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Review by Sujei Lugo

Review Source: Latinx in Kid Lit
Book Author: Margarita Engle

Girls cannot be drummers. Long ago on an island filled with music and rhythm, no one questioned that rule - until the drum dream girl. She longed to play tall congas and small bongós and silvery, moon-bright timbales. She had to practice in secret. But when at last her music was heard, everyone sang and danced and decided that boys and girls should be free to drum and dream. Continue reading.

Translations

Publisher's synopsis: "Girls cannot be drummers." Long ago on an island filled with music, no one questioned that rule--until the drum dream girl. In her city of drumbeats, she dreamed of pounding tall congas and tapping small bongos. She had to keep quiet. She had to practice in secret. But when at last her dream-bright music was heard, everyone sang and danced and decided that both girls and boys should be free to drum and dream. Inspired by the childhood of Millo Castro Zaldarriaga, a Chinese-African-Cuban girl who broke Cuba's traditional taboo against female drummers, Drum Dream Girl tells an inspiring true story for dreamers everywhere.

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Review by Sujei Lugo Review Source: Latinx in Kid Lit Book Author: Girls cannot be drummers. Long ago on an island filled with music and rhythm, no one questioned that rule - until the drum dream girl. She longed to play tall congas and small bongós and silvery, moon-bright timbales.

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Selected as a intersectional example of a young woman in Black History. 

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Selected as a intersectional example of a young woman in Black History. 

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The new children's book Islandborn by Junot Díaz tells the story of a young girl, Lola, who learns from family and friends about the island where she was born. The island is not named in the book, but readers can deduce that the story is based on the history of the Dominican Republic.

"Every kid in Lola's school was from somewhere else," the book opens. "Hers was the school of faraway places." Lola was brought to the United States as a baby, therefore she has no memories from the island. When her teacher asks the class to draw a picture of "the country you were originally from, your first country," Lola asks family and friends in the neighborhood what they remember most about the country where she was born. The stories paint a picture of life on the island and the forces that led her family to leave such a wonderful place. Leo Espinosa's illustrations of people beautifully affirm a range of skin colors and Afro-Latinx identity. This diversity and genuine representation are rare in children's books.

There is so much to love about this book. The writing is lyrical with a child reader in mind. Just how hot is the island? "The heat is on you like five bullies." How shy is Lola in class? "She hated raising her hand almost as much as she hated Nelson's yelling."

Most important of all, Islandborn is the only one of dozens of new books on immigration that explains in an age-appropriate way why people are forced to leave their home countries. When Lola hears so many wonderful stories about the island, she asks the obvious question, "Then why did they come to the U.S.?" Finally, the building superintendent explains to her that "A monster fell upon our poor Island. . . It could destroy an entire town with a single word and made a whole family disappear simply by looking at it." By describing the dictator Trujillo as a monster, Díaz introduces a brutal and essential political history; a history that upends the deficit narrative around immigration and highlights the push factors. He opens the door for conversation with children about the complex reasons for immigration. All too often, this essential part of the story is reserved for the author's note on the end pages. Islandborn is a Harvest of Empire for young children.

We are proud of the role of Teaching for Change played to make this excellent book even better. When an advance copy arrived at our office in January, we were dismayed to see that that the monster was illustrated as a black bat in an ominous sky. One more time, the message was that black is bad and scary. We quickly consulted with our colleagues in the See What We See network who all agreed the illustration was problematic.

Teaching for Change contacted Díaz and the publisher, Dial Books for Young Readers (a division of Penguin Books) with our concerns that the affirmation of racial identity in the beautiful illustrations throughout the book would get undone by the "black is bad" monster. Especially in contrast to the other "good" bats throughout the rest of the book that are drawn in a myriad of other colors.

We were delighted that Dial Books took the major step, just one month away from the book's release, of revising the illustrations of the monster throughout the book. We were told this involved destroying tens of thousands of books already in print and issuing a new printing in English and Spanish.

The new version of the book portrays the monster as green rather than black.

While it is a dramatic improvement, we hope that children's book illustrators consider making monsters in even lighter colors. (This would be a good student assignment for art classes-convey to the viewer that an orange or pink monster is scary.)

In addition to describing the monster, the building superintendent also describes the people's resistance. "Heroes rose up. Strong smart women just like you, Lola, and a few strong smart young men, too." Díaz is likely referring to the Mirabal sisters and many others who fought for an end to the U.S.-backed dictatorship in the Dominican Republic.

One place where young readers could handle a more accurate narrative is in the description of what happened to those heroes. Lola was told, "No one knows really [what happened to them.] It was so long ago." The truth is that we actually do know what happened to the Mirabal sisters and countless others who challenged the Trujillo dictatorship. A response that children could handle would be "Sadly, many were killed, but others survived. Their children, like you, continue to work for a better world today."

While all the references throughout the book indicate that the Dominican Republic is the island, it is never named. Díaz has explained in public events that he intentionally left the island unnamed so that the reader could bring their imagination to the story. He adds that there are monsters in many countries and there are many kinds of monsters (not all are dictators); he wanted this story to be about more than one place or experience.

However, all too often places and people are generalized in children's literature, particularly with respect to people of color. Children's books reference " Africa" rather than naming a country or reference "Native Americans" rather than naming an American Indian nation. While we appreciate Díaz's rationale, we think it would be better to name the place and in an afterword note that there countless related stories in countries around the world, particularly where the U.S. has intervened.

Overall, this is one of the best and most important children's books to have been published in quite some time. We hope it sets a new standard for illustrations of skin color, for poetic writing, and for addressing a relevant topic in a sophisticated yet child-friendly way. We look forward to the forthcoming sequel.

Related stories

A similar concern was raised in 2017 about The Bad Mood and the Stick. Librarian Edith Campbell published a blog called " I Am Not Your Bad Mood."The publisher changed the image before the official release of the book.

A critique of My Beautiful Birds led to a response from the publisher, but no change to the representation of blackness as something evil to escape.

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Junot Díaz's Islandborn: Before and After - Social Justice Books

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The new children's book Islandborn by Junot Díaz tells the story of a young girl, Lola, who learns from family and friends about the island where she was born. The island is not named in the book, but readers can deduce that the story is based on the history of the Dominican Republic.

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Rad!

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REAL Founder of Hip Hop DJ - Kool Herc: NPR interview

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this is a great video of kid-appropriate exemplars of Basquiat's work

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The chaotic brilliance of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat - Jordana Moore Saggese

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Selected for its focus on artist and activist

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Day 28: Radiant Child- the Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat- Read Aloud

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Radiant Child is about a boy who has a dream of becoming a famous artist. He becomes one of the most influential artists in modern day and shows us that art is beauty and beauty is within us all! It is a true story about Jean-Michel Basquiat!

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MUDDY: The Story of Blues Legend Muddy Waters, written by Michael Mahin and illustrated by me, is finally out in stores! Check out the trailer above (with music by Michael!) and a few snippets of some wonderful reviews so far.

"Lyrically told with a lilting cadence by debut author Mahin. . . . Turk's mixed-media illustrations leap off the page. . . . The soul of the blues sings out through the pages."

"This poetic celebration of Muddy Waters' musical truth is lifted still higher by Turk's extraordinary art."

"Mahin's text is engaging, rhythmic, soulful, and written to reflect the blues that influenced Muddy Waters. . . . Turk's expressionistic mixed-media illustrations, many of them double-page spreads, aptly convey the emotions associated with Muddy Waters's music."

"Like Waters's music after landing in the Windy City, Turk's artwork is electric-wild strokes of marker and oil pastel vibrate with energy. And Mahin's equally vivid writing will almost certainly send readers after Waters's catalogue."

* "The words and pictures here mix exuberance with melancholy. Mahin's words have a beat all their own, capturing the lows and highs with poetic verve. Turk's watercolor, ink, and collage artwork fills pages, exploding with a neon intensity- the equivalent of a dynamic guitar riff . . . Read the book, then get kids the music."

* "Turk's mixed-media and collage artwork roils with waves of darkness and explosive color, even as it models compositional control, and Muddy is always defined with an electric hue that keeps him in sharp focus. . . . Mahin's lyricism and rolling cadence make the text a readaloud delight."

"All along the way through the book, beside those sweet and longing words of the author, are Evan Turk's amazing illustrations that take your breath away... one of the most extraordinary picture books we have seen this year. Muddy is a wonderful introduction to the life of a legend as well as an inspirational and evocative experience of art so well matched to the man and his blues that you can almost hear the music playing."

So if you haven't already, go pick up your copy at your local independent bookstore or at one of the following links!

And if you do love it, don't forget to leave a review!

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MUDDY is here! - Evan Turk: Illustration

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MUDDY: The Story of Blues Legend Muddy Waters , written by Michael Mahin and illustrated by me, is finally out in stores! Check out the trailer above (with music by Michael!) and a few snippets of some wonderful reviews so far.

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Features the musical great, Muddy Waters.

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* "The words and pictures here mix exuberance with melancholy. Mahin's words have a beat all their own, capturing the lows and highs with poetic verve. Turk's watercolor, ink, and collage artwork fills pages, exploding with a neon intensity-the equivalent of a dynamic guitar riff . . . Read the book, then get kids the music."

- Booklist, Starred Review, July 2017

"This poetic celebration of Muddy Waters' musical truth is lifted still higher by Turk's extraordinary art."

- Kirkus Reviews, 7/1/17

"Lyrically told with a lilting cadence by debut author Mahin. . . . Turk's mixed-media illustrations leap off the page. . . . The soul of the blues sings out through the pages."

- School Library Journal, July 2017

"Like Waters's music after landing in the Windy City, Turk's artwork is electric-wild strokes of marker and oil pastel vibrate with energy. And Mahin's equally vivid writing will almost certainly send readers after Waters's catalogue."

- Publishers Weekly, August 7, 2017

"Mahin's text is engaging, rhythmic, soulful, and written to reflect the blues that influenced Muddy Waters. . . . Turk's expressionistic mixed-media illustrations, many of them double-page spreads, aptly convey the emotions associated with Muddy Waters's music."

- The Horn Book, September/October 2017

* "Turk's mixed-media and collage artwork roils with waves of darkness and explosive color, even as it models compositional control, and Muddy is always defined with an electric hue that keeps him in sharp focus. . . . Mahin's lyricism and rolling cadence make the text a readaloud delight."

- BCCB, Starred Review, September 2017

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"The words and pictures here mix exuberance with melancholy. Mahin's words have a beat all their own, capturing the lows and highs with poetic verve. Turk's watercolor, ink, and collage artwork fills pages, exploding with a neon intensity-the equivalent of a dynamic guitar riff . . .

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Subject Area: Language Arts, Social Studies

Book Summary
This beautifully photographed book depicts the beauty and diversity of African-American children.

Objective
Children will use similes to develop language skills and social awareness about each person's unique and important qualities.

Before Reading
Ask all of the children to stand close together in a circle. Ask them to pull up their sleeves and place their arms out into the circle. Encourage the group to notice their different skin tones. Tell them that they will read a story that celebrates the beautiful skin colors that all children have.

Teaching Plan
Booktalk

1. Engage the children in a discussion about the book. Ask the class to share what they learned. How are all of the children alike? How are they different?

2. Reread the story and invite the children to find colors depicted in the photographs that resemble their own skin tones and eye colors.

3. Ask the children to describe how they are similar to the children depicted in the book.

Activity

1. Explain to the children that a simile is a comparison between two things that are different often using like or as. Use the book to point out several examples of similes like "midnight blue like a licorice stick," and "gingery brown like a cookie."

2. Ask them to think of other similes that describe their skin tones, eye color, and hair texture or style. Record their comments on chart paper.

3. Invite the class to think of more similes to describe themselves like tall as a tree, funny as a monkey, or wiggly as a worm.

Photograph of each child

Oak-tag paper

Glue

Lined paper

Markers, crayons, and pencils

Activity

1. Reread the book Shades of Black. Discuss the meaning of the word unique with the class. Ask them to think of the special qualities that they each have that make them unique. Have students brainstorm a list of reasons why they are unique. (E.g.: I can do a cartwheel; I can speak three languages; My eyes change colors depending on what I'm wearing; My hair gets curly in the rain, etc.)

2. Provide the children with their photographs, writing paper, and pencils. Tell them that they will refer to the photograph, and now write (at least one paragraph) about how they are unique. Offer assistance if needed.

3. Next, have each child glue his or her photograph onto a sheet of oak-tag paper. Give them art materials and ask them to create a frame around their picture that depicts things they like. Ask them to draw pictures of their favorite things, or just create designs, shapes, or colors that are special to them.

4. Attach their writings to the bottom of their picture frames. Invite the children to share their work during group time. Find an area in the classroom to display their work.

Other Books About DiversityBlack Is Brown Is Tan
by Arnold Adoff
This lovely story poem celebrates the love that surrounds a bi-racial family.

The World Turns Round and Round
by Nicki Weiss
Classmates share their special gifts from relatives around the world.

This Is The Way We Eat Our Lunch
by Edith Baer
An animated story that depicts how children around the world eat lunch.

Other Books By Sandra L. Pinkney
A Rainbow All Around Me

Teaching plan written by Risa Young

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Shades of Black Lesson Plan | Scholastic

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Subject Area: Language Arts, Social Studies Book Summary This beautifully photographed book depicts the beauty and diversity of African-American children. Objective Children will use similes to develop language skills and social awareness about each person's unique and important qualities. Before Reading Ask all of the children to stand close together in a circle.

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Selected for its positive representation of Black and Brown students. Please see the lesson plan below for more ideas.

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Shades of Black A Celebration of Our Children

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Selected for the curiosity of Sun Ra. Can be a fabulous comparison with your civil rights unit. Sun Ra wanted to escape the hate of racism in the system, and claimed to be from Saturn.

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The Cosmobiography of Sun Ra by Chris Raschka

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Charlie Parker  - I've Got Rhythm (Best jazz ever)

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Please read with the caviat-- Native representation needs revision

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This evening, I did a thread on Twitter about Parker Looks Up.

Using the Spooler app, I am pasting the thread here.

Parker Looks Up

Published by Aladdin (Simon and Schuster)

Year published: 2019

Reviewed by Debbie Reese
Status: Not recommended

As you read through the series of tweets, you will see I am critical with a specific page. It is not an insignificant error. Parents and children of the tribal nations in the original illustration will notice that the headdresses are incorrectly depicted.

Oh no!!!!

You recall the excitement over this photo of a little girl named Parker, gazing up at the painting of Michelle Obama in the National Portrait Gallery?

People in children's lit know that it was going to be turned into a picture book. Well, it came out on Oct 15, 2019. Today a friend wrote to me about this image in it... and I was taken aback. There's a lot to say...

The illustrator's rendering of that art was familiar to me. I've been to that gallery but I did not recall a wall-sized piece of art that size.

I did a little bit of research and put together this comparison:

So... the size is way out of whack (I found the dimensions at the National Portrait Gallery's website)...

But so is the rendering!

In the picture book, the emphasis is on feathers.

"Feathers! Lots and lots of brilliant feathers!"

This is utterly disappointing to me.

I have no doubt the authors/illustrator and their editors at Aladdin (Simon and Schuster) wanted to do a good thing and show a range of representation.... but they MIS-represented Native people.

Feathers. Think about that for a minute.

Why did that happen? Why did feathers get added to that page?! If you look at the angles of the faces, the noses, etc., you know that the illustrator worked from an image of the actual painting...

So WHY? WHY WHY WHY?!

It was not necessary to do that!

I would have loved to hand this book to young readers, but now?

Absolutely not.

That page ruins the book--not just for Native kids--but for non-Native kids, too, who will come away from the book with their stereotypical ideas affirmed.

The reviews from Kirkus, School Library Journal, and Publisher's Weekly do not note this misrepresentation.

Please don't argue with me that the book lifts African American children.

There is absolutely no reason to lift one marginalized group and misrepresent another. Parker Looks Up is not recommended because of its stereotypical treatment of Native peoples.

---On Dec 15, I added to the thread I did on the 14th:---

In the back matter, we see a note that the paintings in the picture bk are "reimagined as Parker Curry experienced them during her unforgettable and memorable visit to the National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian Art Museum."

What I question is the rest of the book... how the story was created and illustrated--by adults.

Did a two-year old look at the painting of Pawnee men and think "feathers" when there is one feather in the original painting?

If yes, then the adults in her life have a responsibility to help her understand what stereotypes are, and how they shape the ways we view the world.

If two-year-old Parker did not think "feathers" when she saw the original painting, and it is her mother and the illustrator who added that to that page because they wanted to make the book inclusive... then somebody should have helped them understand stereotyping.

That someone could have been their editor at Simon and Schuster.

This year (2019),@simonschuster intervened in what an author/illustrator did with IGLOO FARM. The book was redone, as SNOWY FARM. Their editor asked them to do that (see AICL's blog post, Igloo Farm Becomes Snowy Farm).

I've read several articles this morning about Parker's experience with the Obama portrait. It seems to me that her mother took her to the Portrait Gallery specifically to see it.

But in the picture book, that is not the story we're given.

In the picture book, we're told that the family simply went to the museum, and when it was time to leave, they happened upon the Obama painting and Parker was transfixed.

That invented story takes away from the actual experience, the purpose of that day in their real lives. Who had the idea to make up this story, to get to that moment in Parker's life?

I'll be thinking about that treatment of that day in Parker's life because it matters. It takes away from the political motivation that her mother had, in taking her there in the first place.

It is parallel to the many mis-representations of Rosa Parks as nothing more than a tired seamstress who made a decision one day (not to give up her seat on the bus) rather than the facts of her life as a political activist.

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Not Recommended: PARKER LOOKS UP by Parker Curry, Jessica Curry; illustrated by Brittany Jackson

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This evening, I did a thread on Twitter about Parker Looks Up. Using the Spooler app, I am pasting the thread here. Parker Looks Up Published by Aladdin (Simon and Schuster) Year published: 2019 Reviewed by Debbie Reese Status: Not recommended As you read through the series of tweets, you will see I am critical with a specific page.

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In the spring of 2018, 2-year-old Parker Curry visited the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., with her mom, her sister and her best friend. They saw a lot of artwork that day - but it was Amy Sherald's portrait of first lady Michelle Obama that made Parker stop in her tracks and look up in awe.

"The portrait of the first lady Michelle Obama loomed before me," Parker recalls. Now 4, Parker says the painting made her feel inspired. Also, she adds, Michelle Obama is now her friend.

That's because Parker became a viral sensation when a fellow museum-goer took a picture of her standing there, spellbound. Less than a week later, Parker got to meet - and dance - with Obama.

The experience has inspired a picture book - Parker Looks Up - written by Parker and her mom, Jessica Curry Morton, and illustrated by Brittany Jackson.

"It's fun working with my mommy!" Parker says.

"It's fun working with you, too," Curry Morton replies.

In Parker Looks Up, Jackson depicted a number of the Portrait Gallery's famous paintings. She says it was a challenge to translate these artworks into a book for kids.

"Naturally I want to do everything justice and show respect to Amy Sherald ..." Jackson says. "I just drew it in my style which is just a little bit cartoonized or more playful."

Jackson depicts Parker's journey through the museum in vivid colors. And there was one other technique she used to add "a little extra character" to the book.

"Whenever Parker is spellbound, or she sees something that is inspiring to her, you see these sparkles, and these little confetti pieces," Jackson says. Attentive readers will notice that the pieces of confetti match the colors from Michelle Obama's dress.

These illustrations "make the story," Curry Morton says. She remembers watching 2-year-old Parker looking up at Sherald's portrait of Obama and says Jackson's images bring "the magic of that moment back to life again."

Jackson is familiar with that stop-in-your-tracks, spellbound feeling.

"I know what it feels like to be young and to see something that inspires you," she says. "That's part of the reason why I got into doing illustrations is because I was awestruck by other artists' work."

"When I look at that picture today I smile and get teary eyed," Curry Morton says. "Because it's a moment that will hopefully inspire children and people for many, many generations."
Barrie Hardymon edited this interview for broadcast. Beth Novey adapted it for the Web.

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In 'Parker Looks Up,' A 2-Year-Old Shares A Moment With Michelle Obama

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In the spring of 2018, 2-year-old Parker Curry visited the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., with her mom, her sister and her best friend. They saw a lot of artwork that day - but it was Amy Sherald's portrait of first lady Michelle Obama that made Parker stop in her tracks and look up in awe.

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Selected for its representation of Black women as the focus. Students may see themselves in Parker's experience.

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A visit to Washington, DC's National Portrait Gallery forever alters Parker Curry's young life when she views First Lady's Michelle Obama's portrait.

When Parker Curry came face-to-face with Amy Sherald's transcendent portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama at the National Portrait Gallery, she didn't just see the First Lady of the United States. She saw a queen-one with dynamic self-assurance, regality, beauty, and truth who captured this young girl's imagination. Parker saw the possibility and promise, the hopes and dreams of herself in this powerful painting of Michelle Obama.

A nearby museum-goer snapped a photo of the mesmerized Parker and it became an internet sensation, with Parker meeting the First Lady, making an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and sharing her experience about the importance of representation.

An everyday moment became an extraordinary one that continues to resonate its power, inspiration, and indelible impact. Because, as Parker's mother Jessica Curry said, "anything is possible regardless of race, class, or gender."

Parker Curry first captured America's attention when she stood mesmerized in front of Amy Sherald's astonishing portrait of former first lady Michelle Obama. Now, Parker and her mom are telling her story with their new children's book, Parker Looks Up.

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A visit to Washington, DC's National Portrait Gallery forever alters Parker Curry's young life when she views First Lady's Michelle Obama's portrait. When Parker Curry came face-to-face with Amy Sherald's transcendent portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama at the National Portrait Gallery, she didn't just see the First Lady of the United States.

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Selected as all the choirs and bands in the district are performing this song.

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Reviewed by Deborah Menkart

Review Source: Rethinking Schools
Book Author: Kelly Starling Lyons

We should all know the story and words of the Black National Anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing," and now thanks to this picture book, we can. Author Kelly Starling Lyons tells the 120-year history of the song through generations of her family who have passed it on - starting with a young girl who learned it in 1900 in Jacksonville, Florida, from her principal (James Weldon Johnson) and his brother. They wrote the song and music that have given strength and inspiration to African Americans through many of the trials and celebrations described in the book - the Great Migration, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Movement, graduations, and the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC).

Sing a Song by Kelly Starling Lyons
Published by Penguin Young Readers Group on 2019
Genres: African American, Music, U.S. History
Pages: 32
Reading Level: Grade K, Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5
ISBN: 9780525516095
Review Source: Rethinking Schools
Buy at Powell's Books
Also by this author: Tea Cakes for Tosh, Ellen's Broom

Just in time for the 120th anniversary of the song "Lift Every Voice and Sing"--this stirring book celebrates the Black National Anthem and how it inspired five generations of a family.

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us. Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us.

In 1900, in Jacksonville, Florida, two brothers, one of them the principal of a segregated, all-black school, wrote the song "Lift Every Voice and Sing" so his students could sing it for a tribute to Abraham Lincoln's birthday. From that moment on, the song has provided inspiration and solace for generations of Black families. Mothers and fathers passed it on to their children who sang it to their children and grandchildren. It has been sung during major moments of the Civil Rights Movement and at family gatherings and college graduations. Inspired by this song's enduring significance, Kelly Starling Lyons and Keith Mallett tell a story about the generations of families who gained hope and strength from the song's inspiring words.

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Sing a Song: How "Lift Every Voice and Sing" Inspired Generations - Social Justice Books

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Reviewed by Deborah Menkart Review Source: Rethinking Schools Book Author: We should all know the story and words of the Black National Anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing," and now thanks to this picture book, we can. Author Kelly Starling Lyons tells the 120-year history of the song through generations of her family who have ...

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Michelle Meadows is the author of 10 books for children -- with more books in the works. Michelle loves creating heartwarming stories that are enjoyable to read aloud. Connection, compassion, and family are common themes in her work. Her latest book is BRAVE BALLERINA: The Story of Janet Collins, and her next book is FLYING HIGH: The Story of Gymnastics Champion Simone Biles (May 2020). Michelle studied journalism and literature at Syracuse University in New York. She is represented by literary agent Rosemary Stimola of the Stimola Literary Studio. Michelle grew up in Washington, D.C. She now lives near the beach in Delaware with her husband and son.

Michelle Meadows is the author of 10 books for children -- with more books in the works. She loves creating heartwarming stories that are enjoyable to read aloud.

Her latest book is BRAVE BALLERINA: The Story of Janet Collins, and her next book is FLYING HIGH: The Story of Gymnastics Champion Simone Biles (May 2020).

Connection, compassion, and family are common themes in her work because she believes this is what life is all about: being connected to others, helping others, and doing the right thing for others to make this big world a better place -- from the bears who comfort all the animals in Hibernation Station to the Super Bugs who step up to protect insects in danger.

Michelle wrote her first book, THE WAY THE STORM STOPS, in the middle of the night after rocking her son to sleep during a thunderstorm. This comforting story, which turns a booming storm into a lullaby, is recommended as a book that helps children cope with a fear of thunderstorms. It was named a recommended book on The Bank Street College Library's Diversity List for Children and is a resource on the website of Peep and the Big, Wide World.

Michelle's books have received rave reviews from School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, Booklist, and The Washington Post. BRAVE BALLERINA is a Junior Library Guild Selection and received starred reviews in School Library Journal and Shelf Awareness. HIBERNATION STATION made it on the Los Angeles Times Reading List and was a nominee for two awards: the South Carolina Picture Book Award and the New Hampshire Ladybug Picture Book Award. The Bank Street College of Education's Children's Book Committee (CBC) named HIBERNATION STATION a Children's Book of the Year in the Under Five category.

Through fun and interactive presentations at schools and libraries, Michelle

gets children excited about reading and writing. Her experience also

includes teaching children's literature classes for adults through the Rehoboth Beach Writers Guild and presenting to teachers, librarians, and writers at conferences. Michelle is a member of the Nonfiction Authors Association and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

Michelle studied journalism and literature at Syracuse University in New York. She is represented by literary agent Rosemary Stimola of the Stimola Literary Studio.

Michelle's writing process involves paper, pens, and lots of cookies. Her favorite place to think and write: the beach! The ocean, with its constant rhythm, is a wonderful reminder that there is hope, imagination, and possibility. Michelle grew up in Washington, D.C. She now lives near the beach in Delaware with her favorite people -- her husband and son.

She loves to share her passion for reading and writing. Sign up for Michelle's e-newsletter to get her latest book news and blog posts about writing and publishing children's books.

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Michelle Meadows is the author of 10 books for children -- with more books in the works. Michelle loves creating heartwarming stories that are enjoyable to read aloud. Connection, compassion, and family are common themes in her work.

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Website of children's book author Michelle Meadows - Hibernation Station, Piggies in Pajamas, and more heartwarming stories with rhythm and rhyme.

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In 2013, a long-time dream of Ashley's was realized when money was raised to install two sets of his sea glass panels in the Islesford Congregational Church.

Around that time, a group of island friends and some members of Ashley's family got together and decided it was time to do more to make sure that Ashley's legacy would continue for generations to come. The Ashley Bryan Center was founded with the mission "to preserve celebrate, and share broadly artist Ashley Bryan's work and his joy of discovery, invention, learning and community. The Ashley Bryan Center will promote opportunities for people to come together in the creation and appreciation of visual art, literature, music, and the oral and written traditions of poetry. The Center is fiercely committed to fostering cultural understanding and personal pride through scholarship, exhibitions and opportunity in the Arts."

In the summer of 2014, the Ashley Bryan Center was launched with a retrospective exhibition of Ashley Bryan's life and work, displayed at the Islesford Museum on Little Cranberry Island, owned by the National Parks Service. A Visit With Ashley Bryan included a timeline of Ashley's life with examples of his work in various media from various periods. It also featured, puppets, sea glass windows, paintings, drawings and displays of book illustrations using three different media (block print, tempura paint and collage).

Many of the items had never before been seen by anyone but Ashley's closest friends and family-in particular Ashley's drawings of his war experiences in the segregated U.S. Army. Many people who thought they "knew" Ashley found they did not know about aspects of his life, the depth and breadth of his education and artistic experience. The exhibition proved to be very emotional and exciting for visitors-many of whom told their friends. The museum's usual attendance of a few thousand visitors a summer expanded to over 12,000 visitors who came to see Ashley's exhibition.

When it was over, friends at the nearby College of the Atlantic asked if the exhibition could be moved to the college for the winter, so the Center agreed to extend its life through February. Then the Wendell Gilley Museum in Southwest Harbor asked for a modified version of the exhibition to be displayed there for the summer of 2015. The exhibition was modified, and a new section, "Hot off the Press" was added to include the two new publications released in 2015: By Trolley Past Thimbledon Bridge, and Sail Away. So, A Visit with Ashley Bryan lives on...

ink on paper, 1958">-->

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In 2013, a long-time dream of Ashley's was realized when money was raised to install two sets of his sea glass panels in the Islesford Congregational Church. Around that time, a group of island friends and some members of Ashley's family got together and decided it was time to do more to make sure that Ashley's legacy would continue for generations to come.

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Animated short on Janet Collins, first African-American soloist to perform at the Metropolitan Opera to be narrated by Chris Rock.

877 backers pledged $77,406 to help bring this project to life.

You'll need an HTML5 capable browser to see this content.

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The Janet Collins Story, presented by Sweet Blackberry

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Animated short on Janet Collins, first African-American soloist to perform at the Metropolitan Opera to be narrated by Chris Rock. 877 backers pledged $77,406 to help bring this project to life. You'll need an HTML5 capable browser to see this content.

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Selected as the companion to the little leaders book you got last year.
Encourage your students to learn about leaders who are not routinely focused on during Black History Month!

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Author-Illustrator Vashti Harrison Details Her Children's Book, "Little Legends"

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Selected for its combination of Langston Hughes poems and Ashley Bryan's illustrations.

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Janet Collins broke color barriers in the 1950s when she became the first African American prima ballerina and one of the very few prominent black women in American classical ballet.

Collins was born on March 17, 1917 in New Orleans, Louisiana. She and her family moved to Los Angeles, where Collins started taking private dance lessons at a Catholic community center. Collins continued her dance training with Carmelita Maracci, who was one of the few dance teachers during the time to accept black students.

By the age of 15, Janet Collins was prepared to audition for Lèonide Massine and the De Basil Ballet Russe Company. Although she was accepted into the company, she declined the offer after being told that she would either need special roles created for her or dance in white face to disguise the fact that she was black. An upset Collins left the audition in tears and vowed to perfect her art so that race would not be an issue.

Collins appeared in her first theatrical performance in 1940. She and Katherine Dunham's troupe performed in the 1943 musical film Stormy Weather. Collins made her New York debut in 1949 after performing her own choreography on a shared program at the 92 nd Street Y. In the same year, after two more performances, Dance Magazine named her "the most outstanding debutante of the season." Collins was noticed by Zachary Solov, the ballet master of the Metropolitan Opera House at the time, in a Broadway production of Cole Porter's Out of this World. Solov then invited Collins to join the Metropolitan Company.

Janet Collins broke a color barrier on November 13, 1951 after her performance in a production of Aida. In 1952, a year after joining the corps de ballet, she became the first African American prima ballerina with the Metropolitan Opera. This marked the first time a black artist had joined the permanent company. Despite her success in New York, Collins faced racism on the road as the company toured to southern cities. As race laws kept her off of the stage, her parts were sometimes performed by understudies. Collins remained with the Met until 1954. She would go on to tour solo across the United States and Canada. She also taught at the School of American Ballet, San Francisco Ballet School, and the Harkness House.

Collins passed on May 28, 2003 in Fort Worth, Texas.

Contributed by Desiree Houston

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Celebrating Black History Month: Spotlight on Janet Collins

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Visit the official website of Atlanta Ballet, one of the nation's premier dance companies.

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Inspiring Woman: Carmen De Lavallade | "My cousin...my star in the sky."

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Making a big splash with the Super Soaker

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Selected for its focus on Lonnie Johnson, a little known inventor, who students will be able to relate to.

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Biography and Reddit Present: Super Soaker inventor Lonnie Johnson | Biography

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WELCOME

Specifically launched during Latino Heritage Month 2015, Es Mi Cultura is a monthly newsletter that provides readers with positive examples of women who proudly acknowledge their African ancestry, while staying true to their Latino ethnicity and culture.

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Specifically launched during Latino Heritage Month 2015, Es Mi Cultura is a monthly newsletter that provides readers with positive examples of women who proudly acknowledge their African ancestry, while staying true to their Latino ethnicity and culture.

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Buffalo soldiers for kids national museum

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Buffalo soldiers for kids national museum

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HTV News Flash: "Buffalo Soldiers National Museum"

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Buffalo Soldiers: Making the Connection - Texas Parks and Wildlife [Official]

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Buffalo Soldiers - Service on the Frontier

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Billie Holiday and the Power of a Protest Song

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Billie Holiday | Biography & History | AllMusic

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The first popular jazz singer to move audiences with the intense, personal feeling of classic blues, Billie Holiday changed the art of American pop vocals forever.

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Selected for the depth and breadth of the story of "everywoman," whose grandfather was enslaved, and lived to see the first Black President elected.  This book speaks to the short period of time between emancipation and the modern day.  How can we engage with counterstories of our historical narrative, and view it through the eyes of another?

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Selected for the depth and breadth of the story of "everywoman," whose grandfather was enslaved, and lived to see the first Black President elected.  This book speaks to the short period of time between emancipation and the modern day.  How can we engage with counterstories of our historical narrative, and view it through the eyes of another?

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Author Andrea Davis Pinkney on her career before writing, and writing process | Author Shorts

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Andrea Davis Pinkney wins ALA, ALSC Honors

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Selected for its emphasis on Black barber shops- a frequent scene of Black resistance and community building.  How are barbershops a place for building confidence, community, and coalition?

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Selected for its emphasis on Black barber shops- a frequent scene of Black resistance and community building.  How are barbershops a place for building confidence, community, and coalition?

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bio

Derrick Barnes is the author of the New York Times bestseller The King of Kindergarten, as well as the critically acclaimed multi-award-winning picture book Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut which received a Newbery Honor, a Coretta Scott King Author Honor, the 2018 Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award, and the 2018 Kirkus Prize for Young Readers. In 2020, he became the only author, in the history of the award, to have won the Kirkus Prize twice for his twelfth release, the New York Times bestseller, I Am Every Good Thing. Derrick is a graduate of Jackson State University (BA-Marketing '99) and was the first African-American male creative copywriter hired by greeting cards giant Hallmark Cards. He is a native of Kansas City, MO, but currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his enchanting wife, Dr. Tinka Barnes, and their four sons, the Mighty Barnes Brothers.

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bio Derrick Barnes is the author of the New York Times bestseller The King of Kindergarten, as well as the critically acclaimed multi-award-winning picture book Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut which received a Newbery Honor, a Coretta Scott King Author Honor, the 2018 Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award, and the...

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Celebrate the Negro Leagues Centennial with a new Commemorative Print Edition of "Down the Line" by Kadir Nelson. 24HR FLASH SALE ends 2 PM 2/14/2020 @ store.kadirnelson.com

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Sit in, how four friends stood up by sitting down

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Sit in, how four friends stood up by sitting down

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Sit In: How Four Friends Stood Up By Sitting Down

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Watch Brian and Andrea Pinkney introduce their new picture book

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Selected for the opportunity to dig into Muhammed Ali's career and life as a champion.  Who called him Muhammed, and who called him Cassius Clay? Why was he banned from boxing? Nearly jailed? What is left out of the story? How does Muhammed Ali become a champion despite the challenges he faces? 

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Selected for the opportunity to dig into Muhammed Ali's career and life as a champion.  Who called him Muhammed, and who called him Cassius Clay? Why was he banned from boxing? Nearly jailed? What is left out of the story? How does Muhammed Ali become a champion despite the challenges he faces? 

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Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut Reading by Derrick Barnes

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Bedtime Stories With Aunt KiKi- “Crown: An Ode To The Fresh Cut” By: Derrick Barnes

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Digital Video Technology Suncoast Technical College

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The Book Itch, by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

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The following links and columns connect to the texts selected for your grade level (noted in parenthesis).  Below the text, find articles, videos and more to support your teaching and learning.
Please feel welcome to add to this collection as you further develop your plans this year and beyond.
Read more about Critical Literacy methods below:

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Please add to this padlet as you develop plans for this year and beyond. 

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Please add to this padlet as you develop plans for this year and beyond. 

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Selected for its account of Billie Holiday's beautiful protest, and its origins in music as a form of protest. 

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Selected for its account of Billie Holiday's beautiful protest, and its origins in music as a form of protest. 

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Selected as a counterstory to the narratives we have of George Washington as the defender of our freedom... meanwhile, he was a slave holder who moved the enslaved back and forth over state lines to keep them in servitude. 

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Selected as a counterstory to the narratives we have of George Washington as the defender of our freedom... meanwhile, he was a slave holder who moved the enslaved back and forth over state lines to keep them in servitude. 

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BORN INTO SLAVERY George and Martha Washington owned hundreds of slaves over the course of their lives. The names of many are known, but most of the details of their lives have been lost to history. Here's the story of one woman who hasn't been forgotten.
In the early 1770s an English tailor named Andrew Judge signed a contract to work as an indentured servant at Mount Vernon, George Washington's plantation in Virginia. Indentured servitude was a common way for Europeans with no money to pay their way to the American colonies. By signing the contract, Judge agreed to work for Washington for a set period of years in exchange for his passage to Virginia, plus his room and board for the length of the contract.

At Mount Vernon, Judge made military uniforms and other clothing for Washington. He also taught his tailoring skills to Washington's slaves so that when his term as an indentured servant was up, they would be able to do the tailoring themselves.
LADY'S MAID
Around 1773 Judge fathered a baby girl with an African American slave named Betty, who worked as a seamstress at Mount Vernon. They named their child Oney, but though Judge was white and free, Oney was born a slave because her mother was a slave. In the eyes of the law, she was "property" and belonged to the Washingtons; neither Betty nor Andrew had any parental rights over their child whatsoever.

Oney became a favorite of Martha Washington's and served as her personal attendant, helping her wash and dress, and accompanying her on social calls. Judge was one of eight slaves who accompanied the Washingtons to New York City, then the nation's capital, when Washington was elected president in April 1789, and then to Philadelphia when the capital moved there in 1790.
FREEDOM ALL AROUND
In Philadelphia, Judge enjoyed a measure of freedom unheard of at Mount Vernon. She ran errands around the city unsupervised, and in her limited free time, she explored on her own. President Washington even gave her and other slaves of the household money for the theater, the circus, and other entertainments in the city.

There was something else in Philadelphia that Judge had never encountered before: a thriving community of free African Americans, the largest such community in the United States at the time. Slavery was still legal in Pennsylvania, but the state's Gradual Abolition Act, passed in 1780, was phasing it out, and the number of free blacks in the city was growing. There were so many, in fact, that Washington and other slave owners worried about bringing their slaves to live among them in Philadelphia. They feared the slaves would be "tainted" by exposure to free African Americans and abolitionists living in the city. Washington was concerned that even if his slaves didn't try to escape, they'd become, as he put it, "insolent in a state of slavery."
IN ROTATION
As the president soon learned from his attorney general, Edmund Randolph, the slaves had the law on their side. Under the terms of the Gradual Abolition Act, slaves who'd been brought into the state by nonresidents (including Washington and Randolph) and who lived there for six consecutive months became free citizens automatically. Slaves owned by members of Congress were specifically exempted from the law, and Washington and Randolph had assumed that their slaves were also exempt. They were wrong. Randolph learned as much in 1791 when his slaves demanded their freedom when the six months were up-and got it.

To prevent the same thing from happening to Washington's slaves, the attorney general advised the president to rotate his slaves out of state for a few days every six months before the deadline was up. Moving slaves out of state for the purpose of denying them their freedom was illegal, but Washington did it anyway. He kept it up for the rest of his presidency, instructing his secretary that he wished "to have it accomplished under the pretext that may deceive both them [the slaves] and the public." Accordingly, when the president's slaves were sent back to Mount Vernon for brief visits ahead of the six-month deadline, they were told they were being sent home to spend time with their families.

Martha Washington did her part by taking her slaves across the state line into New Jersey for short overnight trips. In this way she denied Judge her chance at freedom in May of 1791.

Judge knew that if she returned to Mount Vernon when Washington retired, what little freedom she'd had in Philadelphia would be gone forever. But it wasn't until 1796, when Washington was nearing the end of his presidency, that she decided to escape. She did so after learning that Martha Washington was planning to give her away as a wedding present to her granddaughter, Elizabeth Custis, whom Judge knew to be a moody and vindictive woman.
HEADING NORTH
Judge detested Elizabeth Custis and was, as she put it, "determined not to be her slave." In May 1796, she used an upcoming trip the Washingtons were taking to Mount Vernon as cover for her escape. "Whilst they were packing up to go to Virginia, I was packing to go," she told an interviewer in 1845. "I had friends among the colored people of Philadelphia, had my things carried there beforehand, and left Washington's house while they were eating dinner."
THE RESCUERS
Judge hid out somewhere in Philadelphia; she never revealed where or for how long. She had to lay low because of an advertisement in the Pennsylvania Gazette giving her physical description ("...a light mulatto girl, much freckled, with very black eyes and bushy hair...of middle stature, slender, and delicately formed, about 20 years of age"), offering a $10 reward for her capture. When she felt safe enough to venture out, she made her way to the Philadelphia waterfront and boarded a ship called the Nancy, whose captain, a man named John Bowles, was known to be sympathetic to escaping slaves and who may have had "Black Jacks"-free African American sailors-on his crew. Judge sailed to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and disappeared into the free black community there. That probably would have been the end of her story had a family friend of the Washingtons, Elizabeth Langdon, not spotted her walking on the street in Portsmouth a few months later.

Word soon got back to George and Martha Washington that Judge was in Portsmouth. As odd as it may sound to modern ears, the Washingtons were actually stunned and hurt that one of their favorite slaves-"more like [our] child than a servant," as Washington put it-had escaped. They could not bring themselves to accept that she'd done so out of a genuine desire for freedom. Instead, they convinced themselves that she'd been "seduced and enticed off by a Frenchman" (a recent visitor) and tricked into escaping against her own best interest. There's no evidence that the man in question had anything to do with the escape, but the Washingtons feared that he'd gotten her pregnant and abandoned her. They were determined not just to recover their "property" but also to return Judge to the safety, as they saw it, of home.
HE SAID, SHE SAID
Once again Washington was willing to flout the law where his slaves were concerned. Under the terms of the Fugitive Slave Act, which he himself had signed into law in 1793, slave owners were required to go into open court and provide proof of ownership of an escaped slave before crossing into another state to capture them. But Washington wanted to avoid publicity. So he ignored the law and instead asked his treasury secretary, Oliver Wolcott Jr., to order the customs collector in Portsmouth, a man named Joseph Whipple, to capture Judge and put her on a boat back home.
THE OFFER
Whipple had no reason to doubt Washington's pregnant damsel-in-distress story-he was the president, after all-and was more than happy to aid in rescuing Judge from the harm she'd supposedly fallen into. After discovering where Judge was living, Whipple secretly booked passage for her on a ship to Philadelphia. He waited until the day the ship was due to sail, then he approached her, introduced himself, and made a phony offer of a job with his own family. He hoped either to grab her and drag her onto the ship or trick her into coming aboard voluntarily. But as Whipple talked to Judge, he realized that she hadn't been seduced by a Frenchman, wasn't pregnant, wasn't in distress, and in fact was in Portsmouth of her own free will. "She had not been decoyed away as had been apprehended, but that a thirst for compleat freedom...had been her only motive for absconding," Whipple explained in a letter to Wolcott.

Satisfied that Judge was happy where she was, Whipple abandoned his plans to take her back to Philadelphia. If Washington wanted to bring Judge back against her will, he suggested that the president go through proper legal channels as described in the Fugitive Slave Act. But was that even necessary? As Whipple reported to Wolcott, Judge was willing to return to the Washingtons voluntarily, on one condition:

She expressed great affection and reverence for her Master & Mistress, and without hesitation declared her willingness to return and to serve with fidelity during the lives of the President and his Lady if she could be freed on their decease, should she outlive them; but that she should rather suffer death that return to slavery and [be] liable to be sold or given to other persons.

Wolcott forwarded Judge's offer to Washington. So was the president happy to learn that Judge was willing to return? Hardly-he was furious that Whipple had accepted a slave's version of events over his own. And he angrily rejected the notion that a master would ever negotiate with a slave over any matter, let alone negotiate with a slave who had shown disloyalty by running away:
STAYING PUT

To enter into a such a compromise with her, as she suggested to you, is totally inadmissible...It would neither be politic or just to reward unfaithfulness with a premature preference; and thereby discontent beforehand the minds of all her fellow servants who by their steady attachments are far more deserving than herself of favor.

Her offer having been rejected, Judge remained in New Hampshire. But Washington refused to give up, at least not if he could get Judge back without attracting negative publicity. He told Whipple to use "compulsory means" to seize Judge if possible, provided that he didn't "excite a mob or a riot...or even uneasy sensations in the minds of well disposed citizens." If that couldn't be avoided, he wrote, "I would forgo her services altogether."

Whipple made no further attempt to capture Judge. But Washington did. When he heard that Martha Washington's nephew, Burwell Bassett Jr., was planning a trip to Portsmouth in the fall of 1799, Washington asked him to try to get Judge back. Bassett agreed, and paid a visit to Judge, who by now was married to a free African American sailor named John Staines and already had the first of three children by him. (Staines was away at sea when Bassett dropped by.) Bassett asked Judge to return to Mount Vernon. She refused, telling him, "I am free and choose to remain so."
FREE AT LAST
Bassett was the guest of Senator John Langdon while visiting Portsmouth, and after the first visit to Judge, he confided to Langdon that he'd been instructed to seize both Judge and her daughter by force if necessary and would do so in the coming days. Langdon, a longtime friend of the Washingtons, was nonetheless so disturbed by what he heard that he slipped out of the house while Bassett was eating dinner and warned Judge of the danger. She fled to Greenland, New Hampshire, and hid there with friends.

George Washington died a few months later, on December 14, 1799; Martha Washington followed in May 1802. Ownership of Oney Judge and her three children now passed to relatives on Martha's side of the family, but there's no evidence that they ever tried to reclaim Judge under the Fugitive Slave Act.

Judge didn't take any chances, though. She laid low for the next 40 years. It wasn't until she was in her 70s and too old and sick to work-and therefore no longer worth the expense of capturing her and bringing her back to Virginia-that she began telling her story to abolitionist newspapers in the mid-1840s. By then her husband and all three of her children had died, and she had been living in abject poverty for many years. One of the reporters asked her if she ever regretted leaving the Washingtons and Mount Vernon, where, if she had stayed, she might have lived an easier life. "No," she replied, "I am free and have, I trust, been made a child of God by the means."

This article is reprinted with permission from Uncle John's Factastic Bathroom Reader. All of Uncle John's Bathroom Reader favorites are packed into these 512 glorious pages - from little-known history to the origins of everyday things-plus odd news, weird fads, quirky quotes, mind-bending science, head-scratching blunders, and all sorts of random oddities. Oh yeah, and thousands of incredible facts!

Since 1987, the Bathroom Readers' Institute has led the movement to stand up for those who sit down and read in the bathroom (and everywhere else for that matter). With more than 15 million books in print, the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader series is the longest-running, most popular series of its kind in the world.

If you like Today I Found Out, I guarantee you'll love the Bathroom Reader Institute's books, so check them out!

Share the Knowledge!

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The following is an article from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader George and Martha Washington owned hundreds of slaves over the course of their lives. The names of many are known, but most of the details of their lives have been lost to history. Here's the story of one woman who hasn't been forgotten.

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On January 1, 1847, the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator published a letter from Reverend Benjamin Chase describing his recent visit with an elderly African American woman near Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The woman, Ona Judge Staines, had fled enslavement at the Washingtons' household fifty years earlier. Staines's account of her dramatic quest for freedom represents a rare moment when the voice of a person (formerly) enslaved at Mount Vernon appears in the historical record.

Ona Judge, often referenced by the Washingtons as Oney, was born at Mount Vernon around 1774. She was the daughter of Betty, an enslaved seamstress living on Mansion House Farm, and Andrew Judge, a white English tailor whom Washington hired from 1772 to 1784. Ona was later described as "a light mulatto girl, much freckled" and "almost white." Like many other slaves of mixed-race descent, she received a post in the household: at age ten, she became Martha Washington's personal maid. Like her mother, Ona was skilled at sewing, "the perfect mistress of her needle." Also, like her mother, Ona and her younger sister Delphy belonged to the Custis estate, and so would pass to Martha Washington's heirs upon the latter's death.

When George Washington was elected president, fifteen-year-old Ona Judge traveled with seven other enslaved people to the executive residence, first in New York and then in Philadelphia. She was among the enslaved people whom Washington secretly rotated out of the latter city in order to evade the 1780 Pennsylvania emancipation law. Washington asked his secretary to accomplish this rotation "under pretext that may deceive both them and the Public."

During Washington's presidency, Judge continued her daily work waiting on Martha Washington-helping her bathe and dress, cleaning and mending her clothing, organizing her personal belongings, and anything else her she required. However, in the bustling capital city of Philadelphia, life was dramatically different for her and the other enslaved people from Mount Vernon. Judge received nominal cash from Washington on several occasions to go see a play, the circus, and the "tumbling feats." Her visible position in the household meant that she received a regular supply of high-quality clothing. Washington's account book notes purchases for her gowns, shoes, stockings, and bonnets. The city's large free black and Quaker abolitionist communities also offered the young woman new ideas, new connections, and new opportunities to escape.

On May 21, 1796, as the Washingtons prepared to return to Mount Vernon for the summer, Ona Judge fled. As she recalled in 1845, "Whilst they were packing up to go to Virginia, I was packing to go, I didn't know where; for I knew that if I went back to Virginia, I should never get my liberty. I had friends among the colored people of Philadelphia, had my things carried there beforehand, and left Washington's house while they were eating dinner."

Two days later, Frederick Kitt-the hired steward at the executive residence-placed an advertisement in the Philadelphia Gazette and Daily Advertiser announcing that "Oney Judge" had "absconded" from the president's house and offering a $10 reward for her recapture. Kitt described the young woman's "very black eyes and bushy black hair," noting that she was "of middle stature, slender, and delicately formed." She had "many changes of good clothes, all sorts," Kitt warned and might be trying to pass as a free woman, escaping on a ship leaving the port of Philadelphia.

Kitt's advertisement stated that Judge had run off with "no provocation," but her later interview revealed that she had two reasons for running away. First, "she wanted to be free," and second, she had overheard that she would soon be given to Martha Washington's eldest granddaughter, Eliza Parke Custis Law, who was known to have a fierce temper. Judge "was determined," she recalled, "never to be her slave."

Kitt was right about one thing: after leaving the Washingtons' household, Ona Judge secured passage on the Nancy, a ship commanded by Captain John Bolles and bound for Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Judge never revealed Bolles's name until after he died, "lest they should punish him for bringing me away."

Meanwhile, George Washington was stewing. The young woman was owned by the estate of Martha Washington's first husband, Daniel Parke Custis not Washington. This meant he would be responsible for reimbursing the Custis estate were she not recovered. He also faced pressure from Martha, who was distressed at the loss of a maid who, Washington claimed, "was brought up and treated more like a child than a Servant." Apparently unable to comprehend why she would flee, Washington believed that Judge had been "seduced and enticed away" by a Frenchman.

Even in New Hampshire, Judge was not safe. Just a few months after arriving, she was recognized on the street by a friend of Martha's youngest granddaughter, Nelly Parke Custis. Word of the escapee's whereabouts reached George Washington, who enlisted the help of Joseph Whipple, the customs collector in Portsmouth. Whipple found Judge and tried to convince her to board a ship for Philadelphia. Judge replied that she would readily return, but only if the Washingtons promised to free her after their deaths. Otherwise, she said, "she should rather suffer death than return to Slavery & liable to be sold or given to any other person." There was no seduction by a Frenchman, she assured Whipple, but rather "a thirst for compleat freedom . . . had been her only motive for absconding."

When Washington learned of Judge's request, he was furious. His response to her proposed deal reveals the tension between his stated antislavery principles and the reality of being a slave owner. He fumed to Whipple: "To enter into such a compromise with her, as she suggested to you, is totally inadmissible . . . for however well disposed I might be to a gradual abolition, or even to an entire emancipation of that description of People (if the latter was in itself practicable at this moment) it would neither be politic or just to reward unfaithfulness with a premature preference; and thereby discontent before hand the minds of all her fellow-servants who by their steady attachments are far more deserving than herself of favor."

Because of the federal Fugitive Slave Law, which Washington had signed in 1793, slave owners retained the legal right to recapture enslaved people who escaped across state lines, if necessary with force. As president, Washington knew that using violent measures to seize an enslaved woman who had runaway could anger antislavery residents of northern states. He asked Whipple to continue efforts to recapture Judge, but only if it would not "excite a mob or riot" in Portsmouth, where abolitionist sentiments ran high. If Whipple made further attempts to capture her, Judge evaded them. In January 1797, she married Jack Staines, a free black sailor. The couple went on to have three children: Eliza, Will, and Nancy.

In August 1799, Washington made one more attempt to find and recapture Ona Judge. When Martha's nephew Burwell Bassett Jr. traveled to New Hampshire on business, Washington enlisted his help. Bassett successfully located Judge in Portsmouth and tried to persuade her to return, but again she refused. Though Washington had asked Bassett to avoid any methods that were "unpleasant" or "troublesome," Bassett was determined to take the young woman by force. When he announced his plans over dinner at the home of John Langdon, the U.S. senator from New Hampshire, a sympathetic Langdon secretly sent a messenger to warn Judge. With her husband at sea and one-year-old Eliza in her arms, Judge hired a horse and carriage to take her to the home of a friend, a free black woman named Nancy Jack, eight miles from Portsmouth in Greenland, New Hampshire. Bassett returned to Virginia empty-handed.

After Washington's death in December 1799, Judge said, the family "never troubled me any more." She nevertheless remained a fugitive: the Custis estate could legally recapture her and her children at any time. When Judge was interviewed in the 1840s, she was still living at Nancy Jack's home in Greenland. Legally considered a "pauper," she received support from Rockingham County. Her husband had died in 1803, and her two daughters had predeceased her as well. Despite these sorrows, she told her interviewer how her life had changed for the better since arriving in New Hampshire: "She says that she never received the least mental or moral instruction, of any kind, while she remained in Washington's family. But, after she came to Portsmouth, she learned to read; and when Elias Smith first preached in Portsmouth, she professes to have been converted to Christianity."

Ona likely never again saw her Mount Vernon family. Her mother, Betty, died in January 1795. In 1802, her younger sister Delphy was inherited by Eliza Parke Custis Law, the fate that Ona had fled to avoid.

Ona Judge's determination to escape slavery eclipsed any regret over leaving. As one interviewer noted: "When asked if she is not sorry she left Washington, as she has labored so much harder since, than before, her reply is, 'No, I am free, and have, I trust been made a child of God by the means.'" Ona Judge Staines died in 1848.

Jessie MacLeod
Associate Curator
George Washington's Mount Vernon
Notes:
If not specifically cited, biographical and genealogical information about enslaved people has been drawn from Washington's 1786 and 1799 slave lists: George Washington, Diary, Feb. 18, 1786, and "Washington's Slave List," 1799, The Papers of George Washington, Digital Edition, ed. Theodore J. Crackel, Edward G. Lengel, et al. (Charlottesville: Univ. of Virginia Press, Rotunda, 2008); the Mount Vernon slavery database, which compiles references to the estate's enslaved people; and the files of Mary V. Thompson, Mount Vernon's research historian.

1 Benjamin Chase, letter to the editor, The Liberator, Jan. 1, 1847, quoted in Slave Testimony: Two Centuries of Letters, Speeches, Interviews, and Autobiographies, ed. John W. Blassingame (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1977), 248-50.

2 Lund Washington to GW, Oct. 15, 1775, Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-02-02-0164, Lund Washington to GW, Oct 22, 1775, Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-02-02-0193, and Lund Washington, Account Book [microform], 1762-1786, Washington Library.

3 Chase, letter to the editor, 1847; Frederick Kitt, "Advertisement," Pennsylvania Gazette and Universal Daily Advertiser, May 24, 1796.

4 GW to Oliver Wolcott, Sept. 1, 1796, Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-00910.

5 GW to Tobias Lear, Apr. 12, 1791, Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-08-02-0062.

6 See "References to People from the Presidential Household Account Books," The President's House in Philadelphia, accessed March 7, 2016, ushistory.org/presidentshouse/history/references.htm.

7 T. H. Adams, "Washington's Runaway Slave, and How Portsmouth Freed Her," Granite (NH) Freeman, May 22, 1845, reprinted in Frank W. Miller, Portsmouth New Hampshire Weekly, June 2, 1877.

8 Kitt, Advertisement, Pennsylvania Gazette, May 24, 1796.

9 Kitt, Advertisement; Adams, "Washington's Runaway Slave."

10 Adams, "Washington's Runaway Slave."

11 GW to Oliver Wolcott, Sept. 1, 1796.

12 Joseph Whipple to Oliver Wolcott, Oct. 4, 1796, quoted in Fritz Hirschfeld, George Washington and Slavery: A Documentary Portrayal (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1997), 114-15.

13 GW to Joseph Whipple, Nov. 28, 1796, quoted in Hirschfeld, George Washington and Slavery, 115-16.

14 GW to Joseph Whipple, Nov. 28, 1796, quoted in Hirschfeld, George Washington and Slavery, 115-16.

15 GW to Burwell Bassett Jr., Aug. 11, 1799, Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-04-02-0197.

16 Chase, letter to the editor, 1847.

17 Chase, letter to the editor, 1847.

18 "Drafts of Negros," Peter Family Archives, Washington Library.

19 Adams, "Washington's Runaway Slave."

An archived version of this entry can be found here.

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On January 1, 1847, the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator published a letter from Reverend Benjamin Chase describing his recent visit with an elderly African American woman near Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The woman, Ona Judge Staines, had fled enslavement at the Washingtons' household fifty years earlier.

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