Since the debut of my first children's book in 1995, I have mined the past for family stories, fading traditions, and forgotten struggles. I do so because when I was a child, black history was not in the curriculum and few black books were on library shelves. Not that I grew up culturally deprived, for there was always a grandmother in my house, quoting proverbs, sharing stories, passing down recipes, and humming hymns. My parents exposed me to all the African American culture in hopes of raising my consciousness.
That
is reflected in the children’s books I write. I have chronicled the Greensboro
lunch counter sit-ins and the bombing of Birmingham's Sixteenth Street Baptist
Church. I have profiled Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman, voting
rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, Harlem Renaissance bibliophile Arturo
Schomburg, entertainer and civil rights activist Lena Horne, and jazz icon
Billie Holiday who sang the anti-lynching hymn “Strange
Fruit.” My latest release, The Roots
of Rap: 16 Bars on the 4 Pillars of Hip Hop shows how an art form
rooted in rebellion evolved into a global youth culture.
I
continue to focus on the African American freedom struggle. My books are often
set during the slavery or Jim Crow eras. As the movement for more diverse
children's books has gained steam, writing about slavery and segregation has
become fraught with controversy. Debates rage about the depiction of the
enslaved and about whether books with African-American characters are
overburdened with oppression and victimhood.
I
feel strongly about the appropriateness, and importance, of slavery and
segregation as subjects of books for young people. Of course, no child's
literary diet should consist solely of tough topics. And even the youngest
readers may have genre or subject preferences. But it's never too early to raise
a child’s consciousness, and I feel compelled to do so. Here's why.
1. Children have a
more absolute sense of right and wrong—no gray areas. That's why fairy tales in
which good triumphs over evil have been bedtime fixtures for generations.
Likewise, social justice themes resonate with young people.
After I read aloud books about discrimination, students invariably ask: Did that really happen? Who made that stupid rule? Why did whites mistreat blacks? And, the ringer: Which water fountain did biracial people have to use? Children demand, and we adults are obligated to offer explanation.
After I read aloud books about discrimination, students invariably ask: Did that really happen? Who made that stupid rule? Why did whites mistreat blacks? And, the ringer: Which water fountain did biracial people have to use? Children demand, and we adults are obligated to offer explanation.
2. Children need to
learn a fuller, truer history than whitewashed textbooks or biased media
provide. Children's books about the freedom struggle correct omissions, and
connect dots, in our national narrative. By the time the Civil War began, four
million people had been enslaved in the U.S. Thus, countless stories have yet
to be told.
Much history has been lost because speaking of slavery was taboo, even among those formerly
enslaved. Similarly, memories of the Jim Crow era and Civil Rights Movement are
fading. Gentle, yet thought-provoking children's books, like Kelly Starling
Lyons' Ellen's Broom and Jacqueline Woodson's The Other
Side, share heartwarming stories from otherwise shameful chapters in our
nation's history.
3. Children deserve
the truth, especially since racism still rears its ugly head, sometimes in
dangerous ways. Children may not yet see race, but society already views them
through that lens.
African American parents do not have the luxury of raising colorblind
children or of waiting until their children are pre-teens to school them about
racism. After all, Tamir Rice was 12 years old—and playing with a toy gun in a
Cincinnati park—when he was killed by police responding to a report of an armed
black man. Trayvon Martin was 14 years old—and talking on his cell phone on a
stroll back from the store with Skittles and an iced tea—when neighborhood
vigilante George Zimmerman tailed him and shot him dead.
As long as African-American victims get blamed for their own murders and
African-American youth are disproportionately profiled, we cannot spare
children the truth. As African-American parents have "the talk" with
their children about how to handle a police stop, children's books about
historic racism can help place police brutality along the continuum of violent
oppression.
4. I write not only
for African-American children who may one day feel the sting of racism, but
also for children growing up in households that do not foster tolerance or
celebrate diversity. Unless those children read books about social justice,
they risk inheriting hatred and repeating misdeeds of the past.
I also write for educators who may have scant knowledge of African-American
history and heroes. After all, educators can't teach what they don't know. And
children can't know what they never learn.
Slavery
and segregation are inextricable from America's story. Children's books like
mine preserve history and honor famous and unsung heroes. I view those books as
testaments of those whose voices were muted or marginalized. My books bear
witness, sparking much-needed conversations about slavery and segregation among
children, parents, and educators. If we are
to bridge the racial divide, our children must understand the forces that
created it, and that’s a responsibility I take very seriously.
Carole Boston
Weatherford has authored more than 50 children's books, including
the Caldecott Honor winners Freedom in
Congo Square; Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou
Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement; and Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom. She is a
professor of children's and adolescent literature at Fayetteville State
University in North Carolina.
Ty, Carol, for your book sand for educating us all. This is a powerful essay.
ReplyDeleteLove Carole's work!! Her books are so heartfelt & poignant. I think Voices of Freedom is my favorite <3
ReplyDeleteyES, YES, YES to all of this! The education of educators is vital. I should know, being educated by the likes of Carole Boston Weatherford has taught me to view the telling of America's story as my absolute right. Love this.
ReplyDeleteWonderful essay! Children need to know the truth, indeed. And I like what you said about fairy tales, how to kids they are black & white and not so gory as we adults tend to think. And I love how your books are for ALL children to learn from the past to help and shape the present and future misconceptions...
ReplyDelete