Women of Color Make Their Presence Known

March 21 - Today's post provided by TheHappyNappyBookseller

 

I loved the movie A League of Their Own, directed by Penny Marshall. The story is inspired by the All American Girls Professional Baseball League. It's been years since I've seen it but I still remember a lot of it.  Geena Davis was fearless behind the plate, and of course the now classic scene of Tom Hanks screaming, "there's no crying in baseball."

Another smaller scene I will never forget is when the players are practicing and a ball gets away from Madonna and Rosie O'Donnell's characters.  On the other side of the fence three Black woman are walking past. When asked to return the ball, one of the woman just guns it back.  All the women just stare at each other for a blink of a second.  The Black woman is clearly good enough to play but can't because of her race.   

The Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights, by Russell Freedman, the story of singer Marian Anderson, broke my heart.  Anderson was rejected many times because of either race or gender. 

It's not lost on me that both examples I've given feature Black women.  It's second nature for people to focus on what they feel most connected to.  The trick is to recognize this and make a conscious  effort to think outside of yourself.            

One book I discovered last March was Amelia to Zora: Twenty-six Women who Changed the World, by Chin- Lee Megan, illustrated by Halsey Sean Addy.  A few of the women featured are Babe Didrikson Zaharias, an athlete that excelled at every sport she played; Cecilia Payne Gaposchkin, an astronomer and the first female professor at Harvard University; Nawal El Sadaawi a doctor and fighter for woman's rights; Grace Hopper inventor and computer pioneer; Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit -an Indian diplomat and the first woman president of the United Nations.   I love that the woman included are as diverse as their accomplishments. 

 It's no secret Women of Color  face more obstacles in life and I am always moved by their stories.  Below are a few of the ones I've loved.   

Shining Star: The Anna May Wong Story by Paula Yoo, illustrated by Lin Wang- The first Asian movie star in Hollywood. If you get a chance watch this great interview with the author.


The Little Piano Girl : The Story of Mary Lou Williams by Ann Ingalls and MaryAnn Macdonald, illustrated by Giselle Potter -  Not only was Mary Lou Williams a jazz pianist she was also a  composer and arranger.  In the afterword there is a Duke Ellington quote - "Mary's music retains a standard of quality that is timeless. She is like soul on soul."

In Her Hands: The Story of Sculptor Augusta Savage by Alan Schroder,  illustrated by JaeMe Bereal - Augusta Savage was one of the primary artists of the Harlem Renaissance. Thanks to this biography I know that Savage created  a sculpture for the 1939 World's Fair in New York, "The Harp."

She Loved Baseball by Audrey Vernick, illustrated by Don Tate. The story of Effa Manley, co-owner of the Brooklyn Eagles, a Negro League Baseball team. Manley is the first woman to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. 

Skit Scat Raggedy Cat : Ella Fitzgerald by Roxanne Orgill, illustrated by Sean Qualls.  We get a whole lot of Ella. Perfect for anyone who loves Fitzgerald's music and for those who are not familiar with her work.   

Sky High: The True Story of Maggie Gee by Marissa Moss, illustrated by Carl Angel - One of only two Chinese American women to serve in Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program during WWII. Moss includes some wonderful photographs in the back, including one of Maggie in her uniform and Maggie's mother building Liberty ships, hardhat and all.
    
Side by Side/Lado a Lado by Monica Brown,  illustrated by Joe Cepeda- Dolores Huerta is an activist and co founder of National Farmers Workers Association with Cesar Chavez. There are a few children's biographies on Cesar Chavez, although as far as I know this is the first one that pertains to Dolores Huerta.

Seeds of Change: Wangari's Gift to the World by Jen Cullerton Johnson, illustrated by Sonia Lynn Sadler-  This is my favorite children's biography on Wangari Maathai. My interview with the author can be found here. 

Sonia Sotomayor: A Judge Grows in  the Bronx by Jonah Winter, illustrated by Edel Rodriquez - A timely biography on the first Latina judge to serve on the Supreme Court.  

I did my best to place the biographies in a timeline order. This last one should be somewhere in the middle but I felt its gender and racial unity made it the perfect book to end with.  

The Sweethearts of Rhythm: The Story of the Greatest All-girl Swing Band in the World by Marilyn Nelson, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney - The Sweethearts of Rhythm was the first integrated all women swing band in the world. When formed in 1937 the band included a Chinese saxophonist, a Hawaiian trumpeter and a Mexican clarinetist, along with Black musicians. In 1943, White musicians join the band for the first time.  

All of these women refused to let anyone deny them their rightful place in history.  Knowing what all they have accomplished in spite of everything fulls me with so much joy.  All of these biographies make sure their contributions, successes and sacrifices are not forgotten. 

Editor's Note:
TheHappyNappyBookseller is a bookseller and baseball fan in Atlanta Georgia.
Author Audrey Vernick, mentioned above, has shared her experience of writing She Loved Baseball in an earlier post.

Something That is Meaningful: Telling Effa Manley's Story

March 13 - Today's post provided by Audrey Vernick

Something That Is Meaningful: Telling Effa Manley’s Story

     I have a college-aged nephew and a teenaged niece, siblings, who are notorious for being terrible storytellers. They famously backtrack in the midst of every story they tell to fill in details, some of which matter: “Wait, did I mention we were at a zoo?”


     That same issue—context—is always my greatest concern when writing nonfiction for children. It requires a precise touch; you can’t condescend, but you have to be mindful of the fact that young readers often lack the historical understanding required to fully appreciate a given narrative.

     When I discovered Effa Manley’s story in 2006 and shared it, with great excitement, with the baseball- and book-loving people I know, adults, they understood its appeal immediately. A woman in baseball? In the 1930s and ‘40s? An African-American woman?

     As much as kids know that ours was a largely segregated country at that time, it’s really hard to adequately drive that point home in a way that effectively conveys the humiliation, the daily indignities so many people endured. It has become a fact memorized: separate entrances, separate water fountains, back of the bus. Likewise, I don’t think most kids really understand how limited employment opportunities were for women in Effa Manley’s day.


     If I had a chance to sit down with my readers, I’d end up telling Effa Manley’s story just like my niece and nephew tell their stories, circling back repeatedly to fill in spots that might be blanks.


     With any book, but especially with a picture book, you have to use your words wisely. Representing a life in a mere 32 pages (with big illustrations on each page) requires you to make difficult choices. You can’t afford to spare any words to drop out of your story to say, Now listen up and pay attention, here, reader. Women just didn’t do that kind of thing in those days!


     As with any piece of writing, you do the best you can. You use words to provide a framework for understanding, and you hope for the best.

     Sometimes you count on a co-reader—parent, teacher, librarian—to play the role of my niece and nephew. A reader can step outside a story in a way a writer can’t. They can spiral back around and fill in the blanks.

     When I think of what ended up on the SHE LOVED BASEBALL cutting room floor -- the anecdotes, the contextual clues, the telling moments -- I try to remind myself, to make myself sincerely believe, that it’s not necessary for a child to understand every aspect of the story in all the exact ways I intended. What’s important is that readers take away something that is meaningful.

     There’s also the delicious knowledge that readers can return to a book with a year or two of life under their belt, with a greater understanding of the world, and comprehend the book in a newer, deeper way. I loved that sense of getting it more, getting it better, each time I read a book as a child. I still do.

     Taking the long view, we really shouldn’t lose sight of this: a young reader’s possible inability to understand how rare it was for a woman to be so influential and powerful at that time in our history is really, at its core, a fantastic indicator of all the progress we’ve made.

     Effa Manley inspired me in the way she always stood up for what was right and did what needed to be done, without any regard for what others might think. That is the meaningful something I hope all readers will get. No circling back around required.

Editors Note: Find out more about Audrey Vernick at her website or visit her blog, She Loved Baseball: An Author's Thoughts from Left Field. 

A discussion guide for teachers for She Loved Baseball is also available at her website.