Black History, Children's Books

Last night, Prof. Rose Casement, a member of our congregation, gave a passionate presentation on her brilliant, inspirational and comprehensive book, Black History in the Pages of Children's Literature (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2008). I spent much of the presentation in tears.

This is not a book review. The book is described by its publisher thusly:

"In spite of the month of February being designated as Black History Month, few students, regardless of race, leave school with an understanding of the depth and breadth of Black experience in America. Black History in the Pages of Children's Literature presents Black history contextualized in chapters that provide both an introduction to historical periods and an annotated bibliography of outstanding children's literature that can be used to introduce and teach the history of each period. These children's books provide stories and information that can help students develop deeper understandings of the distinct history of African Americans within the encompassing history of America.

"Author Rose Casement provides a complete historical timeframe from pre-colonization to the present, with chapters specifically covering the colonization of North America, the years of slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction, the role African Americans played in westward expansion, the Jim Crow years, and contemporary stories that depict the present. Accompanying each chapter's bibliography are notations as to the recommended grade levels for the books presented. A glossary of terms and an index are also provided for clarification and easy access to specific areas of study. Teachers, parents, librarians, and administrators who want to gain a greater understanding of Black history will find this book to be a good resource."

In her presentation, in which she cited about twenty books which she had at hand, Prof. Casement asked us to be attentive to providing some guidance to our children as they read this literature. "Is it historically true?" is only one of the questions we must consider. "Does it tell the story in a way that children can understand?" is a great consideration. Kids know about whether things are fair, they can understand when events are right and wrong. Children can write their own experiences and feelings into the narrative of other people's lives.

"Does it romanticize history?" is a great question, one which asks us to confront the reduction of certain Black leaders from the truth of their brilliance and courage. Last night Prof. Casement read a quotation from a Lewis and Clark picture book a page where York, the enslaved companion of Clark, looks into the northern lights and, just for a moment, forgets that he has been enslaved. Such romanticism needs to be undone, talked through with children, given a context that they can understand.

I'll leave reading the book to you (and I hope you will). But I will share that Casement brings a sense of the resourcefulness of teachers, parents, librarians and others who help form our children. Her presentation showed her trust that we want to do the right thing for our kids--Black kids and white kids and all kids--but that we, like they, need better tools to do the right thing. And she tries to provide these tools. She quotes from each of the books she would have us read, and trusts that her quotations will make us want to read the books cited. She groups the books by historical topic, and then gives us indications of age appropriateness. She gives us a glossary.

I was struck by her appeal for literacy reparations. It is a passionate, political and very Unitarian Universalist appeal. She looks at a historical truth--that illiteracy was one of the legal shackles imposed on the Africans and African Americans held in slavery and that those who talk Black folk to read and write could be severely punished--and its lack of remedy--the interruption/abandonment of Reconstruction and the restoration of economic slavery--and then the current state we find--low literacy rates, insufficient libraries and failing schools in urban centers like Flint--and asks that we find ways to do literacy reparation on a massive scale in our inner city schools and communities, providing the best books, the best teachers, the most modern equipment, the most complete hi-tech capacities, etc. The kids still need meaningful employment on the far side of education, of course, and they need hope; but they need tools and teachers, and Casement's book hopes to be one in the service of the other.