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In the Bantu language Xhosa, Ulwimi olunye alwanelanga tu means “One language is never enough.” In the wake of Chadwick Boseman’s passing, there is an inconceivable grief rippling across language barriers and cascading through communities and countries. The letters on my keyboard look like a jumbled mess — trying to use language to communicate this […]
For me, I didn’t learn about the iconic ‘Green Book’ in my K-12 school years. In fact, it was later in my young adult years where I was able to read and learn more about the important role the book had in not just American history, but Black History. An invaluable resource that aided Black folks traveling across the country, it has served not just as a Godsend but a community-building tool. In recent years, there have been more creatives working to bring attention to the efforts of the creator, Victor Hugo Green, and the lives he helped protect through his work.
2018’s cinematic offering, Green Book, boasted A-List talent and contained strong performances but later revealed a film that had critical backlash from a white savior narrative, many critics, as well as the controversy that came from the creative team completely leaving musician Don Shirley’s family out of the filmmaking process.
In just the very first episode of HBO’s newest series, Lovecraft Country, (which we’re all devouring) we can see how the ‘Green Book’ can be fleshed out, even for a fictional purpose. There is love and consideration written in, which acknowledges the curation, usage, and necessity of the ‘Green Book’ as a tool that Black Americans used to navigate an unsafe America years ago.
And that force of love continues: for the first picture book about the creation and distribution of the ‘Green Book’ and the man who created it, Victor Hugo Green, is forthcoming from Beaming Books. Beaming Books publishes high-quality children’s books that help kids thrive in every part of who they are – emotionally, socially, and spiritually.
With Keila V. Dawson as the author and Alleanna Harris as the illustrator, these women take on the momentous task of bringing to life Victor Hugo Green and, ultimately, his legacy in American History. Set at 40 pages, this creative team has produced an age appropriate children’s book for the Preschool (3-5 years) and Early Grade (5-8 years) levels detailing this history.
Keila V. Dawson‘s website tells us that before becoming a children’s book author, she was a community organizer, special education teacher, school administrator, educational consultant and advocate. Dawson has lived and worked in the U.S., the Philippines, Japan, and Egypt.
A native of New Orleans, her debut picture book THE KING CAKE BABY (Pelican Publishing Co. 2015), celebrates one of the unique cultural traditions in her hometown – eating King Cake during the Mardi Gras season. She is a co-editor, along with Lindsay H. Metcalf and Jeanette Bradley, of NO VOICE TOO SMALL: Fourteen Young Americans Making History, illustrated by Jeanette Bradley, (Charlesbridge, September 22, 2020)
Alleanna Harris is a US illustrator who has been drawing for as long as she can remember. As a little kid, she would draw on every page of her mom’s legal pads, doodle on her notebooks at school and on the programs at church.
Her agency’s webpage tells us that she graduated from the University of Arts with a BFA in Animation with Honors, and it was during this time she realized her love for illustration. Harris finds inspiration in the beauty of everyday things. Everything inspires her. In her work, she seeks to create images that are immersive, rich in color and have a sense of warmth. She lives in NJ. A few of her books as an illustrator include: The Journey of York: The Unsung Hero of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (2019), The Extraordinary Life of Mary Seacole (2019) and Patricia’s Vision: The Doctor Who Saved Sight (2020).
Green Book: Guide to Freedom/Lake County Historical Society
In an interview with children’s book author Tara Lazar, Dawson speaks on the artwork and the purpose it serves.
“The cover…and interior spread [by Alleanna Harris] show exactly what I wanted readers to take away from this book: yes, legal segregation made travel and life difficult for Black citizens. Yes, there was unfairness, and protests, but there was also room for joy. And Victor Green found a solution that worked at that time. It felt like he led and won a battle in the war against racism.”
“And Black families, their communities and allies helped create the change they wanted, together. Although the story and art in OPENING THE ROAD: Victor Hugo Green and His Green Book take you back in time, kids will connect things that happened then to today’s events and see what has and hasn’t changed over the last 80 years.”
Opening the Road: Victor Hugo Green and His Green Book has a publishing date of January 26, 2021. Pre-order the book here! See more of publisher Beeming Books here.
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The post Come 2021, The Green Book’s Creator Gets the Kid Lit Treatment appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
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57 years have passed since the historical March on Washington which takes place today, Friday, August 28.
However, though numerous generations and bloodlines were born since that time that Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his impactful “I Have a Dream Speech,” activists and participants at the march will be advocating for the same tenants of the first march almost six decades ago: the end to police violence, systemic racism and fighting against voter suppression.
Martin Luther King III, who was just five years old as his father infused profundity into a message that stirred the nation, will return to host along with the Rev. Al Sharpton.
“Dad would be very proud that people are coming together to stand up against injustice,” King said in an interview with CNN. “But certainly very sad that we’re still attempting to get justice.”
Friday will kick off with an event titled, Commitment March: Get Your Knee Off Our Necks.” Keynote speakers include Stacey Abrams, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Cory Booker and and Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, as well as featured speakers and performances.
Thousands of people are expected to ascend into Washington D.C. for the gathering held at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, extending all the way to the Washington Monument at the National Mall. The event will also take place virtually, to ensure options for those who want to practice social distancing.
The event was first publicly announced by Al Sharpton as he delivered the eulogy for George Floyd. Sharpton acknowledged that even though all of the details had not yet been hashed out, he was “moved by the spirit” to do so.
The past six months have proved to be a difficult time for Black America as the degradation against us continues at what seems like a rapid pace. From Ahmaud Arbery to Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tony McDade, Nina Pop, Oluwatoyin Salau and countless others, we have to talk about the targeted violence against marganilzed groups within the Black community, as well as police and white vigilante violence.
Let us also remember the ancestors and voices who could not be here on this momentous day, people like Bayard Rustin, a forgotten gay civil rights leader who helped organize the march, Rep. John Lewis, who died last month after decades of risking his life in this work, and the Black women who helped lift the movement to what it is today, Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer and Diane Nash to name a few.