Inclusive Aesthetics and Social Justice: The Vanguard of Small, Multicultural Presses
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A response to the words of the prophet Amos, "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an everflowing stream"—which Martin Luther King reiterated during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s—is as necessary today as it was forty years ago, or as it was four thousand years ago. In the twenty-first century, justice rolling down like waters describes the important work of small, multicultural publishers. Through their publications, Lee & Low in New York, Children's Book Press in California, Cinco Puntos in Texas, Fulcrum in Colorado, Groundwood in Toronto, and Northland in Arizona bring about social justice while they simultaneously pursue high quality art.1 In a national, international, and political climate that pushes the poor and the working poor further out of view, these publishers provide representation through literature and the visual arts that give hope to the oppressed and the marginalized, who are too often children of color. I will consider books published by these presses in the larger political, economic, social, and educational contexts, and consider the history of the presses, selected books, and their awards.
Social, Economic, and Educational Context
In 2001, forty percent of children in U.S. were of color, and that number continues to rise (Banks vii). In 2003, eight percent of the 5,000 children's books published were by and/or about people of color, a statistic that has remained fairly constant in recent years (CCBC, "Statistics"). Given this disparity, it is no surprise the quality and availability of multicultural literature varies widely in schools. Two surveys conducted by the National Education Association (NEA)—one in 1999 and another in 2000—involving several thousand teachers and students indicated that multicultural literature is still underused in the nation's schools (NEA, "Spotlights"). Of the top one hundred favorite [End Page 243] books of teachers and students, very few (four to six) were by or about people of color in 1999 and, again, in 2000.
A 2005 issue of Reading Today,a publication of the International Reading Association, recommends to its wide readership the National Endowment for the Humanities list, which is available on the internet; this list, like most lists, must not be received uncritically. Of the sixty-one titles recommended for summertime reading for children in grades K–3, there are two authors of color—Donald Crews and Taro Yashima. While Ezra Jack Keats' The Snowy Day, which is on the K–3 list, features a child of color, there are many authors of color who could, and should, also be represented. Of the fifty-eight titles recommended for grades 4–6, there are but three authors of color: Gwendolyn Brooks, Langston Hughes, and Sharon Bell Mathis, all African American. Even though it is a Newbery winner, there are serious problems with Walter Edmonds' The Matchlock Gun, which is on the list.2 And, while I am not suggesting we stop reading Carol Ryrie Brink and Laura Ingalls Wilder, their books—Caddie Woodlawn and The Little House on the Prairie—must be discussed for their demeaning portrayal of American Indians. The lists for middle and high school are somewhat better; books recommended for grades 7–8 include those of Frederick Douglass, Virginia Hamilton, Julius Lester, Mildred Taylor, Yoshiko Uchida, and Laurence Yep. The high school list includes Chinua Achebe, Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Richard Wright. However, one would hope children would not have to wait until middle and high school to see people who look like themselves on the flaps of book jackets.
Teacher educators and education textbook writers must assume some of the responsibility for this state of affairs. In the books that teach the teachers—language arts and children's literature textbooks—literature by and about people of color is still, despite some progress, left out in appalling ways. Mary Scroggins and I have written about this elsewhere, so I will give but two arresting examples: in a third edition of a children's literature textbook published in 2004, in a "History and Trends" chart of touchstone books from 1440 to...
