Every Word, Every Voice, Every Ride Advances Freedom

In the earliest weeks after launching this blog, nearly a decade ago, I wrote a post titled: WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT FEBRUARY?  In it, I shared my concern that THEME MONTHS, such as BLACK HISTORY MONTH, serve many valuable purposes but also carry risks. My concerns are many, but topping the list are two worries: 

That history, stories, and books shared during a specified month will be predominantly about a single topic, like slavery, 

and

collections of important and amazing books (and other resources) will be hauled out and packed away following the turn of a calendar page. 

A third worry is that the stories shared will focus exclusively on well-known facts and figures. Stories of magnificent talent and achievements abound, and the point of historic or honor month is to EXPAND our knowledge of the contributions of various individuals and groups. Since many of these are not at our fingertips, or already part of well-worn collections, there are countless worthy stories to share that are NOT household names, but should be. One example of a book profiling such a leader is MIDNIGHT TEACHER: Lilly Ann Granderson and her Secret School, by Janet Halfmann.

My firm belief about the importance of these stories is why I make it a point to spotlight outstanding stories throughout the year, books about and by people of every color and culture. Please, do NOT view these two titles as suggested books for "next month". These are outstanding nonfiction books for every day of every year, as their contents reveal. 

Schwartz & Wade Books, 2019

The first of two books in this post actually does portray a former-enslaved woman, but it focuses on the story of her freedom- through the power of reading. THE OLDEST STUDENT: How Mary Walker Learned to Read is written by Rita Lorraine Hubbard and illustrated by Caldecott honor winner Oge Mora.

It is always inspiring to read authentic stories about overcoming illiteracy, about fulfilling a lifelong desire to read. This true story of Mary Walker,  enslaved from her birth in 1848, leaves many gaps in her long life. But the Bible she was gifted has served as documentation of her major life landmarks (marriage, birth of children) even though she was unable to read or write for herself. She understood the value of written records and intentionally added her personal mark to each of those entries in her Bible. To her, though, it was all scribbles.
Mary and her family lived in the South, where she worked a hardscrabble life of injustice and struggle, but she carried her Bible to church on Sundays. There she joined in the singing, even though she couldn't read a word in her Bible or in the hymnals.
By the time she was 114 years old she had outlived every other family member, but had still not learned to read or write. She was saddened that a lifetime of meaningless scribbles and wiggles in print remained a puzzle to her. Mary may have felt untaught, but she was not unable to learn. She joined a reading class in her senior living center and began a dedicated effort to become a reader and writer. 
Mary lived to 121 years old, winning attention from presidents and the general public. She missed her family members, but took comfort in being able to read the words of her Bible. 
From her earliest enslaved years in the fields to an amazing flight in an airplane, she reveled in the ability to fly free, which her reading finally provided. 
This is among the most inspiring stories I've encountered in recent years, and that would be true if only from the facts about Walker's remarkable life. The restrained but compelling narrative style of the text combines well with the gorgeous illustrations (acrylic paint, china marker, collage with patterned paper and print clippings). Mary Walker's well-documented story comes to life with the flair of the cakes she baked until her last year-- light as a feather- and delicious!

Harry N. Abrams, 2020

Mary Walker's longevity and eventual literacy garnered extensive attention in the previous century. Another event from that era gained global attention at the time and continues to shape discussions and decisions about Civil Rights to this day. A recent post makes my point that major events such as the Washington March for Jobs and Freedom on August 23, 1963 are the subject of amazing books, including recent ones. 
On the very day of that march, in a Baltimore neighborhood, another momentous event occurred, peacefully and significantly, and yet that story is NOT widely know, until now. It is long overdue, and welcome.
A RIDE TO REMEMBER: A CIVIL RIGHTS STORY is co-authored  by Sharon Langley and Amy Nathan, with emotionally powerful and evocative illustrations by award-winning Floyd Cooper. 
As the text clearly describes, some gains for equality of opportunity had arrived in Baltimore by that summer of 1963. Equal access to the local amusement park was not among them. The history-making little tot featured in the story is co-author Sharon Langley. Her parents raised her to understand the significance of an event she admittedly cannot remember from that day. After all, she was the first African American to ride the carousel with permission at only eleven months old. 
The text is well-structured to reveal the irregular and inconsistent application of social customs and laws, arbitrarily barring "some people" from access to particular events and locations. The narration offers a light but effective treatment of the symbolism of horses of every color and type, all traveling round and round together, carrying children of various ages and skin colors, all starting and ending in unison. 
A lovely post-event stage of the story reveals that the actual carousel from those events was eventually relocated to the Washington Mall, operated by the Smithsonian Institute. The fiftieth anniversary of Sharon Langley's ride was celebrated on the Mall when she and her extended family were invited to view the refurbished horse she actually rode as a child, with an historic plate added to the saddle and her name inscribed on one of the horseshoes. 
I was even more pleased that the narration and images revealed details about the protests preceding her ride, protests involving religious leaders of many faiths, skin colors, and ages. Those peaceful protests resulted in arrests, and images of those arrested included a family with three young white boys in a police car. Images like those, and the attention provided by the media, helped turn public opinion from resistance to acceptance much more quickly than might otherwise have been the case. That does not mean privileged people are more heroic than people of color, but that the combined support and unified actions of so many, together,  made clear the need to eliminate barriers and share the community and its resources peacefully. 
Perhaps I'd finally stop whining about the mixed benefits of theme months if I was sure that books like these would continue to be published, purchased, circulated, and shared throughout the year, each year, and every year. 
Every voice DOES matter, and that is especially true when it comes to sharing the good news about books like these.