The books on this list are collections of biographies of social justice activists. We also feature many excellent biographies of social justice activists on our Bookshop.org store for early elementary, upper elementary, middle school, and young adult. An online source we recommend is Americans Who Tell the Truth. (Note that while the books below are excellent collections, we don't agree that every profile fits the description of a social justice changemaker.)
Titles that we recommend are featured below. The ones with reviews are noted with an asterisk (*). Some titles are recommended with a caveat. At the end of this page is a list of titles on this theme, with reviews, that we do not recommend
101 Changemakers: Rebels and Radicals Who Changed US History
By Michele Bollinger (Editor), Dao X. Tran (Editor)
Amelia to Zora: Twenty-Six Women Who Changed the World
By Cynthia Chin-Lee, Megan Halsey (Illustrator), and Sean Addy (Illustrator)
Best Believe: The Tres Hermanas, a Sisterhood for the Common Good
By Nonieqa Ramos and Nicole Medina (Illustrator)
The Black Panthers: Portraits from an Unfinished Revolution
By Bryan Shih, Yohuru Williams, Peniel E. Joseph (Introduction by)
Fighting to Breathe: Race, Toxicity, and the Rise of Youth Activism in Baltimore
By Nicole Fabricant
Heroes of the Environment: True Stories of People Who Are Helping to Protect Our Planet
By Harriet Rohmer, Julie McLaughlin (Illustrator)
Lighting the Fires of Freedom: African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement
By Janet Dewart Bell
No Voice Too Small: Fourteen Young Americans Making History *
Edited by Lindsay H. Metcalf, Keila V. Dawson, and Jeanette Bradley
Notable Native People: 50 Indigenous Leaders, Dreamers, and Changemakers from Past and Present
By Adrienne Keene and Ciara Sana (Illustrator)
#NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women*
Edited by Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale
Rad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries Who Shaped Our History . . . and Our Future!*
By Kate Schatz, Miriam Klein Stahl (Illustrator)
Rad Girls Can: Stories of Bold, Brave, and Brilliant Young Women
By Kate Schatz, Miriam Klein Stahl (Illustrator)
Rad Women Worldwide: Artists and Athletes, Pirates and Punks, and Other Revolutionaries Who Shaped History
By Kate Schatz, Miriam Klein Stahl (Illustrator)
Teenage Rebels: Stories of Successful High School Activists, from the Little Rock 9 to the Class of Tomorrow
By Dawson Barrett, Mark Rudd (Foreword by)
The Tuskegee Student Uprising: A History
By Brian Jones
We Are Here: 30 Inspiring Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Who Have Shaped the United States
By Naomi Hirahara
More information at the Smithsonian Learning Lab: Asian Pacific American Center