This School is not White!
by Doreen Rappaport; illustrated by Curtis James
Northern whites often have amnesia when it comes to the civil rights movement. In movies and TV shows, we like to see ourselves depicted as the lone heroes standing up to the lynch mob or the corrupt Southern judge, defending Po’ Black Folk from their redneck oppressors.
In reality, African Americans usually had to go it alone.
In 1965, the Carter family of Drew, Mississippi decided they wanted something better for their kids than sharecropping, and sent seven of them off to hell each morning. The corridors and classrooms of the town’s formerly all-white schools rang with taunts, jeers and threats.
The Carters held their ground despite their children’s agony, losing their jobs and their home and having to rely on charity from civil rights groups and Quakers. They succeeded after several years and countless tears.
A true story, the book ends with "where are they now" blurbs for a feel-good ending. But it's the prose itself, with its lilting, almost singsong imitation of black English, as if putting it in Mae Bertha and Matthew Carter's own words, that makes for such a compelling and unforgettable read.
Rating: *\*\*\
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