Telling Tales: The Pedagogy and the Promise of African American Literature for Youth. - book reviews

African American Review, Spring, 1994 by Vera R. Edwards

To identify African American literature for youth one has had to pry endlessly through literary reference works and other resources to locate pertinent facts. However, through the inspiration and interest of Dianne Johnson, there is now an ample guide and reference that eliminates such tedium. In Telling Tales: The Pedagogy and Promise of African American Literature for Youth, Johnson organizes her material into nine categories, emphasizing noteworthy factors while depicting the various tales.

Johnson's introduction contains substantial information about the history of its subject and may serve to inspire more scholar to explore Black child's literature. According to Johnson, from 1878 to 1945, the preeminent American children's magazine, St. Nicholas, was responsible for many negative articles concerning Black children, and made an alternative perspective absolutely essential. In January 1920, W. E. B. Du Bois and Augustus G. Dill created The Brownies' book as a children's complement to The Crisis, the official publication of the NAACP. The Brownies' Book ran until December 1921 and used a number of freelance writers. In the magazine, Du Bois endeavored to make Black children realize that they were important as well as normal, that they should familiarize themselves with the achievements of other Black Americans, and that other Black children have grown into beautiful, useful, and famous people.

Though discontinued long ago, The Brownies' Book filled an important gap in children's literature, and Johnson feels that there is a dire need for a magazine to continue in the same vein. Here, in her view, is part of the answer to teenage suicides, disobedience to parents, and the rebellion that so frequently engulfs our communities. Johnson also shows the influence of psychologist Alvin Poussaint, she endorses his Black Awareness Movement, which encourages African American youths to be prepared as we enter the twenty-first century.

Illustration, as Du Bois understood, is vital to children's literature. Illustrations provide memories, convey fantasies, and present prideful images of various aspects of a person's life. Citing assertions from Gloria Johnson Powell, Augusta Baker, and William Feaver, Johnson notes that it is important that illustration concentrate directly on images of African American children rather than on complexion alone. However, Johnson criticizes William Feaver and his history of children's illustrations for failing to appreciate the artistic contributions of African Americans such as Hilda Wilkinson and Marcellus Hawkins. The work in The Brownies' book makes clear that Black American artists have long been adept at depicting the goodness, purity, and uplifting ideals of their race.

Johnson overstates the dearth of literature for Black children published between 1921 and 1945. Black publications, while somewhat limited, were available, even though below-average income in Black families meant that little disposable income was available to support such publications. I think we should keep in mind the contributions of popular magazines such as Ebony, which revealed many Black events that otherwise would have remained unknown and inspired many youths.

Johnson provides detailed discussions of the more important African American authors of literature for children. Langston Hughes began his career as a regular contributor to The Brownies' book, and continued to write child-oriented work throughout his life, including The Dream Keeper (1932). Mary White Ovington, one of the founders of the NAACP, wrote The Upward Path (1920) as an inspirational work for both children and adults.

Following the onset of World War II, a drastic change brought about more flexibility and understanding between the races, and publications for and about Black children flourished, including The Negro in Children's Fiction by E. K. Evans (1941), We Build Together from The National Council of Teachers of English, and Intercultural Books for Children by H. Trager (1945). Progress made after World War II resulted in materially improved conditions for African Americans and resulted in more democratic view points in the educational view.

One of the more illuminating episodes from this period concerns Anna Bontemps's The Story of the Negro (1948), which Alfred A. Knopf's children's department requested, citing the chronology of "Black history" compared with "world history." This encouragement enabled Bontemps to describe for Black children the truth of African history, culture, and slavery. He could also incorporate the story of one of the most famous of storytellers, Aesop, whose fables themselves performed the same function that Johnson sees for African American children's literature. Among more recent writers, Johnson includes discussions of works by Virginia Hamilton, June Jordan, Rosa Guy, James Baldwin, and Lucille Clifton. The discussion of Clifton is especially good. According to Johnson, Clifton's stories illustrate the quest for literacy that has been central to African American life yet so often frustrated for young Blacks searching for more ways to satisfy their creative urges. Clifton's numerous examples of Black heroes - including Duke Ellington, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, Dorie Miller, Marian Anderson, Leontyne Price, and Leah Chase - inspire our youngsters to keep studying learning and communicating.