With all the recent news, activities, and current events surrounding racism; I wanted to blog about some of my thoughts from a school librarian's perspective. And that will be the main topic of my NEXT blog. However, because Juneteenth (June 19th) is just a day away, I wanted to write this blog first. I have found that a lot of books that feature African-American protagonists are often set in either the time of slavery or during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950's and 60's. Very few books are set in the time of Reconstruction right after the end of the Civil War.
There are students every school year who are interested about slavery and want to read historical fiction books that help them to see what life was like back then. I firmly believe that reading quality fiction is one of the best tools to developing empathy in people. (That will be a main point in my next blog!) However, I think most students have an unrealistic view of what life was like for the freed slaves, especially right after the Civil War. Juneteenth was a day of celebration to be sure! But did much really change after that? Did the day-to-day lives of former slaves change all that much? If you have a child who is interested in exploring these questions, I recommend the book Sugar by Jewell Parker Rhodes.
The story is set in 1870 Louisiana, just five years after the end of the Civil War. Sugar is a 10 year old girl who is a newly freed slave on a sugar plantation who doesn't feel very free. Some of the former slaves have left the plantation, but Sugar's mother has died making it difficult for Sugar to leave. Spunky and strong-spirited, Sugar bristles against rules set down by her well-meaning guardians: #1. Don't associate with Billy, the former master's son..."he will be your boss someday". #2. Don't associate with the new laborers from China..."they are nothing but trouble and will take our jobs away".
Somehow, she finds ways to have fun while secretly joining forces with Billy. She also befriends Beau and elder Master Liu who introduce her to the traditions of their culture. Sugar learns she can rise above her circumstances and be the one to bridge the cultural gap and bring her River Road community together.
This book takes a hard look at racism from a variety of perspectives. From the oppressed (former slaves), the unaware priviledged (Billy), and an unflinching look at prejudices of blacks towards the new Chinese immigrants. This story can teach us that we all need to check our beliefs. We are never done when it comes to treating others as equals.
I would recommend this middle-grade novel for 3rd-6th graders. If you are looking for good books for
Juneteenth for all ages of kids, I recommend the following blog-post:
This post is from 2016, but the books listed are still spot-on! Once I found this blog-post, I looked a little deeper at the blog itself. It is called "Colours of Us" and the byline is: All about multicultural children's books. This blogger posts once or twice a month and has some really great book lists. I have subscribed and am looking forward to using this as a resource to build diversity in my collection in my library. I encourage you to check it out as well.
Image Credit: Amazon.com
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