in Antebellum America Yellin et al. eds Ithaca 1994
20th Century History / Sociology (back to top)
Propaganda and Aesthetics: The Literary Politics of African -American Magazines in the 20th Century A.A Johnosn & R.M. Johnson U Mass Press 1979
Black San Francisco: The Struggle for Racial Equality in the West, 1900-1954 Albert Broussard Lawrence 1993
In Search of our MothersÍ Garden Alice Walker HBJ 1983
Climbing Jacobs Ladder: The Enduring Legacy of African American Families Andrew Billingsley New York 1992
Two Nations: Black and White, Separate, Hostile, Unequal Andrew Hacker New York 1992
Art on My Mind: visual politics bell hooks New Press 1995
The Negro in the Making of America Benjamin Quarles Collier Books, New York 1964
Black Lives, White Lives: Three decades of race relations in white America (since 1968) Bob Blauner UC Berkeley Press 1989
All Our Kin: Stragtegies for Survival in a Black Community Carol B. Stack Harper Torchbooks, New York 1975
WEB DuBois: Biography of a Race 1869-1919 David Levering Lewis New York 1993
Sacred Pampering Principles: An African-American Women's Guide to Self-care and Inner Renewal Debrena Jackson Gandy Quill, New York 1997
Protest, Politics and Prosperity: Black Americans and White Institutions 1940-75 Dorothy Newman et al Pantheon Books, New York 1978
Talkin and Testifyin: The Language of Black America Geneva Smitherman Wayne State 1977
Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945 George Sanchez Oxford 1993
"Shut those Thick Lips" A Study of Slum School Failure Gerry Rosenfeld Waveland Press, Prospect Heights IL 1983
Defying Dixie: The Radical Roots of Civil Rights 1919 - 1950 Glenda E. Gilmore Norton 2008
A New Deal for Blacks: The Emergence of the CRM as a National Issue: The Depression Decade Harvard Sitkoff Oxford Univ Press, Oxford 1978
Afro American History: The Modern Era Herbert Aptheker Citadel Press, Secaucus NJ 1971
Colorbling Injustice: Minority Voting Rights and the Undoing of the Second Reconstruction J. Morgan Kousser Chapel Hill 1999
Democracy is in the Streets: From Port Huron to the Siege of Chicago James Miller Harvard 1994
Race, Space, and Riots: chicago (1919 v 1968), new york (1935 v1945) and los angeles (65 v 92) Janet Abu-Lughod Oxford 2007
Darwin's Athlete: How Sport has damaged Black America and preserved the Myth of Race John Hoberman Boston 1997
Drylongso: A Self-Portrait of Black America John Langston Gwaltney Vintage Books, New York 1981
The Miner' s Canary: Enlisting Race, Resisting Power, Transforming Democracy L. Guinier & G Torres Harvard 2002
Making Malcolm: The myth and meaning of Malcolm X Michael Eric Dyson Oxford 1995
Know What I Mean? Reflections on Hip Hop Michael Eric Dyson Basic 2007
Is Bill Cosby Right? (or hs the black middle class lost its mind?) Michael Eric Dyson Basic 2005
The Other America Michael Harrington    
Radical Equations: Math Literacy and Civil Rights Moses and Cobb Boston 2001
The Promise Land: The Great Blck Migration and how it Changed America Nicholas Lemann New York 1992
The Elusive Eden: A new history of California Richard Rice et al McGraw 1996
The South goes North: Vol 3 of Children of Crisis Robert Coles Atlantic Monthly Press, Boston 1969
The Negro in American Life and History: A Resource Book for teachers Robert Jenkins San Francisco USD 1967
American Babylon: Race and the Struggle for Postwar Oakland Robert O. Self Princeton 2003
The Way the Wind Blew: a history of the Weather Underground Ron Jacobs Verso 1997
Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans Ronald Takaki Penguin 1989
Personal Politics: The Roots of Women's Liberation in the CRM and the New Left Sarah Evans New York 1980
SCLC National Magazine May/June 1997 SCLC SCLC 1997
One Blood: The Death and Resurrection of Charles Drew Spencie Love UNC Press 1996
In the Time of the Right: Reflection on Liberation Suzanne Pharr Chardon Press 1996
The Origins of the Urban Crisis: RAce and Inequality in Postwar Detroit Thomas Sugrue Princeton 2005
Hope and History Vincent Harding Orbis 1991
Katrina's Legacy Eric Mann    
Racism (back to top)
Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? and other conversations about Race Beverly D Tatum Basic 1997
Race Matters Cornel West Boston 1993
Keeping Faith: Philosophy and Race in America Cornel West New York 1993
Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism Derrick Bell Basic Books, New York 1992
Racism: A short History George Fredrickson Pinceton 2002
Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class and Environmental Protest Robert Bullard Westview Press, Boulder CO 1990
The Souls of Black Folks (edited by Gates and Oliver) WEB DuBois New York 1999
       
Document Collections (back to top)
Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader Clayborne Carson et al, ed New York 1991
Voices of Freedom - Oral History of CRM Hampton and Fayer, eds New York 1990
The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. James Washington, ed. Harper Collins 1986
Black Protest: History, Documents and Analysis 1619 to present Joanne Grant Faucet Premier, New York 1968
My Soul Looks Back in Wonder: Voices of the Civil Rights Experience Juan Williams, ed. AARP/Sterling 2004
In White America: A Documentary Play Martin Duberman Cambridge 1964
Mississippi Freedom Summer (Document collection) McClymer Belmont 2004
The Oxford Frederick Douglass Reader William Andrews, ed. Oxford 1996
       
Civil Rights Movement (back to top)
The Closed Their Schools: Prince Edward County, VA, 1951-1964 Bob Smith Chapel Hill 1965
The Civil Rights Movement: An Illustrated History Brenda Wilkinson Crescent Books 1997
Oh, Freedom!: Kids Talk About the Civil Rights Movement with the People who Made it Happen Casey King, Linda B. Osborne Alfred Knopf 1997
Pure Fire: Self-Defense as Activism in the Civil Rights Era Christopher Strain UGeorgia Press 2005
In Struggle: SNCC and Black Awakening Clayborne Carson Harvard U Press, Cambridge 1981
Deep in Our Hearts: Nine White Women in the Freedom Movement Connie Curry et al Athens 2000
Civil Rights History from the Ground Up: Local Struggles, A National Movement Emilye Crosby U Georgia Press 2011
Breach of Peace: portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders Eric Etheridge Atlas and Co. 2008
Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement Danny Lyon Univ of North Carolina Press 1992
Carry Me Home, Birmingham, Alabama: The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution Diane McWhorter Touchstone 2001
Freedom's Children: Young Civil Rights Activists tell their Stories Ellen Levine New York 1993
Bloody Lowndes: civil rights and black power in alabama's black belt Hasan Kwame Jeffries NYU 2009
Walking with the Wind - A Memoir of the Movement John Lewis New York 1998
Eyes on the Prize: Amerrica's Civil Rights Years 1954-1965 Juan Williams New York 1987
Free at Last: A History of the Civil Rights Movement and Those who Died in the Struggle Julian Bond, editor Southern Poverty Law Center 1990
Freedom's Teacher: The Life of Septima Clark Katherine M Charron UNC 2009
Freedom's Daughters: The Unsung Heroines of the CRM 1830-1970 Lynne Olson New York 2001
Up South: Civil rights and black power in Philadelphia Matthew Countryman UPenn 2006
Everybody Says Freedom: A history of the civil rights movement in songs and pictures Peter Seeger & Bob Reiser Norton 1989
Freedom Riders: 1961 and the struggle for riacial justice Raymond Arsenault Oxford 2006
Civil Rights: The 1960s Freedom Struggle Rhoda Lois Blumberg Twayne Publishers 1984
Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 55-63 Taylor Branch New York 1988
Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 63-65 Taylor Branch New York 1998
At Canaan's Edge : American in the King Years 65-68 Taylor Branch New York  
Sweet Land of Liberty: The forgotten struggle for civil rights in the North Thomas J. Sugrue Random House 2009
Mississippi and Freedom Summer (back to top)
Radical Equations: Math Literacy and Civil Rights Bob Moses and Charlie Cobb Beacon Press, Boston 2001
I've Got the Light of Freedom Charles Payne UCal Press 2007
Freshwater Road (Novel about Freedom Summer) Denise Nicholas Chicago 2005
Faces of Freedom Summer (Photo Collection) Herbert Randall, Bobs Tusa Tuscaloosa 2001
Mississippi: The Closed Society James Silver Harcourt Brace and World 1964
Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi John Dittmer Urbana 1995
Mississippi Freedom Summer (Document collection) John McClymer Belmont 2004
Freedom Summer Sally Belfrage Charlottesville 1965
Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Anthology of the Missisppi CRM Susie Ehrenrich ed Montgomery 1999
Letters from Mississippi Sutherland Martinez Brookline 2002
Three Lives for Mississippi (foreword by Martin Luther King) William Bradford Huie Signet 1968
The Children Bob Moses Led: A Novel of Freedom Summer William Heath Minneapolis 1995
       
Women (back to top)
In Search of Our MotherÍs Gardens Alice Walker HBJ 1983
Deep in Our Hearts: Nine White Women in the Freedom Movement Connie Curry et al Athens 2000
We Are your Sisters: Black Women in the Nineteenth Century Dorothy Sterling, editor Norton 1984
Gender and Jim Crow: Women and the Politics of White Supremacy in North Carolina, 1896-1920 Glenda E. Gilmore Chapel Hill 1996
Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Black Women, Work and the Family, from Slavery to the Present Jacqueline Jones Vintage Books, New York 1986
The Silent Army of Abolitionism: Ordinary Women in the Anti-Slavery Movement Julie Joy Jeffrey Chapel Hill 1998
Freedom's Teacher: The Life of Septima Clark Katherine M Charron UNC 2009
Freedom's Daughters: The Unsung Heroines of the CRM 1830-1970 Lynne Olson New York 2001
Black and White Sat Down Together: The Reminiscenses of an NAACP Founder Mary White Ovington Feminist Press CUNY 1995
Divided Sisters: Bridging the Gap between black women and white women Midege Wilson & Kathy Russell Anchor Books 1996
Women in the Civil Rights Movement: Trailblazers and Torchbearers, 1941-1965 V. Crawford et al, eds. Indiana Upress 1993
The Abolitionist Sisterhood: Women's Political Culture in Antebellum America Yellin et al. eds Ithaca 1994
       
Memoirs / First Person Accounts (back to top)
Autobiography of Malcolm X Alex Haley New York 1964
Coming of Age in Mississippi Anne Moody New York 1968
Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement Dany Lyon UNC Press 1992
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass Signet Classics 1968
The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It Jo Ann Gibson Robinson Tennessee 1987
Walking with the Wind - A Memoir of the Movement John Lewis New York 1998
Death at an Early Age Jonathan Kozol Plume 1967
Stride Toward Freedom Martin Luther King, Jr.    
Black and White Sat Down Together: The Reminiscences of an NAACP Founder Mary White Ovington Feminist Press CUNY 1995
Warriors DonÍt Cry Melba Beals Washington Square Press 1994
Here I Stand Paul Robeson Beacon Press 1998
Prairie Radical: A Journey through the Sixties (1963-67) Robert Pardun Shire Press 2001
Freedom Summer Sally Belfrage Charlottesville 1965
Legacy of a Freedom School Sandra Adickes New York 2005
Ready for Revolution: The Life and Struggles of Stokely Carmichael Stokely Carmichael Scribner 2003
The Confessions of Nat Turner William Styron    
       
Fiction / Literature (back to top)
Freshwater Road (Novel about Freedom Summer) Denise Nicholas Chicago 2005
In White America: A Documentary Play Martin Duberman Cambridge 1964
I Know why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou New York 1970
Kindred Octavia Butler Beacon Press, Boston 1979
Beloved Toni Morrison New York 1988
Jazz Toni Morrison New York 1993
The Children Bob Moses Led: A Novel of Freedom Summer William Heath Minneapolis 1995
Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston New York 1937
       
Children and Young Adults (back to top)
Oh, Freedom! : Kids Talk about the Civil Rights Movement with the People who Made it Happen Casey King, Linda B. Osborne Alfred Knopf 1997
Freedom's Children: Young Civil Rights Activists tell their Stories Ellen Levine New York 1993
Remember: The Journey to School Desegregation Toni Morrison Boston 2004
Freedom Summer (Picture book) Wiles and Laggarigue New York 2001
       
Teaching Materials (back to top)
Freedom's Unfinished Revolution: An Inquiry into the Civil War and Reconstruction American Social History Project New Press 1996
Eyes on the Prized: teaching edition for television documentary   Blackside  
Teaching the American CRM: Freedom's Bittersweet Song Armstrong et al, eds New York 2002
Civil Rights Movement for Kids: A History with 21 Activities Mary Tuck Chicago 2000
Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching Menkart et al, eds   2004
Hope and History Vincent Harding Orbis 1991
       
Organizing (back to top)
A Force More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Conflict Ackerman and Duvall St Martin's Press, New York 2000
Race, Poverty and the Environment (journal, various issues)      
Poor People's Movements: Why they Succeed, How they Fail Fox Piven and Cloward Vintage Books, New York 1979
Why Organizers Fail: The story of a rent strike Harry Brill UC Berkeley Press 1971
The Revolution Will not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex Incite! Ed. South End Press 2007
The Civil Disobedience Handbook James Tracy, ed Manic D Press, San Francisco 2002
Foundations and Public Policy: The Mask of Pluralism Joan Roelofs SUNY 2003
Organizing for Social Change Kimberley A. Bobo et al Seven Locks Press, Santa Ana 1991
Making a New Deal: Industrical Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939 Lizabeth Cohen Cambridge 1990
From the Grassroots: Social and Political Assays Towards African American Liberation Manning Marable South End Press, Boston 1980
A Community Organizer's Tale: People and Power in San Francisco Mike Miller HeyDay 2009
Democracy and Nonviolence: The role of the individual in world crisis (foreword by A. J. Muste, Introduction by James Farmer) Ralph Templin Porter Sargent 1965
Storefront Organizing Sam Brown Pyramid  
Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals Saul Alinsky Vintage Books, New York 1972
From ACT UP to the WTO Shepard and Hayduck, eds Verso, London 2002
Which Side Are you on: Trying to be for Labor When it's Flat on its Back Thomas Geoghegan Plume Book, London 1992
Hope and History Vincent Harding Orbis 1991
The Activist's Handbook Randy Shaw    
Towards Land, Work and Power POWER    
Education (back to top)
No Contest: The Case against Competition - Why we loose in our Race to Win Alfie Kohn Houghton Mifflin, Boston 1986
Taking it Personally: Racism in the Classroom from Kindergarden to College Berlack and Moyenda Philadelphia 2001
Democracy and the Arts of Schooling Donald Arnstine SUNY Press, New York 1995
"Shut those Thick Lips" A Study of Slum School Failure Gerry Rosenfeld Waveland Press, Prospect Heights IL 1983
Critical Teaching and Everyday Life Ira Shor South End Press, Boston 1980
Radical Possibilities: Public Policy, Urban Education, and a New Social Movement Jean Anyon New York 2005
Democracy and Education John Dewey Free Press, New York 1916
The Night is Dark and I Am far from Home: A Political Indictment of the US Public Schools Jonathan Kozol Continuum, New York 1986
Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools Jonathan Kozol Harper Perennial, New York 1991
The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America Jonathan Kozol New York 2005
Death at an Early Age Jonathan Kozol Plume 1967
Freedom's Teacher: The Life of Septima Clark Katherine M Charron UNC 2009
Rethinkinhg Schools: An Agenda for Change Levine et al, eds New Press, New York 1995
Radical Equations: Math Literacy and Civil Rights Moses and Cobb Boston 2001
The Long Haul: An Autobiography Myles Horton Teachers College Press, New York 1998