Reviews

And We Rise by Erica Martin

lovesarahmae's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

#AndWeRise by #EricaMartin
...
An evocative poetry collection retelling the American Civil Rights movement.  These poems draw out the emotions of the moment, but also the lengthy perserance of Black Americans during this time.  I was most impressed with Martin's ability to show the slow and dedicated march towards progress, with the exhaustion and heartbreak that comes with such consistancy over time.  This is a quick read, oerfect for high schoolers embarking on their first real dive into American History.

laurenju90's review

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

erincataldi's review

5.0

And We Rise is a powerful telling of the Civil Rights Movement in verse. Words matter and these poems go beyond just Dr. King and Rosa Parks; they tell of the marches, the murders, the mayhem, the injustices and more. Told in a linear fashion, the poems march right alongside the movement that they are discussing. The layout of the poems is meaningful and add extra layers to the intensity of what is being said. Peppered throughout the poetry are photos from the Civil Rights Movement. Extremely powerful.

sadiebedford's review against another edition

emotional informative medium-paced

5.0

ilis25's review

inspiring fast-paced

5.0

littleredmacks's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring fast-paced

4.5

 4.5 stars 

Book of poetry 

Civil rights movement 

Read by the author 

Powerful poems 

 

I felt like every poem in this collection was raw and vulnerable. 

 

This author came across the fact that Rosa Parks wasn’t the first black woman to refuse to give up her seat but we didn’t learn about her so she started doing research in an attempt to uncover the true history that America loves to cover up. 

 

The signs, everywhere you go poem was powerful to listen to. I'm not sure the impact would have been the same if I was only reading it. 

 

I heard there were pictures in the book/ebook and would have loved to see that so I'm a bit disappointed I missed out on that. 

Favorite Quotes: 

"There's no difference / between you / and i / except that you get to live / and i get to die / trying"  

 

"Ride or die/ for there are things worse than death/ like being deprived of freedom/ until your last rattling breath"

 

"But darling we’re still prisoners of the red white and blue"

 

"If I could go back I would capture the captures/ and tell my people to flee/ if I could go back I would burn down the ships/ so they never even crossed the sea" 

 

"History has become a beautiful American lie/overseers rewrite it and always deny/people have the right to know the ugly truth/ but only tell part of it/ especially to the youth"

guylou's review

5.0

_reedmylife_'s review

5.0

This book is an eye-opener. We get to learn about the history that we never get to hear about in our history classes. This poetry collection features the stories that have been untold for way too long. They are the stories of those who had their lives stolen from them and those who stood up for their humanity even if it cost them their lives.

It's so disappointing to see this history and know that our present day is no better for black people. The cops are still going after black people for no reason and the different reactions to protests depending on the color of your skin truly shows times are not changing, but history is repeating itself.

thenextgenlibrarian's review

5.0

“There's no difference / between you / and i / except that you get to live / and i get to die / trying"

emilymorgan02's review

3.0

I could see this being an incredible text for a classroom to teach about the civil rights movement.