A Long Time Coming

Starred review from July 1, 2023

Gr 7 Up-A collective biography of six major Black resistance leaders, this title documents the history of Black racial strife, always underwritten with an unwavering belief in equality and freedom. Written in "story-poems" with quotes italicized, Shepard's work presents the lives and racial justice work of Ona Judge, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Barack Obama. Christie's captivating, full-page art gives each section visual grounding so that readers can imagine the time that Shepard describes. Unique stories of childhood or life events before their fame will help teens understand these often-studied individuals as products of their time. These narratives will also give young people a new understanding of how the subjects became exceptional forces for racial freedom, such as Obama's fifth grade lie about his "princely" African father. Meticulously researched and organized, each section's poems are given places and years. Back matter includes extensive source notes, an index, a time line, and a concluding poem for readers to consider how racial equality has been "a long time coming." VERDICT Shepard creatively argues through captivating poetic history that racial justice is the long struggle in this country and that we are still working toward who "we" is in this more perfect union. A must purchase.-Jamie Winchell

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Starred review from June 1, 2023
Grades 8-12 *Starred Review* In this substantive nonfiction history in verse, Shepherd depicts the lives of six Black Americans who "tilted the country's moral arc toward liberty, freedom, and justice." Chronologically overlapping thematic sections illuminate how each person's work built on those who came before. Part 1, "1773-1913: Enslavement and Emancipation" focuses on fugitive slaves. An account of the life of Ona Judge is followed by the interwoven stories of Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. Jim Crow and the civil rights movement anchor part 2, "1862-1968: Freedom and Justice," featuring the anti-lynching work of Ida B. Wells and "prophet warrior" Martin Luther King Jr. Part 3, "1961-2008: The Promise of America," passes the torch to Barack Obama. It addresses the "riddle" of how he became president and concludes with the triumph of his first inauguration. Shepard does not shy away from the horrors of lynching, rape, and mob violence, but his eye is on perseverance and forward momentum. The poetry is always engaging, at times unwieldy, at times electric in its power. Most words are his own, but Shepard occasionally weaves in italicized quotations. The source notes and bibliography are organized by subject, followed by a perfectly titled time line ("The Long Struggle to Form a More Perfect Union"). Highly recommended for both personal reading and curricular study.

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Starred review from June 1, 2023
A cycle of free verse poems carries readers from 1773 to "tomorrow," focusing on the lives of six Black Americans whose experiences represent centuries of ferocious resistance to extraordinary oppression. These figures are Ona Judge, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Martin Luther King Jr., and Barack Obama. A prefatory note explains to readers that this is "a work of creative nonfiction told in...story-poems--flash lines of verse, prose, and quotes--anchored in historical facts." The author previously demonstrated his straight nonfiction chops with Now or Never! (2017), his splendid account of Black journalists in the Civil War; here he proves equally adept at the more emotive form of poetry. Rooting the events presented in documented history, Shepard distills them into concentrated bursts of truth. In the section on Wells and her decadeslong campaign against lynching, he writes: "More than two hundred Black / children, women, and men were dead / in a two-day attack by Whites / from three states. / History called it a race riot not a massacre / as if the sharecroppers / had burned their own bodies." Christie's section-heading black-and-white scenes are as starkly powerful as the poems. The information presented is kaleidoscopic rather than comprehensive; readers will come away with clear senses of who these individuals were and what motivated them, while formidable backmatter, including a lengthy timeline, further reading, bibliography, and source notes, provides avenues for them to fill in the gaps. Electrifying. (index) (Verse nonfiction. 12-16)

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