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1. How do you compare African American images in literature today and prior to the 1960’s?

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2. What do you know about W.E.B Dubois and Eloise Greenfield and their contributions to Black literature?

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3. What are some African American cultural values referenced in literature?

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Black individuals were not included in any forms of literature until after the 1960’s. The author’s that first decided to include black images presented them in books in a  racists manner. African American’s in literature were pitiable and unrealistic, black children could not relate to the characters.

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Early American children’s books did not include a variety of colors of people and cultures. According to Bishop (2007), it was researched that African Americans must make their own literature, because of the way “Negro”characters were portrayed in literature written by white authors. As a result, Black writers and artists purposefully published meaningful stories that did more than include Black children.

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Searching for African Americans in African American Literature: Surveying the Landscape

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Searching for African Americans in African American Literature: Surveying the Landscape

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By: LaRhonda Rivers

Black characters in American children's literature didn't come about until the 1970's. when Dorothy Broderick published "Image of the Black in Children's Fiction". Broderick's study results were similar to those of Brown's but by the end of the study books began to result in portraying more realistic black characters. By the end of the study Broderick "concluded that books from her study could have been categorized in one of the two categories: condescendingly racist books or traditionally liberal, do- gooder books".Although this study didn't conclude ALL of the books published, it covered majority of them. Three main questions were addressed during this research:
1. To whom do these books appear to be primarily addressed?
2. How does the term Afro American experience appear to be understood?
3. What cultural perspectives appear to inform the creation of the fictional worlds and their inhabitants?

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Rudine Sims Bishop is a professor at Ohio State University. She taught courses on children's literature. She wrote several books about African American history and culture. Dr. Bishop has won several awards including but limited to  National Council of Teachers of English. She researched pre-20th-century African American texts to find the basis of African American children's literature. At the time, she found that African Americans were represented in a negative way. Some examples are Little Brown Koko stories and Nicodemus series. Dr. Bishop also discovered positive influence of African American children's literature such as the Intercultural Education Movement, which books that have evidence of this are Bright April by Marguerite De Angeli. There are several movements that affected the expansion of African American children's literature. Some examples of the movements are: Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, and multicultural education.

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African American writers and artists sought out to provide Black children and adults with
reading materials that defined them as individuals. Black people as a whole experienced the effects of racism, so authors wrote according to how they experienced life. Throughout the years 1920 and 1960, the majority of the Black children’s literature was written or published by the following highly talented individuals, W.E.B Du Bois, Langston  Hughes, Arna Bontemps, Ellen Tarry, and Carter G. Woodson (Woodson, 2007). The most prolific writer, according to Woodson (2007) was Arna Bontemps, she was the most critically acclaimed writer of African American children’s literature in the 20th-century.

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Point of Departure By: Jaqueline Woodson

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Point of Departure By: Jaqueline Woodson

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By: LaRhonda Rivers

Jacqueline is a well known and respected author  . Jacqueline provided her point of view of the African American Literature chapter. Jacqueline demonstrated how important it was for the reader to be able to relate to the characters in the book their reading. She use personal life experiences to demonstrate her point.

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was a historical figure in youth services, who was a librarian and educator.

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Dorothy M. Broderick analyzed the portrayal of Negro's in published books. In 1973 she published the book "Image of the Black in Children's fiction.
At the end of her study, images of Black characters were becoming more real.

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The Need for African American Literature... 

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The Need for African American Literature... 

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By: LaRhonda Rivers

For most of the 19th to 20th century, when African Americans did appear in literature they were unrealistic to the reading audience. Sterling Brown was among the first to research the need for African American authors to make their own stories. This study examined the ways "Negro" characters were portrayed in books by white authors. However by the early 20th century there had bee very few books that portrayed African Americans in a more realistic way. Scholars, librarians, and writers began to demand for a change. Due to several environmental changes (ex: Civil Rights Movement) the door began to open and more African American literature began to flourish.

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Pre 20th Century African American History

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Pre 20th Century African American History

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Rudine Sims Bishop researched classic works such John Hope Franklin's From Slavery to Freedom in order to find the foundations of African American children's literature. She also researched Fishel and Quarles's The Negro American: A Documentary History to gain insight on pre-20th-century on education and literacy among African Americans.

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This is a series of children's publications published by W.E.B Du Bois and Augustus Dill. It was the first magazine produced by African Americans. "The Brownies Book" was directed at Black children but was for all children. Challenges about prior
African American images were included.

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First African American Woman to Publish a Book

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First African American Woman to Publish a Book

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The first African American magazine produced during the Harlem Renaissance, in 1921. It was an important  event in literary history.

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"Amazing Grace" By: Mary Hoffman and Caroline Binch

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"Amazing Grace" By: Mary Hoffman and Caroline Binch

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By: LaRhonda Rivers

This was by far one of my favorite picture books growing up as a little girl. This was a very important book in my generation and culture. Grace was a little African American girl that loved to use her imagination! Relating this to this weeks reading, this book was important because there weren't many books with African American girls that I actually could relate to. Grace didn't let anything stop her from being what she really wanted. Dealing with gender and race issues growing up, Grace was told she couldn't be Peter Pan due to her being a girl and black. many times I have been labeled to not be able to do certain things due to either my gender or the color of my skin. Grace proved to her fellow classmates that she was more than capable of being Peter Pan. The moral of this story is to never allow anyone to crush your dreams you ca be anything you want if you put your mind to it!

Discussion Questions:
1. Do you remember any African American books or books discussing African American values?