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Where is the Diversity in Required Classroom Literature?

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Where is the Diversity in Required Classroom Literature?

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According to NPR, in 2016 minority literature only accounted for about 22 percent of all published children's books. In 2009, it was as low as 9 percent.

A lack of diversity among authors leads to a lack of representation of characters in books, leading to few stories students of color can relate to which makes it hard to motivate them to read.

The Washington Post published "The Long, Steady Decline of Literary Reading," which found in 2015, 50 percent of White people were likely to read compared to 29 percent of Black people and 27 percent Hispanic people. The biggest driving factor to motivate reading among either race not only deals with education, but also empathy. Can people empathize with what is happening throughout a given text regardless of culture?

Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie gave a speech at the Ted Global convention in 2009 titled "The Danger of a Single Story" where she addressed how one novel presents people of color poorly becomes the narrative of an entire culture.

Adichie uses her Nigerian culture to explain the media, including books, has a way of making society believe "authentic African" happens to be one who is starving and does not have middle class privileges. This perpetuates stereotypes and makes it hard for writers of color to be published.

Society has made small changes since Adichie gave her speech.

We've seen people advocate for diversity in the media - specifically movies, TV and music - and finally, there has been some push for diversity in literature.

For example, VCU offers several English courses that promote diversity and educating students on cultures outside of their own, such as African-American Women Writers, African Literature, Queer Literature and Caribbean Literature. These all help to diversify the English department in order to be welcoming to students from all backgrounds.

Writers should remember writing Novels is more than just grabbing the reader's attention and telling a story to entertain - novels are tools to discuss the political and social climate.

Elif Shafak, Turkey's most famous female writer as of October 2017, has published multiple award winning novels and editorials whose themes revolve around life in Istanbul, mysticism, feminism and freedom of speech.

Shafak appeared in a TED Talk convention in 2010 where she gave a speech titled "The Politics of Fiction," where she highlights empathy towards others and comments on the power of fiction.

"When we are reading a novel, we leave our small, cozy homes behind and meet people we have never met before and perhaps have been biased against," she said.

Students from all backgrounds should be able to see their culture represented in literature. Great fiction allows readers to experience cultures outside of their own, but this isn't possible without a more diverse range of authors.

Sierra Ayonnie, Contributing Writer

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The problem with representation in literature The Commonwealth Times

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According to NPR, in 2016 minority literature only accounted for about 22 percent of all published children's books. In 2009, it was as low as 9 percent. A lack of diversity among authors leads to a lack of representation of characters in books, leading to few stories students of color can relate to which makes it hard to motivate them to read.

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As a kid, I read and wrote constantly. I was born with cerebral palsy, which affects my balance and mobility. When I wasn't at physical therapy, I had a lot of extra time to read while my non-disabled classmates were playing sports. I always wanted to write to convey my unique experiences of growing up disabled. However, I almost never saw disabled characters represented in literature.

Like most people in my age group, I loved the Harry Potter series. In 1997, when the first book was published in the US, I was eight. I identified with Hermione's perfectionism-even her know-it-all attitude!-and her loyalty to her friends. I fantasized about going to Hogwarts and imagined that my school was the Great Hall.

Yet I noticed that, apparently, none of Harry 's classmates were disabled. Madame Pomfrey cured temporary injuries in the infirmary, making injury almost a non-issue in the Wizarding world. But what about people like me, with lifelong or genetic disabilities? I wondered. Would they also be cured? Many disabled writers, myself included, consider the "magical cure" trope-when a character suddenly stops being disabled-offensive. It implies that we're inferior and denies an important part of our identities. Or, because Wizarding ability is at least partly hereditary, would no witches or wizards be born with disabilities?

The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli. In medieval Europe, Robin loses the use of his legs, and a monk carries him around, like Hodor does for Bran in Game of Thrones. The book seemed like a revelation to me. For the first time, I didn't have to speculate on how disabled people might be treated in the story. The Door in the Wall won the Newbery Medal in 1950, and I noticed that the author had been born in 1889-100 years before I was. Although I was reading it almost 50 years after its publication, disabled representation hadn't improved much.

Of course, people enjoy reading fiction for countless reasons, not just to see themselves reflected. Other reasons include envisioning fictional worlds and empathizing with characters who are different from ourselves. The problem is that not all children have the privilege of seeing characters who resemble them. Children of all races, disabilities, religions, and genders grow up reading about white, Christian, non-disabled, cisgender boys, but the reverse is rarely true.

In high school and college, I encountered countless examples of ableism in classic literature. These books often used disability as a symbol, rather than a part of human diversity. At one extreme, characters like Tiny Tim are objects of pity, whose disabilities make them seem saintlike. At the opposite extreme, Shakespeare's Richard III's genetic condition can either symbolize or justify his evil acts.

When The Hunger Games series came out, I was already an adult in my early twenties. I imagined that any physically disabled teenagers probably would have been easy fodder in the Games, among the first killed despite any other skills. The Avoxes, people who are mute because the government has cut out their tongues for dissent, are omitted from the Hunger Games movies.

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Catching Fire, my favorite book in the series, touches on mental illness and neurodivergence. Mags, Finnick's mentor, has limited mobility due to her age. Most of the former victors-such as Katniss, Peeta, Annie, Johanna, and Haymitch-struggle with their mental health as a result of multiple traumas. Beetee and Wiress, who outwit the Games in a unique way, seem possibly neurodivergent.

It might seem ironic for me to mention examples in which disabled people are not included, but our exclusion is significant. My elementary school had mentally and physically disabled students of many different ethnicities, but books didn't reflect that diversity. Some readers call the lack of representation erasure, which sounds deliberate. It might not be deliberate on individual authors' parts, but this elaborate word-building at least fails to take us into account.

The lack of nuanced disability representation helped motivate me to write. Although we still need more, I'm relieved that authors are creating more multifaceted disabled characters. One of my favorite recent examples is Leigh Bardugo's YA fantasy series, Six of Crows. Two of the five main characters are physically disabled and mentally ill. Kaz Brekker, a thief and the ringleader of a heist, uses a cane. He subverts stereotypes of helpless or self-pitying disabled young people by taking agency over his own life. He considers his cane a point of pride: "It became a declaration. There was no part of him that was not broken, that had not healed wrong, and there was no part of him that was not stronger for having been broken (428)."

I hope that the next generation of kids grows up with more diverse, accurate disability representation than I had, particularly by disabled writers. Our lived experience is the best counter to negative assumptions, marginalization, and clichés. In this 2016 BR guest post, Kayla Whaley discusses the future of disability representation in children's and YA literature.
Like many readers, including me, this BR contributor found Me Before You problematic. Alaina Leary on ableism in literature (at The Establishment)
In this essay for Catapult, Keah Brown discusses not seeing herself represented in pop culture as a black, disabled woman. Brown's debut essay collection, The Pretty One, will be published in 2019.

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The Alienating Lack of Disability Representation in Literature

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As a kid, I read and wrote constantly. I was born with cerebral palsy, which affects my balance and mobility. When I wasn't at physical therapy, I had a lot of extra time to read while my non-disabled classmates were playing sports. I always wanted to write to convey my unique experiences of growing up disabled.

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Students' Fight for Literature Diversity

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Students' Fight for Literature Diversity

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What Students Are Saying About the Growing Fight Over What Young People Can Read (Published 2022)

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In honor of Banned Books Week, we asked teenagers their opinions about the book challenges spreading across the country. Here is what they said.

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I love you all, let’s do better ❤️ #bookish #readersoftiktok #bookishtiktok #diversity

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@faithmyoung
I love you all, let’s do better ❤️ #bookish #readersoftiktok #bookishtiktok #diversity
♬ original sound - Faith 🌙

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Importance of Representation to Minority Groups

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Importance of Representation to Minority Groups

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TED Members help billions of people worldwide access inspiring ideas. Plus, they get exclusive benefits like invite-only events with speakers. Join today for a brighter future - and a better you.

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Aisha Thomas: Why Representation Really Matters

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"Until society represents everyone, the question will always be 'where do I belong?' " Aisha Thomas's TEDx talk challenges us to imagine a world where all races are represented in all aspects of life. Where children grow up with a sense of value, connection and understanding of difference.

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An Author Writing Her Identities into Literature

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An Author Writing Her Identities into Literature

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JA Mensah, author of Castles from Cobwebs, discusses the importance of representation in fiction for all ages. About Castles from Cobwebs: Imani is a foundling. Rescued as a baby and raised by nuns on a remote Northumbrian island, she grows up with an ever-increasing feeling of displacement.  Full of questions, Imani turns to her shadow, Amarie, and her friend, Harold. When Harold can’t find the answers, she puts it down to what the nuns call her “greater purpose”.  At nineteen, Imani answers a phone call that will change her life: she is being called to Accra after the sudden death of her biological mother.  Past, present, faith and reality are spun together in this enthralling debut. Following her transition from innocence to understanding, Imani’s experience illuminates the stories we all tell to make ourselves whole. #castlesfromcobwebs #jamensah #northernwriters #blackauthors #blackstories #blackhistorymonthuk #bookstagram #literaryfiction #literaryfictionbooks #literaryfictionauthor #booklovers #aboutthebook #representation #representationmatters #bookrepresentation 

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@sarabandbooks
JA Mensah, author of Castles from Cobwebs, discusses the importance of representation in fiction for all ages. About Castles from Cobwebs: Imani is a foundling. Rescued as a baby and raised by nuns on a remote Northumbrian island, she grows up with an ever-increasing feeling of displacement. Full of questions, Imani turns to her shadow, Amarie, and her friend, Harold. When Harold can’t find the answers, she puts it down to what the nuns call her “greater purpose”. At nineteen, Imani answers a phone call that will change her life: she is being called to Accra after the sudden death of her biological mother. Past, present, faith and reality are spun together in this enthralling debut. Following her transition from innocence to understanding, Imani’s experience illuminates the stories we all tell to make ourselves whole. #castlesfromcobwebs #jamensah #northernwriters #blackauthors #blackstories #blackhistorymonthuk #bookstagram #literaryfiction #literaryfictionbooks #literaryfictionauthor #booklovers #aboutthebook #representation #representationmatters #bookrepresentation
♬ original sound - Saraband