Making books available: the role of early libraries, librarians, and booksellers in the promotion of African American children's literature

African American Review, Spring, 1998 by Nancy Tolson

By the end of the 1940s, the majority of public libraries serviced African Americans, and publishers were starting to publish more children's books that contained positive images of African American characters. The Julius Rosenwald Fund produced a 48-page pamphlet entitled The Negro: A Selected List for Schools and Libraries of Books by or about the Negro in Africa and America and distributed it free of charge to schools and to children's and young people's departments of public libraries. The list consisted of 191 titles, and identified authors as "Negro" (N) or white (W). The criteria for this compilation were "readability, subject interest, and usefulness in supplying the initial needs for reference material in school libraries" (Lyells 516).

During this era, biographies of Blacks were written that displayed the talents of Shirley Graham, Arna Bontemps, and Carter G. Woodson, to name just a few, although publishers seemed to shy away from fiction, perhaps because of the seriousness of the World War II era. This situation "showed, too, the turmoil of the entire country as the newly awakened whites, who had come to know the Negro as a partner in defending their country, returned to communities confused and bewildered. They were confused because they found much of what they had been taught conflicted with what they had learned first hand by contact with the Negro as a loyal and dedicated defender of his country" (Milender 32).

Slowly, racial attitudes in the country were changing. The 1954 Supreme Court school desegregation decision helped to make a large difference in the world of African American children's literature. As libraries were forced to open their doors to African Americans, publishing companies also began to feel the pressure of the Civil Rights Movement. Eventually, the fear of fiction lessened, and writers such as Lorenz Bell Graham, Jesse Jackson, and Ellen Tarry were allowed to join the cadre of those who helped to construct a path for the many wonderful African American children's writers of today.

African American children's books are in existence today because of the determination and dedication of African Americans who decided more than sixty years ago to remove negative depictions of servile, impoverished African Americans from library shelves. These people were able to establish criteria, petition publishers, and creatively write stories for African American children that reflected positive images at a time when few of these books could get published.

These creators constructed a blueprint that other artisans have followed and built upon. The work that was done in the past in the effort to inspire and educate African American children about their own culture is now evident through the many African American children's books that can be seen in bookstores, on library shelves, and in the homes of children across the country. There is a dedication in this work which beams with love for African American children and a heartfelt obligation to provide them with positive images through the words, the themes, and the images.