One undeniable fact related to this seemingly endless Covid19 pandemic is that teachers are heroes. Exhausted, innovative, determined, and always aware of of their role as leaders, in the past year teachers have been hailed as heroes and also decried as selfish monsters. That latter shift has been attributed to the ongoing stress and struggles of families trying to survive, but it is an inexcusable stance.
Even so, teachers manage to put aside insults, attacks, and even threats to continue to serve their students and their communities. In current circumstances, that is often less visible to the general public, but it is nonetheless true. I'd l wish I could send a copy of this recent nonfiction picture book to each and every one of them, to inspire and encourage their persistence through this model of another hidden history, one that celebrates the courage of teachers.
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| Calkins Creek, 2020 an Imprint of Boyd Mills and Kane |
THE TEACHERS MARCH: How Selma's Teachers Changed History is written by Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace, with illustrations by Charly Palmer. Every time I feel that my personal, academic, and actively informed lifelong efforts have given me a firm awareness of the major moments and events within the Civil Rights Movement of the sixties, I discover another important resource that reminds me how little I actually know.
Much credit is due to the co-authors of this book for their determination to uncover and provide those stories for people like me, and especially for young people who deserve the whole truth of heroic stories of our American history. This is especially true for social justice stories, hidden or ignored for far too long.
Landmark events like the march led by Martin Luther King, Jr. across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma stand out as pivotal in achieving the 1965 Voting Rights Act. It was not achieved without blood, arrests, and terror tactics by the Jim Crow "law and order" powers in charge. It might also have never happened if it weren't for the courageous efforts of Black teachers in Selma.
The back matter of this new book brightens the spotlight on these under-reported heroes who risked their lives to make the struggle for voting rights more visible and possible. The authors provide a timeline that reveals efforts to secure the vote in that area of Alabama (Dallas County) dating three decades earlier. It includes young John Lewis helping to lead the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), laying the path for the hero of this profile, Reverend F. D. Reese. Reese was a science teacher in the segregated schools who championed voting rights. He began leading marches for those rights more than a year before the Selma bridge events. He did so no fanfare beyond local news, facing constant threats. He died in 2018 with accolades from those who knew him but with little public attention.
It was Reese who conceived of bolstering the voice and power of the marches by challenging the Black teachers of the community. He urged them to lead the marches, overcoming the fears and anxiety of the African American community through the power of their leadership and widespread respect. Their roles as leaders and their high public regard could lend success to the marches, but would also mean they had the most to lose.
They could be fired,
They could be jailed.
The relative financial and educational strength they had, that they often contributed to their community, could be wiped out.
Yes, their suits and polished shoes and unified voices would amplify the right to vote, the demand for equal treatment. But they had more to lose, including their own families who would be threatened if they marched.
This longer-than-typical picture book text provides a thorough revelation of the dramatic challenges and choices they faced, the confrontations that ensued, and the ways in which Reese's vision for momentum came to pass. Without a doubt, the heroism called for in that time and place are beyond the comprehension of modern readers, especially those not facing social injustice. This history is revealed with storyteller skills, high stakes pacing, and compelling scenes that bring to modern attention the immeasurable dangers and determination involved in these teacher marches, and they merit a bright spotlight in history.
This is an outstanding example of powerful nonfiction for established readers, especially in context with the current (and ongoing) Black Lives Matter and social justice movements. The extensive research, resources, and supplementary notes in the back pages can be used to launch further investigations and to authenticate the details of this depiction. Sadly, the massive infection of distorted truths, outright lies, and hidden history continue to affect a tidal wave of media making its way into all of our lives. It is particularly essential to prepare learners with reliable tools to determine what is and is not factual. Books such as this one move that process forward.
As inspiring as this book is, the sad truth is that voter suppression continues to be a power-play within current politics and overall society, We must not risk sacrificing these generations of effort and courage by allowing forces to undermine and diminish equal rights. It's also true that the gradually improving options of books about underrepresented people, continues to lean toward serious or even somber subject matter.
Also toward the past.
Recent messages have bubbled up urging that for every book we share involving these serious subjects, as important as they are, we should be providing readers with current, celebratory, joyful books. Click these links for a few examples that can fulfill that balancing act:
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