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, we provide a list of titles on this theme, with reviews, that we do not recommend.
1984: The Graphic Novel
By George Orwell and Fido Nesti (Illustrator)
Across the Tracks: Remembering Greenwood, Black Wall Street, and the Tulsa Race Massacre
By Alverne Ball and Stacey Robinson (Illustrator)
American Born Chinese
By Gene Luen Yang
Anne Frank's Diary: The Graphic Adaptation
By Anne Frank, Ari Folman (Adapted by) and David Polonsky (Illustrator)
Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama
By Alison Bechdel
The Arrival
By Shaun Tan
Big Jim and the White Boy: An American Classic Reimagined
By David F. Walker and Marcus Kwame Anderson
¡Brigadistas! An American Anti-Fascist in the Spanish Civil War *
By Fraser M Ottanelli, Miguel Ferguson, and Anne Timmons (Illustrator)
The Bund: A Graphic History of Jewish Labour Resistance
By Sharon Rudahl and Michael Kluckner (Artist)
The Cargo Rebellion: Those Who Chose Freedom
By Jason Chang, Alexi Dudden, Ben Barson, and Kim Inthavong (Illustrator)
Charisma's Turn: A Story of Girls and Their Gifts
By Monique Couvson and Amanda Jones (Illustrator)
Chicken with Plums
By Marjane Satrapi
The Circuit
By Francisco Jiménez and Celia Jacobs (Illustrator)
A Dangerous Woman: The Graphic Biography of Emma Goldman
By Sharon Rudahl
Freedom Was in Sight: A Graphic History of Reconstruction in the Washington, D.C., Region
By Kate Masur and Elizabeth Clarke (Illustrator)
Graphic Novels for Children and Young Adults: A Collection of Critical Essays
Edited by Michelle Ann Abate and Gwen Athene Tarbox
History Comics: Rosa Parks & Claudette Colvin: Civil Rights Heroes
By Tracey Baptiste and Shauna J. Grant (Illustrator)
I Am Alfonso Jones*
By Tony Medina, Stacey Robinson (Illustrator), and John Jennings (Illustrator), foreword by Bryan Stevenson
Lies My Teacher Told Me: A Graphic Adaptation
By James W. Loewen and Nate Powell
The Life of Frederick Douglass: A Graphic Narrative of a Slave's Journey from Bondage to Freedom
By David F. Walker, Marissa Louise (Illustrator) and Damon Smyth (Illustrator)
Man on a Mission: James Meredith and the Battle of Ole Miss
By Aram Goudsouzian and Bill Murray (Illustrator)
March, Book One
By John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, Nate Powell (Artist)
More books in the series: March, Book Two and March, Book Three
Maroon Comix: Origins and Destinies
Edited by Quincy Saul, Songe Riddle (Illustrator), Seth Tobocman (Illustrator), and Mac McGill (Illustrator)
Miles Morales: Shock Waves *
By Justin A. Reynolds and Pablo Leon (Illustrator)
Monumental: Oscar Dunn and His Radical Fight in Reconstruction Louisiana
By Brian K. Mitchell, Barrington S. Edwards, and Nick Weldon
Mother Jones: Labor Leader
By Connie Colwell Miller, Steve Erwin (Illustrator), Charles Barnett III (Illustrator)
Nelson Mandela: The Authorized Comic Book
By The Nelson Mandela Foundation, Umlando Wezithombe (Illustrator)
Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation
By Octavia E. Butler, Damian Duffy (Adapted by), John Jennings (Illustrator)
A People's History of American Empire: A Graphic Adaptation
By Howard Zinn, Mike Konopacki, Paul Buhle
The Plot: The Secret Story of the Protocals of the Elders of Zion
By Will Eisner, Umberto Eco (Introduction by)
Puerto Rico Strong: A Comics Anthology Supporting Puerto Rico Disaster
By Vita Ayala, Hazel Newlevant (Editor), Desiree Rodriguez (Editor)
Sugar Falls: A Residential School Story
By David A. Robertson, Scott B. Henderson, (Illustrator), Donovan Yaciuk (Colourist)
Under the Banner of King Death: Pirates of the Atlantic, a Graphic Novel
By Marcus Rediker and David Lester (Illustrator)
W. E. B. Du Bois Souls of Black Folk: A Graphic Interpretation
By W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963), Paul Peart-Smith (Artist), Paul Buhle (Editor), and Herb Boyd (Editor)
Waltz With Bashir A Lebanon War Story
By Ari Folman, Polonsky
We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration
By Frank Abe, Tamiko Nimura and Ross Ishikawa (Illustrator)
We Live Here: Detroit Eviction Defense and the Battle for Housing Justice
By Jeffrey Wilson and Bambi Kramer (Illustrator)
Not recommended
- Drama: A Graphic Novel by Raina Telgemeier
- Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier
Learn about our criteria for selecting titles at Social Justice Books. Feedback on these lists and suggestions for additional titles are welcome.
Most of the books on these lists are linked for more information or purchase to Bookshop (an indie bookstore platform) and / or Powells.com (an independent, unionized bookstore). A small percentage from book sales through these links goes to Teaching for Change.