Official Tumblr of We Need Diverse Books

“I’ve taught history for over twenty years and wanted to say, ‘Juneteenth is the promise of freedom for enslaved Black people that wasn’t kept until two years after the Emancipation Proclamation’ then something inside steered me to do something else—compare notes. Because I hoped to learn if what we experienced today connected us to Juneteenth. So, I gave [a friend’s] question back to him, ‘What does Juneteenth mean to you?’ He shared and each time he spoke I nodded, ‘Same’ because we both experienced what he said. ‘Didn’t celebrate it. Didn’t know about it. People around us didn’t either. And schools didn’t teach Juneteenth.’ But even though we both were born and raised in New York City housing projects, which are very different from the Texas birthplace of Juneteenth, our chat revealed deeper, everlasting connections to Juneteenth.”

Check out this post from The Brown Bookshelf by educator and author Torrey Maldonado on why the holiday matters to him and other outstanding Black creators

(Source: thebrownbookshelf.com)

“During Black Lives Matter [protests], the community was demanding Black-authored books from Black-owned businesses. But I want people to remember that Black authors have been around for centuries. Don’t just limit it to one summer, a few Black authors, and a few Black bookstores.“ — VaLinda Miller, owner of Turning Page Bookshop in Goose Creek, South Carolina

“This is why the publishing industry may be quick to label books “Black Lives Matter” for marketing purposes as “an easier sell,” rather than acknowledge that the Black Lives Matter movement and the terrorizing of Black bodies are not one in the same. When the Black pain narrative is used to try to bring awareness but doesn’t examine the systems in place, these stories cater to the idea that Black people need to be saved, not that our political structures need to be questioned and altered.”

“Children are not just the passive recipients of what they read. They should be seen as active subjects, creating and recreating themselves in relation to the representations that surround them. In this way, literature is an arena in which children can safely play with and develop an understanding of the state, and their role and relationship to it. Children’s literature not only shows how important children have been to black social movements. It also highlights the power of books to rescue childhood from a culture that has dehumanized black children, and denied them healthy and expansive models for growing up.”

The Brown Bookshelf has been featuring a new Black author/illustrator every day during Black History Month. So if you’re looking for suggestions here’s a great place to start.

However, the Brown Bookshelf is a consistently great resource for more info on Black authors/illustrators year-round. So don’t hesitate to bookmark it!