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Books about Black Environmentalists

Curated list of children’s books about Black and African Leaders, Scientist and Explorers connected to nature, the outdoors, and environmentalism.

ELEMENTARY

Mae Among the Stars

Astronaut, Engineer, Physician

Buzzing with Questions The Inquisitive Mind of Charles Henry Turner

Zoologist, Educator, Comparative Psychologist

Harlem Grown: How One Big Idea Transformed a Neighborhood

Executive Director

The Vast Wonder of the World: Biologist Ernest Everett Just

Biologist, Zoologist, Botanist

Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table

Farmer, Basketball Player (retired)

African American Explorers and Adventurers

Various

Look up with Me Neil deGrasse Tyson

Astrophysicist, Planetary Scientist

Mae Jemison: A Kid’s Book About Reaching Your Dreams

Astronaut, Engineer, Physician

Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13

Mathematician

Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race

Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, Dorothy Vaughan, Christine Darden

Mathematicians

I, Matthew Henson Polar Explorer

Polar Explorer

The Secret Garden of George Washington Carver

Agricultural Scientist, Inventor

In the Garden with Dr. Carver

Agricultural Scientist, Inventor

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom

Abolitionist, “Conductor,” Cartographer

TICK TOCK BANNEKER’S CLOCK

Almanac Author, Astronomer

Mama Miti

Founder of the Greenbelt Movement

Wangari Maathai: The Woman Who Planted Millions of Trees

Founder of the Greenbelt Movement

i am farmer growing an environmental movement in Cameroon

Environmentalist and Founder of the Save Your Future Association

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Inventor

One Plastic Bag

Activist, Social Entrepreneur

MIDDLE GRADE

Reaching for the Moon: The Autobiography of NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson

Mathematician

Hidden Figures Young Readers’ Edition

Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, Dorothy Vaughan, Christine Darden

Mathematicians

Heroes of the Environment: True Stories of People Who Are Helping to Protect Our Planet

Various

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Inventor

Black Heroes of the Wild West

Various