2025 One Maryland One Book
Reader’s Guide – Kin: Rooted in Hope
Additional Resources
Other Recommended Resources to Augment Kin: Rooted in Hope
Major literacy and literary organizations, along with early childhood organizations, provide guidance to support the use of Kin and similar titles. They include:
- The American Library Association (ALA)
- International Literacy Association (ILA)
- National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
- National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
- The Poetry Foundation
Another important organization, which was created in 1915 to ensure accurate books, journal articles, and curricular materials about African Americans, is the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, among the first to professionalize and center African American history.
All the above organizations provide recommendations for books, magazines, and online resources. Peruse these resources for recommended books that can be used to support the discussion questions and complete extension activities. Also see the American Library Association’s website for vital information about book challenges.
Several important African American history museums are valuable sources of information, including:
- The International African American Museum
- The Association of African American Museums
- The National Museum of African American History and Culture
Recommended Reading
(on this page)
Recommended Books for Librarians and Teachers
History is an ongoing collection of processes. Each person is a part of that history. Historical accuracy and authenticity are important components of the historical records. Following is a sample of various histories that offer essential information and serve as an introduction to African American history.
- The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Donald Yacovone
- From Slavery to Freedom by John Hope Franklin and Evelyn Higginbotham
- Stolen Childhood: Slave Youth in Nineteenth-Century America by Wilma King
- The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed
- African American Odyssey by Darlene Clark Hine, William Hine, and Stanley Harrold
- Creating Black Americans: African-American History and Its Meanings, 1619 to the Present by Nell Irvin Painter
Art
- Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat by Javaka Steptoe
- Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle by Elizabeth H. Turner, et. al.
- The MET: Faith Ringgold: Narrating the World in Pattern and Color by Sharna Jackson and illustrated by Andrea Pippins
- A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin by Jen Bryant and illustrated by Melissa Sweet
- Infinite Hope: A Black Artist’s Journey from World War II to Peace by Ashley Bryan
- Just Jerry: How Drawing Shaped My Life by Jerry Pinkney
- Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave by Laban Carrick Hill and illustrated by Bryan Collier
- Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Jamey Christoph
- By and By: Charles Albert Tindley, the Father of Gospel Music by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Bryan Collier
Poetry
- Hip Hop Speaks to Children by Nikki Giovanni
- How to Write a Poem by Kwame Alexander and Deanna Nikaido
- African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song, edited by Kevin Young
- The Roots of Rap by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Frank Morrison
- Freedom in Congo Square by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by R. Gregory Christie
- Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Michele Wood
Writing
- The Write Thing by Kwame Alexander
- Kwame Alexander’s Free Write: A Poetry Notebook by Kwame Alexander
- Writing in Color: Fourteen Writers on the Lessons We’ve Learned, edited by Nafiza Azad and Melody Simpson
Maryland Humanities Reading List
- University of Maryland’s Slavery and Freedom in Maryland Reading List.
- Challenging Slavery in the Chesapeake: Black and White Resistance to Human Bondage, 1775-1865 by T. Stephen Whitman
- Escape on the Pearl : the heroic bid for freedom on the Underground Railroad by Mary Kay Ricks
- The Pearl : a failed slave escape on the Potomac by Josephine F. Pacheco
- Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum by Antonia Hylton
- Flee North: A Forgotten Hero and the Fight for Freedom in Slavery’s Borderland by Scott Shane
- The Silent Shore: The Lynching of Matthew Williams and the Politics of Racism in the Free State by Charles L. Chavis Jr
- The Making of a Pearl by Dr. Kisha N. Davis
- Bear Me Into Freedom: The Talbot County of Frederick Douglass by Jeffery McGuiness
Maryland Humanities Links
- Enoch Pratt Free Library’s African American Department: The Eddie and Sylvia Brown African American Department is an in-depth historical, contemporary collection of fiction and nonfiction resources that pertain to the history and culture of African Americans throughout the African Diaspora.
- The Enoch Pratt Free Library’s African American Genealogy page
- Preservation Maryland
- Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Established in 2019, the Commission is authorized to research cases of racially motivated lynchings and hold public meetings and regional hearings where a lynching of an African American by a white mob has been documented.
Lesson Plans for Related Books
- Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom (Dorchester County)
- By and By: Charles Albert Tindley, the Father of Gospel Music (Wicomico County)
- Dear Mr. Rosenwald: The School that Hope Built (From 1918-1932, 156 Rosenwald Schools were built in Maryland; 50 are still standing)
Reader’s Guide
Every year we work with educators and partners to bring you relevant information to enhance your reading of the One Maryland One Book. Here are some ways you can read along with us.
Read a welcome message from Maryland Humanities staff.
See bios, statements, and learn more about the book’s themes.
Activities in the Teacher’s Guide assist in the practice of these Maryland curricular requirements.
Prompts to guide your conversations about the book.
Activities and curricular guides arranged by subject for interdisciplinary exploration.
Related reading and other recommended resources to augment the book.
The people and organizations that helped us compile the content and resources of this guide.
We would not be able to reach all of Maryland without the continued support of our partners.