African American Literature

While taking a class on diverse children's literature, I am definitely most interested in the African American section. We learned in class a couple weeks ago that the African American children's literature is now in the third generation of authors/illustrations. We also discussed that this is a controversial content, but it is still being explored. Some of the authors of this literature are Bishop, Harris, Smitherman, Grimes, Myers, Lester, Hamilton, and Woodson. During class, I really enjoyed the opportunity to take a look at some of these author's as well as some others work first hand. I was amazed at the illustrations because of how realistic they looked, but at the same time, the illustrators didn't use ordinary colors. Instead they used bright purples, greens, yellows, and oranges, which made the book look even more beautiful. All of the books really stood out to me, and I believe it is because I am an outsider of the African American literature, but I am very interested in learning about it more. All of these authors are insiders, and I really took this into consideration as a future teacher because of the authenticity of these books. I could tell by reading the stories that the authors could really relate to them, and I felt like they would be a great attribute to my classroom's library. Here are some of the books that I wrote down in my notebook that I am going to buy. I really think that other future teachers, or anyone for that matter should take a look at these books. I would say that my favorite is Walter Dean Myers and his books: I've Seen The Promised Land, Harlem, Blues Journey, Shooter, and Patrol. I also liked a book by Tom Feelings called The Middle Passage. Even though I was only able to skim through these books, I believe that these books would be a great diversity lesson for all students, as well as the history of African Americans.

insider/outsider position

Depending on certain circumstances, I believe that both an insider and outsider are able to discuss multiculturalism in literature. I believe when literature comes from an insider, children are able to see themselves more clearly because they can recognize themselves in stories. Therefore, they have a better way of relating to it. However, I do not think it is fair to say that an outsider cannot write about multiculturalism. Outsiders who are very well educated about a certain culture, should be given an opportunity to share their side of the issue because this could bring even more diversity into play. I understand that there could be generalizations or stereotypes made, but it is our job as future teachers to stay away from those as much as possible. When outsiders do come up with successful stories that are not biased (or insiders approve of them) I think that they could potentially write a better story about another ethnicity/culture/etc. if the insider is not as educated as the outsider in their own background. In conclusion, I think the best way to solve this debate between the insider/outsider is to combine their ideas together and work together in order to bring their own experiences into the story, and to clear up any generalizations or stereotypes by challenging them.

Hello everyone,
My name is Tiffany and I am a junior at Michigan State University. My major is elementary education, as well as language arts. I am very interested in diverse literature because I want to fit the needs of each individual student when I become a teacher. I think it is very important to have a variety of books with different backgrounds of cultures and ethnicities because students need to relate to books in some way, as well as learn about someone else that is different from them. I just want to make sure that I use the right books the right way without using stereotypes, unless I could use stereotypes to teach my students about the subject. Looking forward to learning more about diverse literature! :)