Literature for Children by Afro-American Writers: 1976-1986

I have compiled this bibliography of works by Afro-American writers published between 1976 and 1986 and read primarily by young people for several reasons. First, the publication of bibliographies of literature by or about Ethnic Americans has decreased significantly since the mid 1970s. Of those which are available, few, if any, focus upon works published within the last decade. This is partly because of the precipitous decrease in the number of new works by or about Ethnic Americans being published. The situation with Puerto Rican literature is more extreme than for some other groups, but it is an instructive example. According to Sonia Nieto's article, "Past Accomplishments, Current Needs: La Lucha Continua," the early seventies saw a mild increase in the number of books for children by or about Puerto Ricans, but "by 1980, not one children's book with Puerto Rican characters was published in the United States."

Not only have the number of new publications decreased but the rapidity with which ethnic literature goes out of print makes it too costly for many of the traditional sources of bibliographies to update their lists. This is especially true for the libraries and professional education associations which produced the majority of the bibliographies of literature for children by Ethnic Americans. As lists of holdings or existing titles, the early bibliographies are often more extensive. With Afro-American literature, for example, Barbara Rollock of the New York Public Library compiled a listing of works for children about Blacks. The 1974 edition listed 950 titles in print. The 1984 edition has 500 fewer titles.

Yet, it is important to continue to provide new bibliographies. For book buyers, including teachers and librarians, they are the easiest way of maintaining a balanced and contemporary collection. Though the percentage of ethnic writers continues to decline, there are still a few new writers entering the field. And, as we are all too aware, some subjects or approaches to those subjects are not timeless in their appeal to young readers. In much the same manner as the style or themes of Catcher in the Rye no longer seem remarkable and innovative to readers of Judy Blume, Robert Cormier, S.E. Hinton, or Rosa Guy, works that introduce topics such as racial discrimination or cultural diversity or that seek to validate the complexity of contemporary urban lifestyles do not compel the same attention as they did in the early sixties. Although such subjects are by no means exhausted or obsolete, for many young readers school integration is not a fascinating possibility of the future and Martin Luther King, Jr. is the historical figure whose holiday precedes that of Washington and Lincoln.

Moreover, few bibliographies distinguish between writings by persons of a given ethnic group and those by others who write about them. Since there are numerous documented instances of racist and inauthentic portrayals of ethnic Americans, this can be a problem for those interested in resolving contradictions or understanding the development of a particular ethnic literary tradition. While there is no guarantee that an Ethnic American writer will create a book which is not itself racist or inauthentic, information that identifies the writer's ethnic origins can begin to answer questions of authorial authority or orientation. And, while it is readily apparent that artists such as Ezra Jack Keats, Dorothy Sterling, and Arnold Adoff have contributed immeasurably to the literature about Afro-Americans, for example, it is also true that their work, sensitive as it is, is not work by Afro-Americans themselves. Writers may possess empathy and imagination and a responsible writer will supplement those instincts with careful research, but ultimately, it is through the writer's own experiences that the literature is filtered. Yoshiko Uchida, Arna Bontemps, Walter Dean Myers, and Eloise Greenfield among others have argued similarly to Laurence Yep that, "The ghosts of the past will continue to haunt the mind from conception. Though they cannot be exorcised, they can be made partners in one's writing." In the final analysis, only works by a member of that ethnic group can constitute that group's literature, can...