Free within Ourselves: The Development of African American Children's Literature Book

African American children's literature is a vibrant but sometimes neglected form of expression. Its roots stretch back to the songs and folklore of the antebellum South, and it has often been shaped by social thinkers wishing to promote a healthy respect for the African American tradition. It has captured the issues and feelings of the civil rights movement, and it flourishes today in our multicultural society. This book is a narrative history of African American children's literature from its origins to the present day.

Written by a leading authority on the subject, the volume gives special attention to the social conditions that gave birth to African American children's literature, and to the political, philosophical, and cultural forces that have shaped its development. It surveys the most important periods, discusses major genres and movements, and explores a wide range of authors and illustrators. Teachers will treasure this book as a convenient and masterful guide to the subject, literature students will value its insightful comments on texts and traditions, and social studies students will welcome its use of literature as a means of understanding the social history of African Americans.

School Library Journal

Expanding on her groundbreaking work, Shadow and Substance: Afro-American Experience in Contemporary Children's Literature (NCTE, 1982), Bishop traces the evolution of fiction written for black children and by black authors and illustrators within the context of African-American social and literary history. The author begins with an overview of pre-1900s writing and stories, including examples of destructive stereotypical behavior and language of black characters generally written by whites, to set the stage. Bishop explores the call by W.E.B. Du Bois for the creation of original material for the children's periodical The Brownies' Book , whose contributors included Langston Hughes, capturing the drive of these social activists and educators to create a body of literature that was guided by explicit values as well as an underlying ideology-"for Black children to recognize themselves as normal, to learn black history, and to recognize their own potential . . . ." Bishop contrasts these goals with the prevailing norm in mainstream children's books. In the concluding third of the book, she investigates modern literature by profiling contemporary writers and illustrators such as Lucille Clifton, Nikki Grimes, Rita Garcia Williams, Virginia Hamilton, Tom Feelings, Ashley Bryan, Jerry Pinkney, and Kadir Nelson. Her writing is precise and engaging, and it really comes alive when presenting primary-source material. One example is a debate in Publisher's Weekly in 1941-1942 about the controversial use of "Negro dialect," especially by white writers. She provides an extensive bibliography for further exploration. Librarians as well as teachers will be enriched by thiswork.-Lisa Von Drasek, Bank Street College Library, NY