Harlem Renaissance or Momentary Aberration?: An Analysis of the Newbery's Progress toward Racial Inclusivity

This paper analyzes the Newbery Medal's progress toward racial inclusivity by studying four African American-authored texts in two different periods: Virginia Hamilton's M.C. Higgins, the Great and Mildred Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry in the 1970s and Kwame Alexander's T...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inChildren's Literature Association Quarterly Vol. 47; no. 2; pp. 134 - 156
Main Author Selden, Sarah
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Baltimore Johns Hopkins University Press 01.06.2022
Subjects
21st century
African American literature
African Americans
American literature
Apartheid
Black history
Book awards
Children & youth
Childrens literature
Demography
Harlem Renaissance
Library associations
Minority & ethnic groups
Multiculturalism & pluralism
Myers, Walter Dean (1937-2014)
Novels
Race
Racism
Slavery
Stereotypes
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Summary:This paper analyzes the Newbery Medal's progress toward racial inclusivity by studying four African American-authored texts in two different periods: Virginia Hamilton's M.C. Higgins, the Great and Mildred Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry in the 1970s and Kwame Alexander's The Crossover and Jacqueline Woodson's Brown Girl Dreaming in 2015. It compares the popular and academic reception of the 2015 novels with the reception of those from the '70s and examines the root causes of the lack of diversity in Newbery winners, from ALA demographics to the works children's literature scholars focus on in their academic articles.
ISSN:0885-0429
1553-1201
1553-1201
DOI:10.1353/chq.2022.0026