Carter G. Woodson Award Winning Books

As of 2001 awards and honors are given in the following categories, Elementary (K-6), Middle (5-8), and Secondary (7-12) grade level books.

Carter G. Woodson Seal

The National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) established the Carter G. Woodson Book Awards for the most distinguished books appropriate for young readers that depict ethnicity in the United States. First presented in 1974, this award is intended to “encourage the writing, publishing, and dissemination of outstanding social studies books for young readers that treat topics related to ethnic minorities and race relations sensitively and accurately.” Books relating to ethnic minorities and the authors of such books rarely receive the recognition they merit from professional organizations. By sponsoring the Carter G. Woodson Awards, NCSS gives wide recognition to and encourages these authors and publishers. Here is a printable list of all the award winning books. Learn more at NCSS’s website.

Also check out our list of Top 100+ Recommended African-American Children’s Books, some are also CSK Award winning titles.

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6 Award Winning and Honored Books for 2000

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Secondary Level Winner

Book Description: 
On March 1, 1893, Princess Ka’iulani, 17, stepped onto the pier at New York City, realizing she stood at a crossroads in history. This biography tells the fascinating story of Princess Ka’iulani’s life and courageous fight for Hawaiian independence. Using newly translated journals and letters, Sharon Linnea introduces young readers to the most beloved figure in Hawaiian history, and one of America’s most overlooked Christian heroines. 30 photos.

Honor Book

Book Description: 
Between 1880 and 1954, African Americans dedicated their energies, and sometimes their lives, to defeating segregation. During these times, characterized by some as worse than slavery, African Americans fought the status quo, acquiring education and land and building businesses, churches, and communities, despite laws designed to segregate and disenfranchise them. White supremacy prevailed, but did not destroy, the spirit of the black community.

Incorporating anecdotes, the exploits of individuals, first-person accounts, and never- before-seen images and graphics, The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow is the story of the African American struggle for freedom following the end of the Civil War. A companion volume to the four-part PBS television series, which took seven years to write, research, and edit, the book documents the work of such figures as the activist and separatist Benjamin Pap Singleton, anti-lynching crusader Ida B. Wells, and W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington. It examines the emergence of the black middle class and intellectual elite, and the birth of the NAACP. The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow also tells the stories of ordinary heroes who accomplished extraordinary things: Charlotte Hawkins Brown, a teacher who founded the Palmer Memorial Institute, a private black high school in North Carolina; Ned Cobb, a tenant farmer in Alabama who became a union organizer; Isaiah Montgomery, who founded Mound Bayou, an all-black town in Mississippi; Charles Evers, brother of civil rights leader Medgar Evers, who fought for voter registration in Mississippi in the 1940s. And Barbara Johns, a sixteen-year-old Virginia student who organized a student strike in 1951. The strike led to a lawsuit that became one of the five cases the United States Supreme Court reviewed when it declared segregation in education illegal.

As the twenty-first century rolls forward, we are losing the remaining survivors of this pivotal era. Rich in historical commentary and eyewitness testimony by blacks and whites who lived through the period, The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow is a poignant record of a time when indignity and terror constantly faced off against courage and accomplishment.

Honor Book

Book Description: 
During colonial and pre-Civil War times, whaling was a dangerous job. Despite the challenges of the sea, runaway slaves were eager to enlist. This is the story of the brave black sailors and Paul Cuffe, Lewis Temple, Frederick Douglas, and other pivotal African-American figures in the whaling industry and abolitionist movement.

Honor Book

Book Description: 
Introduces the history, geography, and culture of the Tlingit people in Southeast Alaska through the daily lives of children who live there.

Honor Book

Book Description: 
Through the magic windows of her cut-paper art, Garza shows us her family, her life as an artist, and the legends of her Aztec past. In her third book, Magic Windows/Ventanas magicas, Carmen Lomas Garza takes readers on a fascinating journey that explores her family, community, and ancestors through the traditional folk art form of papel picado (cut-paper art). Children catch a glimpse of the hummingbirds that carry the souls of the ancestors; look into the artist’s studio and see her paint a Mexican jarabe tapato dancer; and watch her teach her nieces and nephews how to make their own magic windows. The text is in Spanish and English.

Elementary Award

Book Description: 
On November 14, 1960, a tiny six-year-old black child, surrounded by federal marshals, walked through a mob of screaming segregationists and into her school. From where she sat in the office, Ruby Bridges could see parents marching through the halls and taking their children out of classrooms. The next day, Ruby walked through the angry mob once again and into a school where she saw no other students. The white children did not go to school that day, and they wouldn’t go to school for many days to come. Surrounded by racial turmoil, Ruby, the only student in a classroom with one wonderful teacher, learned to read and add. This is the story of a pivotal event in history as Ruby Bridges saw it unfold around her. Ruby’s poignant words, quotations from writers and from other adults who observed her, and dramatic photographs recreate an amazing story of innocence, courage, and forgiveness. Ruby Bridges’ story is an inspiration to us all.