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A review by cielo_reads
And We Rise by Erica Martin
challenging
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
First Impressions: Short collection of artfully juxtaposed poems centered around the civil rights movement.
I remember when I first learned about Claudette Colvin a few years ago. I felt exactly how the author mentioned in her notes, shocked and upset that I didn’t know her name or face. It’s really special for me to see the way this information has moved from adult nonfiction (Push Out: The Criminalization of Black Girls in School by Monique Morris) to young adult nonfiction here and soon kids nonfiction. The way we learned about Rosa Parks will be the way the youth (and therefore everyone) knows about Claudette Colvin. Americans tend to be spoon-fed peaceful rhetoric about MLK as if he wasn’t still assassinated. Having the full truth about the civil rights movement rather than being allowed information through a narrow lens is very important. It helps us to think critically about race relations in this country and how much we are not taught about in school. And as history tends to repeat itself it prepares us for what might happen again.
This book can be used to introduce the unflinching truth about racism and the civil rights movement in America and what we are often not taught about in schools.
I remember when I first learned about Claudette Colvin a few years ago. I felt exactly how the author mentioned in her notes, shocked and upset that I didn’t know her name or face. It’s really special for me to see the way this information has moved from adult nonfiction (Push Out: The Criminalization of Black Girls in School by Monique Morris) to young adult nonfiction here and soon kids nonfiction. The way we learned about Rosa Parks will be the way the youth (and therefore everyone) knows about Claudette Colvin. Americans tend to be spoon-fed peaceful rhetoric about MLK as if he wasn’t still assassinated. Having the full truth about the civil rights movement rather than being allowed information through a narrow lens is very important. It helps us to think critically about race relations in this country and how much we are not taught about in school. And as history tends to repeat itself it prepares us for what might happen again.
This book can be used to introduce the unflinching truth about racism and the civil rights movement in America and what we are often not taught about in schools.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Slavery