Heavy Medal
Tag: Black Freedom Movement
Past and Present Merge to Lift Us in Bryan Collier’s We Shall Overcome
Weaving past and present together through image and anthem, master illustrator Bryan Collier gifts us the inspiring message of the protest song “We Shall Overcome” in the form of a picturebook. Immersed in Collier’s deeply symbolic collages, readers accompany a young Black girl wearing a bright yellow dress as she leaves her home, goes to school, and gathers with friends to paint a mural near a street with bright yellow lettering that reads ‘Black Lives Matter.’ The illustrations fuse past events with the present narrative; historical figures and monuments are represented by Collier in black and white, while the present is represented in bright colors. This moving picturebook invites us all to reflect on the contributions of the freedom fighters who have come before us, and on all of our roles and responsibilities in sustaining the continuing journey toward freedom.
Learning from the Unspeakable: Teaching Ideas Centered on the Tulsa Race Massacre
Weatherford and Cooper’s fusion of art and history bring to light a shameful episode a century ago that allows teachers, librarians, young people, and their families to reconsider our present and reaffirm our commitments to anti-racism.
Celebrating Collective Action in The Teachers March
The Teachers March! captures a powerful moment in U.S. history, celebrates the tenacity and intrepidity of teachers, and has an important role to play in language arts and social studies curriculum.
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Wonder, Words, and Wisdom: Teaching with the Works of Kwame Alexander
It is the power of the poem that we turn our attention to this week. In particular, we highlight Kwame Alexander’s powerful and prodigious body of work.
Exploring Power, Agency, and the Black Freedom Movement with Never Caught
Never Caught, the Young Reader's Edition of Erica Armstrong Dunbar's 2017 National Book Award Finalist, explores the intricate and intimate ways in which the personal lives of George and Martha Washington and the enslaved men and women they owned were tangled together. As Martha Washington’s personal maid, Ona Judge, a skillful seamstress, had access to fine clothes, trips to the theater, and the chance to travel beyond Mt. Vernon. But for Judge, that was not enough. Only freedom was enough. Ideal for biography genre study as well as explorations of the Black Freedom Movement and the American Revolution, Never Caught can play many roles in middle grade language arts and social studies classrooms.
March: Book Three – National Book Award, Sibert Medal, YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction, Coretta Scott King Author Award, Printz Award
March: Book Three Written by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, Illustrated by Nate Powell Published by Top Shelf Productions ISBN: 978-1-60309-402-3 Grades 7-Up Book Review Many Americans outside of the black community may only understand the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s through the actions of Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. Many have never […]
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Drowned City – 2016 Orbis Pictus Winner, Sibert Honor
Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina & New Orleans Written and Illustrated by Don Brown Published by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children ISBN: 978-0-544-15777-4 Grades 7 and Up In the interest of full disclosure, we want our readers to know that Mary Ann served on the Orbis Pictus Committee that selected Drowned City as its 2016 winner. […]
A Fine Dessert: Four Centuries, Four Families, One Delicious Treat
A Fine Dessert: Four Centuries, Four Families, One Delicious Treat Written by Emily Jenkins, Illustrated by Sophie Blackall Published by Schwartz and Wade, 2015 ISBN 978-0-375-86832-0 Grades 2-6 NOVEMBER 4, 2015 NOTE: Since the initial publication of this blog entry, there has been significant discussion within and outside of the children’s book community regarding the […]
The Port Chicago 50
The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights Written by Steve Sheinkin Published by Roaring Brook Press, 2014 ISBN 978-1-59643-796-8 Grades 7 and Up Book Review “[I]t’s important to remember that before Brown v. Board of Education or Truman’s executive order, before Rosa Parks or Jackie Robinson— before any of this, […]
Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner: P.S. Be Eleven
Written by Rita Williams-Garcia Published Amistad, an Imprint of Harper Collins ISBN 978-0—06-193862-7 Grades 5-8 Book Review One Crazy Summer, Williams-Garcia’s first book about Delphine Gaither and her sisters, illuminates the changes brought forth by the civil rights movement, the cultural revolution, and anti-war efforts, and foreshadows the shifting family dynamics ushered in by the women’s […]
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