Having realized that I’ve read a few historical fiction novels,
I decided to blog about a quick/simple read which I’ve previously recommended
to both the students on my campus and my graduate classmates: Stella by Starlight by Sharon Draper.
The story revolves around eleven-year-old Stella and her black
community as they attempt to live alongside the white townsfolk of Bumblebee,
North Carolina during the autumn of 1932. (The book is based on the diary of
Draper’s grandmother and the childhood stories of Draper’s father growing up in
North Carolina.)
The novel starts with Stella and her younger brother JoJo witnessing
a KKK cross burning—setting the stage for the events that arise later in the story.
After a series of events which depict how several of the white towns people treat
Stella and those in her community, Stella’s father decides he wants to vote in
the upcoming presidential election. Given the white sentiment about blacks
voting at the time, Stella’s father and the two black other men who accompanied
him to vote were put on notice for their blatant act of defiance—and sure
enough, a short time later, a roaring fire engulfed one of the men’s houses as a
group of Klansmen rode away with torches still in hand.
While the story doesn’t really have a “happy ending”,we are
left feeling hopeful for Stella and her family secure in the fact that such times
are long gone. (Well, one could make the argument that the suppression of black
and brown votes still occurs today under a myriad of voter suppression tactics
at both the state and federal level, but let’s leave that be for now.)
And while I am sure other books set during the Jim Crowe South
tell similar stories, the fact that this story (I felt) was told from a
humanistic perspective (i.e., why would another person treat another person
that way) as opposed to a black versus white perspective (e.g., The Hate U Give
by Angie Thompson) made it a very accessible/relatable book.
All in all, this book will definitely have a place on my classroom
bookshelf.
For my picture storybook I headed over to my school’s library
remembering I had seen Henry’s Freedom
Box by Ellen Levine displayed atop one of the bookshelves.
The story revolves around Henry “Box” Brown who at the age
of thirty-four having been born and lived as a slave his whole life, mailed
himself in a wood box to the free city of Philadelphia with the aid of a white man named Smith.
While the story doesn’t get
all of the facts straight—a quick Google search led me to a PBS website
with a more accurate account—I found it to be a compelling tale of the lengths a person will go-to to secure their freedom. (I think this point could be clearly driven home by bringing in a
replica box of the same measurements made out of cardboard and have the
students see if they could fit themselves inside of it—obviously without
securing the lid. I think this would make for a great lesson and conversation
starter.)
With some appropriately though-out lesson plans, there would
definitely be a place on my classroom shelf for this book.
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