The First Step : How One Girl Put Segregation on Trial PDF

The inspiring read-to-me eBook about four-year-old Sarah Roberts, the first African American girl to try to integrate a white school, and how her experience in 1847 set greater change in motion.

Junior Library Guild Selection
2017 Orbis Pictus Honor Book
Chicago Public LibraryKids Best of the Best Book 2016
A Nerdy Book Club Best Nonfiction Book of 2016
An NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book of 2017

In 1847, a young African American girl named Sarah Roberts tried to attend a white school in Boston. After being forced out of the school because of her race, Sarah and her family fought for her right to have an equal education.

"It was the first case asking our legal system to outlaw separate schools. It was the first time an African-American lawyer worked in a supreme court. It was also the first time an African-American lawyer and a white lawyer teamed up to fight for justice.
Three important steps forward."

Although her court case was not victorious, Sarah's first steps paved the way for the changes that ultimately led to triumph in Little Rock, Arkansas in the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education case more than a century later.

This picture book is more than a biography; it is also a road map to the beginnings of the fight for civil rights and equality in the United States.Also includes: integration timeline, bios on key people in the book, list of resources, and author's note.