FAMILY TREES, ROYAL ROOTS, SCHOOL VISITS & FREE GUIDES
Why so sad? I just found out that Carole is not my mother.
How far back can you trace your roots? In KIN: Rooted in Hope, my son Jeffery and I reach back to 1770 at Maryland’s largest plantation and to the Reconstruction-era villages our ancestors co-founded. Dramatic poems and scratchboard art conjure our enslaved forebears, reclaiming lost narratives and a royal legacy.
Our new presentation based on KIN shares primary sources, poems, illustrations and the book’s backstory. We are now booking school and library visits for KIN and for K-12 programs about the Tuskegee Airmen, Tulsa Race Massacre, segregation/civil rights, jazz/the Harlem Renaissance/Great Depression, poetry and your choice of biographies. And we’re still celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop.
In case you missed these TEACHER GUIDES for recent and award-winning titles.
Standing in the Need of Prayer: A Modern Retelling of the Classic Spiritual
How Do You Spell Unfair? MacNolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee
Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre
The Faith of Elijah Cummings: The North Star for Equal Justice
R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul
To bring us to your school or community, contact cbwpoet@gmail.com.
Pass history on!
Carole and Jeffery
During the 1960s, my mother and I often visited the Baltimore Museum of Art. The museum’s crown jewel is the Cone Collection of impressionist art, which featured Edgar Degas’ sculpture, “Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen.” As a girl, that piece resonated with me because I too had taken ballet lessons and because I could almost look the youthful subject eye to eye.
Last month after viewing The Culture, the dopest exhibition ever of hip-hop-inspired art and artifacts, I strolled past the “Little Dancer” for old-time’s sake. I could not have been more shocked by what I saw. Standing across from “Little Dancer” is “Meredith,” Simone Leigh’s towering stoneware and steel counterpart to Degas’ sculpture. Adorned in a rafia skirt, Meredith is clearly of African descent.
After all those years of admiring “Little Dancer,” I was finally seeing myself in Meredith. She spoke not only to the Black girl I once was but to the Black woman I have become. Teary-eyed, I realized once again how much representation matters–for children and for adults.
My son Jeffery and I were recently interviewed by Preservation Maryland President Nicholas Redding on PreserveCast. We discuss our latest collaboration KIN: ROOTED IN HOPE, an illustrated verse novel chronicling our genealogical quest to conjure our ancestors’ voices and visages. The book is set in Talbot County, Maryland, at Wye House, once the state’s largest enslavement plantation, and in the Black, Reconstruction-era villages of Unionville and Copperville, which our ancestors cofounded. KIN releases September 19, 2023. Pre-order here.
Inspirational picture books are great for Vacation Bible School. Follow the links to reading/activity guides for several acclaimed titles.
The Beatitudes: From Slavery to Civil Rights. Inspired by Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, this book chronicles how African Americans looked to God at every stage of the freedom struggle.
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom. This conductor on the Underground Railroad talked to God as friend to friend.
The Faith of Elijah Cummings: The North Star for Equal Justice. The late congressman’s faith in God fueled his activism and his ambition.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, The Queen of Soul. Raised in the church, the R&B legend gave concerts to benefit the Civil Rights Movement.
How Sweet the Sound: The Story of Amazing Grace. The rhyming text chronicles the history behind the timeless hymn.
Oprah: The Little Speaker. The media mogul from rural Mississippi got her start speaking in church. Kids can follow in Oprah’s footsteps by memorizing
Be a King: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Dream and You. A litany for young people on serving others.
By and By: Charles A. Tindley, The Father of Gospel Music. This founding father of gospel music composed 30-plus hymns that are still popular today. Sing a few. gospel_music_lesson-plan
Resource Links
Black History Books by Carole Weatherford – https://bit.ly/cbwbooks
Teachers Guides:
Schomburg – https://www.candlewick.com/book_files/076368046X.btg.1.pdf
BOX – https://www.candlewick.com/book_files/0763691569.btg.1.pdf
R-E-S-P-E-C-T – https://d28hgpri8am2if.cloudfront.net/tagged_assets/6491475/9781534452282_cg_respect%20curriculum%20guide.pdf
Poster – https://d28hgpri8am2if.cloudfront.net/tagged_assets/6258036/9781534452282_cg_respect%20poster.pdf
Unspeakable – https://lernerbooks.com/download/unspeakableteachingguide
Our most popular summer program has always been Jeffery’s hip hop workshop. The powerful workshop is going virtual this summer in hopes of reaching even more students. The program is ideal for libraries, camps and youth agencies. For booking information, contact carmenoliver@the bookingbiz.com.
BY AND BY: CHARLES ALBERT TINDLEY, THE FATHER OF GOSPEL MUSIC–my picture book biography with illustrator Bryan Collier–has me reminiscing about the Black Church. I was baptized, confirmed and married at Union Memorial United Methodist Church in Baltimore. In Sunday School, we sang the spiritual, “This Little Light of Mine.” Afterwards, I joined my parents at worship service. I remember the hard pews, stained glass windows, altar flowers and pipe organ–one of the city’s finest. I also remember the colorful handheld fans that cooled adults and entertained little angels in the days before air-conditioning.
Big fans of fans, like Black Southern Belle, collect the artifacts–or at least compile pictures of them.
Coming soon: a cool fan activity.
