Well Read Black Girl

Well Read Black Girl

Adult nonfiction
Well it is almost noon on Sunday. Eugene and I are on our way
to his camp. Only it's taking us a long time to get there. We're
driving around in the 100% chance of rain. There are prospects of
thunder, lightning, and golf ball size hail. I can't help wondering
exactly why we're going to camp. But I just finished reading Glory
Edim's Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Finding Ourselves in
the truck while Eugene was having his ear talked off by the proprieter
in a gun shop. I took a picture of the drizzly vista for you all.
You'll get my reviews and pictures tomorrow because camp has no
internet.
"...Reading highlights the intersection of narrative and self-
image to create compelling explorations of identity. Reading allows
us to witness ourselves. Being a reader is an incredible gift,
providing me with a lens to help me interpret the world. Most
important, it has invigorated my imagination and allowed me to choose
which narrative I want to center and hold close."
Reading Well Read Black Girl, although delivered through print
media, had the vibrance and immediacy of a more oral experience. It's
a book lover's dream come true. Twenty-two amazing black woman
writers, luminaries such as Jesmyn Ward and Jacqueline Woodson, share
their early reading experiences including finding (or failing to find)
characters that mirrored themselves and ways in which reading has
influenced their lives and careers.
These days there is a rich treasure trove of literature by black
authors of different genders for adult and child Readers of Color
wishing to see themselves mirrored in books. When I was a child this
was certainly not the case. Libraries held abundant literary
validation for White children like me, yet another form of privilege
that was systemic (encompassing biases on the parts of publishers,
librarians, and those who would censor what was offered to the
public), ubiquitous and invisible to those of us privileged by skin
tone.
If you grew up White like I did, what characters reflected your
identity? I saw myself in the rowdy, assertive, and society shocking
ones: Pippi Longstocking, Harriet the Spy, Nancy Drew, Tom Sawyer,
Huck Finn, Penrod Schofield. (Being gender fluid I was as able to
identify with males as with females.) How would if have felt if,
during those identity forming years, the literary role models were all
different from you?
If it stopped there the book would be inspiring and
intoxicating. It also includes lists of works by Black woman Authors
in a number of genres. I know I plan to check out a lot of them.
Becoming familiar with this literature can give you a way of
working toward allyship. Become familiar with your local library if
you aren't already. Scan the shelves, especially in the juvenile
section to see if there is much needed racial diversity. Find out the
acquisition process and make suggestions for needed new volumes.
Since most libraries are going to be facing COVID-19 budget cuts, if
you have money yourself are are part of a larger group donating books
would be a real mitzvah.


Sent from my iPod