This list was created by the folks at Comics@SDSU with additions from CBLDF for our recent panel CBLDF: Civic Engagement and Comics at ComicCon San Diego: Special Edition.
Constitution & Democracy
American Politics: A Graphic History by Laura Locker and Julia Scheele. Icon Books Ltd, 2018
Constitution Illustrated by R. Sikoryak. Drawn & Quarterly, 2020
Democracy by Liam O’Donnell and Patricia Storms. Capstone Press, 2008
Drawing the Vote: An Illustrated Guide to Voting in America by Tommy Jenkins and Kati Lacker. Abrams ComicArts, 2020
Fault Lines in the Constitution: The Graphic Novel (World Citizen Comics) by Cynthia Levinson, Sanford Levinson, and Ally Shwed. First Second, 2020
Free Speech Handbook: A Practical Framework for Understanding Our Free Speech Protections (World Citizen Comics) by Ian Rosenberg and Mike Cavallaro. First Second, 2021
Save It for Later: Promises, Protest, and Parenthood by Nate Powell. Abrams, 2021
This Is What Democracy Looks Like: A Graphic Guide to Governance. Center for Cartoon Studies, 2019
Voting is Your Superpower by Craig Yoe (editor). Clover Press, 2020
What Unites Us: The Graphic Novel (World Citizen Comics) by Dan Rather, Elliot Kirschner, and Tim Foley. First Second, 2021
Women’s Rights
Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists: A Graphic History of Women’s Fight for Their Rights by Mikki Kendall and A. D’Amico. Ten Speed Press, 2019
CBLDF Presents: She Changed Comics, edited by Betsy Gomez. Image Comics, 2016
The Complete Wimmen’s Comix by various. Fantagraphics, 2016
Drawn to Purpose: American Women Illustrators and Cartoonists by Martha H. Kennedy. University Press of Mississippi, 2018
History Smashers: Women’s Right to Vote by Kate Messner and Dylan Meconis. Random House Books for Young Readers, 2020
Pretty in Ink: North American Women Cartoonists 1896-2013, by Trina Robbins. Fantagraphics, 2013
Susan B. Anthony: Champion for Voting Rights! by Mark Shulman and Kelly Tindall, Portable Press, 2020
Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story by Peter Bagge. Drawn & Quarterly 2013
Civil Rights & Racial Justice
Big Black: Stand at Attica by Frank “Big Black” Smith, Jared Reinmuth, and Améziane. Archaia, 2020
DC Represents: It’s a Bird by Christian Cooper, Alitha Martinez, Mark Morales and Emilio Lopez. DC Comics, 2020
I Am Alfonso Jones by Tony Medina, Stacey Robinson, and John Jennings. (Lee & Low Books, 2017
Jackie Ormes: The First African American Woman Cartoonist by Nancy Goldstein. University of Michigan Press, 2008
Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Rebecca Hall and Hugo Martínez. Simon & Schuster, 2021
King: A Comics Biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Ho Che Anderson. Fantagraphics, 2005
March (trilogy) by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell. Top Shelf Productions, 2016
Martin Luther King and The Montgomery Story by Alfred Hassler and Sy Barry. Originally published by Fellowship for Reconciliation, 1957 (digital version available online)
Monster: A Graphic Novel by Walter Dean Myers, Guy A. Sims, and Dawud Anyabwile. Amistad, 2015
Nat Turner by Kyle Baker. Abrams, 2015
Run: Book One by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, L. Fury, and Nate Powell. Abrams ComicArts, 2021
The Silence of Our Friends by Mark Long, Jim Demonakos, and Nate Powell. First Second Books, 2012
Six Days in Cincinnati: A Graphic Account of the Riots That Shook the Nation a Decade Before Black Lives Matter by Dan Méndez Moore. Microcosm Publishing, 2017
Asian American Experience
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. First Second, 2006
Superman Smashes the Klan by Gene Luen Yang. DC Comics, 2020
The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui. Abrams, 2017
They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, and Harmony Becker. Top Shelf, 2019
Immigration & Refugees
The Arab of the Future (series) by Riad Sattouf. Metropolitan Books, 2015
Home by Julio Anta, Anna Wieszczyk, and Bryan Valenza’s . Image Comics, 2021
La Voz De M.A.Y.O.: Tata Rambo by Henry Barajas Jason “J. Gonzo” Gonzales. Image Comics, 2019
More Than Money by Claudia Dominguez. Amatl, 2018
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. Pantheon, 2004
The Arrival by Shaun Tan. Arthur A. Levine Books, 2007
Undocumented: A Worker’s Fight by Duncan Tonatiuh. Abrams, 2018
Welcome to the New World by Jake Halpern and Michael Sloan. Metropolitan Books, 2020
Welcome to the New World by Victoria Jamieson, Omar Mohamed, and Iman Geddy. Dial Books, 2020
Year of the Rabbit by Tian Veasna. Drawn & Quarterly, 2020
LGBTQIA+ Issues
A Quick & Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns by Archie Bongiovanni and Tristan Jimerson. Limerence Press, 2018
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. Jonathan Cape, 2006
Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe. Oni Press, 2019
How to Be Ace: A Memoir of Growing Up Asexual by Rebecca Burgess. Jessica Kingsley, 2020
I’m a Wild Seed by Sharon Lee De La Cruz. Street Noise, 2021
Love Is Love, edited by Marc Andreyko, Sarah Gaydos, and Jamie S. Rich. IDW Publishing, 2017
The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen. PRH, 2020
Further Resources
Know Your Rights: Student Rights Fact Sheet
Be Heard: Youth Protest Rights Primer