Final Post

Over the course of the semester I believe I have learned a lot about diverse literature. Before taking this course I was unaware of “insider” and “outsider” authors in terms of diverse literature. Throughout the semester I have been able to shape my opinion about the insider/outsider debate. Ultimately, I believe a piece of literature reflecting a diverse culture needs to be authentic. It does not matter if the author is an insider or outsider to the culture as long as the literature reflects the diverse group accurately. I think people need focus more on the quality of the literature rather than if the author is an insider or outsider to a particular culture.

During the course of the semester I have been able to learn further about diverse cultures. I feel I am able to evaluate pieces of literature representing a particular group because of the information I have been exposed to from this course. I am more aware of stereotypes and the type of language for these particular groups that we have studied. In particular I am more aware of stereotypes of Native Americans and the language used for GLBT. I believe I am able to critical read children’s literature and ultimately decide if I would want these texts in my future classroom.

The most important thing I have learned from this course is to expose children to authentic pieces of quality literature from a variety of cultures. With that I will be having a diverse library within my future classroom of all cultures studied within this course.

Article

Bishop, Rudine Sims. Walk Tall in the World: African American Literature for Today's Children. Washington, D.C.: Journal of Negro Education, 1990.

In the article Bishop discusses how there are many famous African American “insider” authors including Lucille Clifton and Mildred Taylor. Bishop also discusses how there is not many prominent “insider” illustrators for African American literature for children. Once reading about the contrast between the numbers of well-known African American “insider” authors to illustrators, I began to question the effects it has on children literature as a whole.

As many of the books young children read have illustrations, I began to question the authenticity of picture books that are or are not illustrated by an “insider” to the African American culture. Ultimately, one has to question is an “insider” illustrator more authentic than an “outsider”? While taking this course, I have concentrated on literary aspects of African American literature. However, before the final project, many of the books read consisted of literature without illustrations. Now, I am evaluating texts including illustrations, so are my chosen books authentic if both not the author and illustrator are “insiders” to African American culture?

Final Project Reflection

My final project focuses on African American literature. Originally, I had chosen Arab literature; however, many libraries did not have selection of diverse text. Instead I choose African American literature because my hometown library has a large variety of books to select from. I also was quickly able to research “insider” authors by searching for African American authors for children’s literature on the internet. Of these authors I choose to review Mildred Taylor’s Friendship, Angela Jackson by Smell of Roses, Lucille Clifton’s My Friend Jacob, and Valerie Flournoy’s The Patchwork Quilt.

After reading and reviewing the children’s books, I realized many connections within the African American literature I had chosen. Of the four books I chose, three of the books are from the child’s perspective. By the authors choosing to write the story from the child’s perspective, I believe it allows children to relate and understand the text better. I particularly think it allows students to better understand difficult topics such as disabilities in My Friend Jacob and segregation both in Friendship and Smell of Roses. Both Friendship and Smell of Roses deal with the issue of segregation between blacks and whites. I believe the segregation between black and whites is an important aspect of American history that children need to learn about in order to promote equality between all races.

Overall, all the text I chose involved bonds of either friendship or family. The family bond between Grandma and granddaughter exists in The Patchwork Quilt and the friendship between the young boy and Jacob in My Friend Jacob. The bond between siblings also prominently existed both in Friendship between Cassie and her brothers as well as the young girl and her sister, Minnie, in Smell of Roses. Ultimately, all the books allow children people to relate to the text because family and/or friendship is a commonality amongst all groups of people.

The Patchwork Quilt

Flournoy, Valerie. The Patchwork Quilt. New York: Penguin Publishing, 1985.

The Patchwork Quilt is a story about an African American girl learning about life through her Grandmother by making a patchwork quilt. Tanya learns each patch of the quilt represents a past memory consisting of a life lesson. Every time a piece of the quilt is sewn on the memory lives on forever. Unfortunately, Tanya’s Grandmother becomes ill, but Tanya finishes the family quilt herself.

Flournoy incorporates the African American culture stressing the value of family and memories. As many families the elderly are the strength of the family. Flournoy addresses the issue of elders becoming ill in a positive light because both by Tanya becoming independent and the quilt allowing one’s memory to live on forever. I believe many children of all cultures can relate to this book because of family and past memories. The Flournoy shows African American woman being providers, teachers, and learners. Tanya becomes a strong African American woman by learning the importance of family and past memories by finishing the quilt for her grandmother.

My Friend Jacob

Clifton, Lucille. My Friend Jacob. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1980.

My Friend Jacob is a story about an African American boy, whose best friend is cognitively impaired. The two boys are very best friends, where they do everything together including grocery shopping. The boy, the narrator, helps Jacob remember things such as cars and finally helps him learn how to knock on the door before entering.

Clifton includes two cultures, which are African American and people with disabilities, in her picture book. Although the reader would be unaware of the young boy’s race without illustrations, the story shows acceptance of all kinds. Since the book was written in 1980, I was surprised at how well Clifton addresses the issue of someone being cognitively impaired as well as a biracial friendship. I preferred how Clifton chose race not to be a major factor, but an enhancement to the story. The summary states Jacob is “mentally slower”. However, his disability is never identified in the story, only that Jacob has trouble learning. Although the boy’s mother is skeptical of Jacob, the boy shows acceptance of all types of people.

Smell of Roses

Johnson, Angela. Sweet Smell of Roses. New York: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, 2004.

Sweet Smell of Roses is a story about an African American girl and her sister, who sneak out of their house to attend a civil rights march on Charlotte Street. As they approach a crowd is gathering listening to Martin Luther King Jr. speaking about equality. While the children join the march, they experience the segregation between blacks and whites as adults scream, “You are not right. Equality can’t be yours”.

Johnson narrative includes a vast amount of history, while expressing the time period through a child’s perceptive. John demonstrates adults as well as children were fighting for equality and experiencing segregation. I believe Taylor addresses the negative impact segregation caused both on children and adults. The book not only demonstrates equality between blacks and whites, but between adults and children. The picture book depicts a struggling time for America; however, it demonstrates how blacks including children were standing up for their rights as human beings.

Friendship

Mildred, Taylor. Friendship. New York: Penguin Books, 1998.

Friendship by Mildred Taylor is a story about a group of African American children living in Mississippi during the 1930’s. During the 1930’s segregation between blacks and whites was prominent and Cassie, the narrator, is no exception. In the novel Cassie’s mother does not allow her and her brothers to attend John Wallace’s store because of his attitude towards black people. Once encountering Mr. Tom Bee, an older black man, the children discover Tom and John have been friends for many years due to him saving John's life. Ultimately, John betrays his friendship with Tom shooting him in the leg.

Taylor chooses to depict topics such as racism and segregation through a child’s perspective. By Taylor choosing to portray these topics by a child, I believe it makes these issues more understanding for children. Racism and segregation are important and difficult concepts to grasp, but Cassie’s experiences and emotions allow children to further understand the time period. The novel not only includes history of the south, but principals about friendship as well. I think many children will be able to relate to the novel because of the concept of friendship being tested by peer pressure and betrayal.

Identity

“Here's the thing: being gay is not an issue, it is an identity. It is not something that you can agree or disagree with. It is a fact, and must be defended and represented as a fact”. -David Levithan
Interestingly my teacher chose to end class with this quote, as well, as I chose to end my questioning the text paper with it. I agree with David Levithan’s statement. I believe a person’s sexual orientation is always going to be a person’s identity. Subsequently, since sexual orientation is always part of a person’s identity it is not an issue rather than a fact. In the article Levithan compared being gay is similar to being Jewish because they both can be a part of one’s identity. I believe sexual orientation is going to always be a part of someone’s identity, however, a religion and/or culture may not be. Although I agree with Levithan, I believe why homosexuality is treated as an issue is based on one’s belief. While I believe when a person is born they are instilled with their sexual orientation. However, why I believe homosexuality is treated as an issue is because others believe a person can choose to be gay after birth.

Hudson Library

Since I was going home for the weekend, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to discover the types of diverse children literature existing in my hometown library. Hudson Library is a fairly new library since being redone a couple of years ago. When walking to the children’s section, the selection of books was massive. I approached the librarian explaining how I was in a children’s literature course concentrating on diversity. I said I was looking for books containing Arabic culture or GLBT for my final project.

As learned in class, both of these groups are highly misrepresented and scarce in children’s literature. As she was looking through the database with the titles of books I had found, she was unable to find any book on GLBT and one book on Arabic culture. I was extremely surprised by the lack of diverse children’s literature in my hometown library, especially in Arabic culture. A large Muslim population including one of my best friends from high school lives only twenty minutes away from Hudson in Kent. As a suburban largely consisting of Caucasians, I questioned how children would get exposed to other diverse cultures when their library doesn’t even have the means to support it.

Al Capone Does My Shirts

As a special education major I am very passionate about how people with disabilities are represented in novels. After reading Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Goldenko, I was upset about how Natalie’s behavior was not explained as being autistic. Since Goldenko was trying to be authentic to the time period of 1935, where autism had yet to be diagnosed, she chose not to explain her disability. Even in the author note, she explained Natalie has someone who displayed autistic tendencies not actually being autistic.

As someone who understands the negative impact of labeling, I am concerned because of the negative stereotypes that could arise from this novel about children who are “different”. I fear children may look at someone as “different” rather than recognizing their disability after reading this novel. I believe this novel could have been a perfect opportunity to explain autism rather than just describing autistic tendencies. Since Natalie’s disability is never explained in the novel, the people in the novel looked at her as “different”. As someone who advocates for children with disabilities to be mainstreamed in to society, I worry because Goldenko chose a time period where people were not accepting of children with disabilities. While writing my paper, I struggled questioning the text because I already had developed my opinion on the topic. Since I believe questioning the author’s chose of the time period of the novel, I persevered. However, subsequently I struggled to show both perspectives of the topic.

Personal Philosophy

As a Special Education/English major, I believe multicultural literature is important for not only me, but for my future students. I strongly believe in relating to the students that I may teach. In order to be prepared to relate to my future students, I need to learn and literature from a variety of diverse backgrounds. Ultimately, being the main reason that I am taking this course. Not only do I need to encompass literature from a variety of diverse backgrounds, but also be prepared to teach students about other cultures and/or societies. By having multicultural literature in my future classroom it will allow my students to challenge and question what they already know and/or experience.

I believe using literature is an excellent way to integrate new information of a culture and/or society. When presenting new information of a culture to students, I believe it is important to present a nonbiased opinion as well as sure to evaluate the text for any stereotypes of the given culture it may portray. I also believe it is important to teach students how to question the literature we read in class by challenging their previous beliefs and thinking critically about the given text.

Chief Illiniwek

As an Ohio resident, thirty minutes outside Cleveland and a girlfriend of a huge baseball fan, I have been attending Cleveland Indians baseball games at Jacobs’s field since I was a young girl. Prior to watching the movie Chief Illiniwek, I never realized how the name Cleveland Indians could be offensive. Once watching the movie, I now question whether or not I will be attending baseball games with my boyfriend in the spring.

Once speaking to my boyfriend about the movie, he mentioned how often times he has seen Native American protestors standing outside the stadium with signs about the connotation of the team’s name being offensive to their heritage. How could I have been so blind not to have seen them? The movie showed me how Native Americans feel about being affiliated with a comedic character of their traditional culture such University of Illinois "Chiefs". Although the Cleveland Indian is a cartoon character, I can see how I may take offense if a sport team decided to make their team mascot a cartoon character of a preppy, Caucasian woman in her twenties. How would feel if a sports team made a mascot cartoon character of you?

Insider/Outsider Debate

Before taking this class I had never heard about an author being an insider or an outsider pertaining to the topic they are writing about. As this class is a diverse literature course, I realized the importance of insider/outsider author debate. Although an author may not be “insider” inadvertently, they are labeled as an outsider. Is the line between an insider and outsider author that clear? Can an “insider” be more of an outsider in their own culture than perhaps an labeled outsider? Or can an “outsider” be more of an insider to a culture other than their own? Based on ones personal experiences with any culture (even their own) can cause stereotypes or biased opinions. One may be part of a culture based on their experiences in which they identify themselves with, ultimately causing them to reflect in a certain way. The question is if those experiences are reflected accurately in written form.

Introduction

Hello I am Kara Donahoe and I am a future special education teacher. Currently I am taking a diverse children literature course at Michigan State University. I am interested in diverse literature because it will allow me to relate to my future student's lives. I am also interested in learning how I can integrate diverse literature into a classroom with students who have learning disabilities.