Black History In Its Own Words

From the Publishers:

A look at Black History framed by those who made it. BLACK HISTORY IN ITS OWN WORDS presents quotes of dozens of black luminaries with portraits & illustrations by RONALD WIMBERLY. Featuring the memorable words and depictions of Angela Davis, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kanye West, Zadie Smith, Ice Cube, Dave Chappelle, James Baldwin, Spike Lee, and more.

My Thoughts:
This is a "picture book" but this is not a children's book. The concept is so graphically simple and stunning. Open the book, picture book style and the reader has a very micro synopsis of the person highlighted and then a portrait by Ronald Wimberly with one quote that is cited in the preceding page and referenced at the end. Like Mr. Wimberly says, this is just enough to make you curious to do your own research. It is just the portal in. What I like is that for the most part he stays away from the often biographied black movers and shakers in history. This allows students to learn more from the perspective of others that may not be as well known.

For example, he chose Sojourner Truth over Frederick Douglass, Audre Lord over Maya Angelou, Mary Ellen Pleasant over Harriet Tubman, Assata Shakur over Malcolm X. In other words, there is no Martin Luther King Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Oprah Winfrey, Alice Walker, Rosa Parks. This is about finding out about people that history may not spend as much time or paper space on. This book encourages students to head to the library, Google away and immortalize these people, still living and long dead that make up the wide swath of black history.

Who will do this for the other marginalized others? Who will bring enough of their story to the foreground so that others take up the mantle to write about them, research them, say their words in another generation? This feels like a fabulous project.