Jeunesse: Young People, Texts,
Cultures
Volume
12, Issue 2
Winter
2020
Integration and Inequality: Mid-1900s
Midwest American History, As Told by Modern Youth Literature
—Heather
J. Matthews
Cline-Ransome,
Lesa. Finding Langston. Holiday House, 2018. 112 pp. $10.99 pb. ISBN
9780823445820.
Cline-Ransome,
Lesa. Leaving Lymon. Holiday House, 2020. 208 pp. $17.99 hc. ISBN
9780823444427.
Cutler,
Jane. Susie Q Fights Back. Holiday House, 2018. 112 pp. $6.99 pb. ISBN
9780823439935.
As I approach reviewing
three children’s texts on the subject of race and representation, many
Americans are taking to the streets to protest lifetimes of brutality and
inequality that stifles Black people and a legal and judicial system that
continues to be unequal and unfair. Racism, however, is not just an issue for
adults—children are affected by issues of racial and ethnic inequality, and yet
many adults are unwilling to talk about these realities with children. In
reviewing Susie Q Fights Back, Finding Langston, and Leaving
Lymon, it became clear to me that texts such as these need to be available
to young readers to facilitate discussions with them about race. Adults must be
willing to have difficult and uncomfortable discussions about race and
inequality with children, and it is my belief that the above texts can be tools
to aid in this discussion. These three middle-grade texts tackle difficult
topics with effective and appropriate writing and without minimizing the harsh
realities of the American Midwest in the mid-1900s. These fictional, first
person novels feature brave and realistic characters doing their best in a
system that privileges white children over children of colour. The main
characters must come to grips with the fact that they are forced into a place
within society, and each must decide for themselves what concepts such as
equality, justice, and fairness truly mean. Despite any number of odds stacked
against them, such as systemic racism or generational poverty and trauma, each
main character struggles and perseveres to create a space for themselves. [end of page 188]
Jane Cutler’s Susie Q
Fights Back, published in hardcover as Susan Marcus Bends the Rules,
tells the story of Susan Marcus, a young white girl who has just moved from New
York City, New York, to Clayton, Missouri, with her mother and father. Set in
the year 1943, Susie is thrust from the diverse northern city she calls home to
a small midwestern town where Jim Crow laws are still strictly enforced.
Readers learn that Susie is Jewish, and she befriends a young white Christian
girl in her building named Marlene as well as a young Black girl who lives
close by named Loretta. Susie, Marlene, and Loretta quickly develop a
friendship based in the indignation that Loretta is not treated the same as
Susie and Marlene, and the three girls set out to “defy” Jim Crow. The girls
take a stand together, finding a legal loophole in the segregation rules that allows
them to elude legal restrictions and celebrate their friendship in public. The
author, Jane Cutler, modelled some of this story on her own experiences as a
young white Jewish girl who moved from New York to the American Midwest as a
child. Susie Q Fights Back, a PJ Our Way book, was promoted by the PJ
Library, which—along with the middle-school branch of PJ Our Way—sends books
with Jewish content to families in Canada and the US free of charge (“What
Is”). As a PJ Our Way book, Susie Q Fights Back was a promoted title
distributed to young readers.
Lesa Cline-Ransome’s Finding
Langston and Leaving Lymon exist in the same universe as one another
and thus share some settings and characters. Cline-Ransome, a Black author,
first wrote Finding Langston, which tells the story of Langston, a young
Black boy who has recently moved from a small town in Alabama to Chicago with
his father. The impetus for their move, the recent death of Langston’s mother,
haunts both father and son, as both miss her in their own ways. Compounding
this fact, as he is still wearing his Alabama “country clothing” and speaking
with his Alabama accent, Langston finds socializing in school difficult. Adding
to Langston’s school troubles is his bully, Lymon, and Lymon’s friends, Clem and
Erroll, who go out of their way to pick on Langston whenever they can, calling
him “Country Boy” and mocking his dress, speech, and mannerisms (Finding
8-9). Langston lives in the South Side of Chicago, which Langston refers to as
Bronzeville due to the high concentration of Black people living in the
neighbourhood (2). Set in 1946, Langston is wary of segregation in Chicago, but
finds a public library meant for all residents of Chicago, as opposed to [end of page 189] a segregated library (28). There, Langston
learns about his namesake and draws power in his identity. Finding Langston
is a Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book and the winner of the Scott O’Dell
Award for Historical Fiction.
Cline-Ransome’s Leaving
Lymon delves into the life of Langston’s bully, Lymon. This book is neither
a prequel nor a sequel to Finding Langston; the story acts as a bookend,
beginning in 1938 and ending in 1947. Lymon’s story begins in Mississippi,
where Lymon is living with his paternal grandparents. Lymon’s father is incarcerated
and sentenced to forced labour, and his mother, uninterested in raising a
child, has moved to Chicago to begin a new life. Lymon, for the first few years
of the book, is a sweet boy who struggles academically but seems to thrive
socially. Over the years, however, his grandfather dies, his father becomes
absent, and his grandmother falls ill and is unable to care for him. Lymon is
eventually sent to his aunt and uncle, who ultimately pass him to his mother.
Forced to move to Chicago, Lymon sleeps on a couch in an already full apartment
with his mother, her two sons, and her husband. During these years, from 1945
to 1947, Lymon becomes a different boy: one more concerned with his own
well-being than he is anything else, and one who finds an easy target for his
own frustrations in the new student, Langston. Lymon’s life remains a struggle,
but ultimately, he finds solace in music and in himself.
These texts are set
during the same relative time period and in the same relative region of the US
and thus deal with similar issues of race and ethnicity in daily life. The
topic of racism is not often explicitly taught in most middle-grade classrooms
due, for instance, to the discomfort of white faculty and staff or the
inaccuracies within social studies textbooks (Turner). Keeping in mind that the
target reader of each text is ages eight to twelve, each of the three texts
only skims the surface of racial inequities in the US, making sure to tell the
truth without being too harsh or graphic so as to not upset young readers.
Middle-grade readers will find the themes and characters approachable and will
not need substantial background knowledge to make sense of the story—however,
some guidance may be necessary to examine some topics that the texts address.
For example, all three books use the terms “Negro” and “Colored.” Cline-Ransome
writes in the peritext of Finding Langston that these terms “are
intentional and demonstrate the divide that existed at a time between the older
traditions of the South and the [end of page 190] racial
progress of the North,” and though she does not provide her motivation for
using such terms, one can assume a similar reason. Though these terms may be
historically accurate, they must be handled responsibly, as this language is no
longer acceptable in most cultures and settings. Both Cline-Ransome and Cutler
use terms like “Negro” and “Colored” when referring to African American
characters as a way to accurately reflect US society in the mid-1900s. For many
young readers, however, the use of these terms could be confusing for several
reasons. For example, these terms are out of date and students may have never
seen or heard such words used and will therefore not know their meanings;
likewise, students could learn these words and adopt them into their own
vernacular. Therefore, the racial past of these terms is best explored with an
adult. If a reader were to consume and repeat terms like “Negro” and “Colored”
without being educated on the origins and weight of such terms, the child may be
furthering racist practices that the books intend to address.
All three texts deal
with issues of segregation. Susie attends a whites-only school, and her friend
Loretta attends a different school. Lymon describes his schoolteacher
“look[ing] as white as cotton in a room filled with brown faces”
(Cline-Ransome, Leaving 28). Langston is shocked to learn that his
public library is not a space that is segregated, as he naturally assumed most
places are. Each child recognizes that segregation exists, and yet no child
explicitly states how they themselves are affected in a negative way;
segregation is simply accepted as a way of life. Susie is the only character to
explicitly name and act against Jim Crow laws, and she is the only white main
character of all three books. It is possible that because she is white, she
intrinsically knows her punishment will be less than it would for a Black child
speaking out; it is also possible that for Black characters, segregation and
racism is so virulent that it does not need to be named to be known.
Potentially, because Cutler is a white author, she may want to name the Jim
Crow laws for authenticity. Unfortunately, these speculations have no answers,
and readers may find themselves confused without adult guidance to work through
issues of segregation as it appears in these books.
No historical context
regarding the damage that segregation caused appears in the stories, nor does
any information as to how the US came to the point of segregation; many young
readers may not have enough historical knowledge to fill this context in for
themselves. In [end
of page 191] addition, the matter of segregation creating
differences in the legal system or in lifestyle is not addressed. Both
Cline-Ransome and Cutler mention inequality and segregation in terms of the
differences in quality of items (schools, jobs, housing), but do not deeply
address very real systemic problems each character faces (for example, Lymon’s
father being sentenced to hard labour at a prison [Leaving]). Susie is
initially ignorant of Jim Crow laws, and when she sets her mind to break the
law by going to a restaurant with both her white friend and her Black friend,
she is confronted with a harsh truth. Her white friend, Marlene, states, “What
would they do . . . Call the police to come put three innocent little girls in
jail or something?” to which Loretta retorts, “. . . naw, I don’t think they
would put three innocent little girls in jail. I think they would put one
innocent little girl in jail. One innocent little colored girl. Me” (Cutler
64-65). Examining the state of the US in the year 2020, Loretta’s statement
rings of truth—there was and still remains a disparity in the American legal
system when it comes to issues of race, and segregation still affects the lives
of many Americans.
Both Finding Langston
and Leaving Lymon deal with issues of poverty and family. Both boys deal
with mothers who are absent, either by choice or by death, both come from
families who experience financial troubles, and both deal with inequality
brought on by their circumstances of birth and the decades of racism that
predate their lives. Any of these issues independently would be a challenge for
a young person to deal with—all of these issues together form a reality fraught
with generational and societal problems against which both boys must grapple.
Many of the minor characters in both of the above texts deal with similar
issues, such as missing family members, the threat of implied or real violence,
and differences in how people are treated. For example, Lymon refers often to
the fact that reading and writing is difficult for him, which one could
interpret as dyslexia, or simply lacking literacy skills, and yet, rather than
receiving help from any school faculty member, he often is cast aside
(Cline-Ransome, Leaving 73-74). One can view this apathy from his
teachers as a result of racism and segregation. Time and again, the Black
children in Finding Langston and Leaving Lymon (as well as in Susie
Q Fights Back) find themselves lacking what they need to truly flourish.
Susie Q Fights Back also features a young
Jewish girl during what would become known as the Holocaust. As a Jewish person
in New York City, Susie would certainly know about [end of page 192] antisemitism, and yet she, perhaps
innocently, affirms her Judaism to two elderly Christian women who just moments
before were disparaging Jews. A middle-grade reader may not pick up on this
nuance, but adult readers can bring this knowledge into the reading and
discussion with young readers. Susie’s religious identity provides an
additional layer of plot complexity; however, many young readers may not have
the contextual knowledge to understand the dangers Jewish people faced in the
1940s nor why Susie’s religion should be mentioned at all. Therefore, some
readers will need guidance to understand why Susie’s Judaism is an important
aspect of her story.
Ultimately, all three
books hold great value as tools in conversations with children about racial
inequality. Even without knowledge of such specific theoretical frames as
critical race theory or critical whiteness studies, Susie Q Fights Back,
Leaving Lymon, and Finding Langston all lend themselves to
discussions of white supremacy and racism in American history and the effects
suffered by people both in the mid-1900s as well as now. Given the United
States’ long past of racist beliefs and actions, which arguably has not yet
been resolved, it is crucial to include children in discussions of race and
racism. A common misconception exists that talking about racialized issues with
children is unnecessary or inappropriate. This view, often held by white
parents, often boils down to the idea that children are colour-blind or “not
able to see” racial or ethnic differences (Schaefer 320). Recent research,
however, has shown that children can identify racial differences as young as
six months old (Pauker, Williams, and Steele) and form racial preferences
between 2.5 and 5 years old (Kelly, Quinn, Slater, Lee, Gibson, Smith, Ge, and
Pascalis; Kinzler and Spekle). Issues of race must be discussed with children
of all racial or ethnic identities, as children are cognizant of these
differences with or without meaningful conversations with adults. Many parents,
however, especially white parents, neglect to discuss race with their children.
In 2019, the Hechinger Report found that only 10% of American parents discuss
issues of race regularly with their children. The likeliness of discussions of
race depended largely on the parent’s racial identity—only 16% of white parents
discussed race often, and only 23% of white parents discussed race at all. This
is compared to Asian parents (68% discuss race to some degree), Black parents
(64%), and Latinx parents (58%) (Kotler, Haider, and Levine 26). [end of page 193]
It
is reasonable to assume, therefore, that many children enter the K-12 education
system having had little to no discussions about race or ethnicity. These
children then become adolescents who have little to no discussions about race
or ethnicity. Despite not having these conversations, these young people
develop ideas about race and ethnicity based on their own experiences and
preferences and with guidance from peers, parents, media, or any number of
other factors. Therefore, the inclusion and consumption of books that feature
racially and ethnically diverse characters is critical for all children. These
three novels approach issues of race and ethnicity for middle-grade students,
some of whom may have no background in thinking critically about race. Furthermore,
with their realistic plots, approachable characters, and accessible language, Susie
Q Fights Back, Finding Langston, and Leaving Lymon approach
race and racism in a way that most children can understand. Add to these texts
meaningful discussions led by parents, teachers, or other significant adults,
and their value as a resource is incalculable. These books can be part of a
personal library, a classroom library, or a public library, and all can be
taught or discussed independently, paired, or as a group of three. Of course,
as a set of three, the thematic parallels between texts are enhanced. Reading
just one book about the United States’ racialized history will never be enough,
and together, these three books can fill in the gaps left in the individual
texts.
Cline-Ransome’s
books also address another important gap in children’s literature: the
diversity gap. The Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of
Wisconsin–Madison (better known as the CCBC) publishes statistics regarding
character race and ethnicity in children’s literature. The CCBC found that in
2019, of the 4,029 children’s books received by the CCBC, 1,143 books featured
characters that were Black/African, Indigenous, Asian, Latinx, or Pacific
Islander as main characters, implying that just under 72% of books received by
the CCBC in 2019 featured either non-human characters or white characters. This
disparity in race representation in literature is often referred to as
“pervasive whiteness” (Welch). Books like Cline-Ransome’s, which centre Black
stories and are written by a Black author, are critically important for all
readers. Books for children act as both mirrors—reflecting back and affirming
one’s own life experiences—and windows—revealing a glimpse [end of page 194] of others’ life
experiences (Bishop). All three of the above books are beneficial as both
mirrors affirming and
windows revealing experiences that young readers may be either familiar or
unfamiliar with.
Susie
Q Fights Back, Finding Langston, and Leaving
Lymon have a part to play in educating students about pervasive racism in
the US. They introduce topics that students may be unfamiliar with and are set
in a period that students may know little about, but in a way that is
accessible to them. Each offers an opportunity to discuss race and ethnicity
with young readers; by exposing students to what may be uncomfortable and
difficult topics, adults can encourage students to join in the conversation.
The onus is on parents and educators to teach about race and ethnicity, no
matter the discomfort; we are doing a grave disservice to our children if we
ignore what is uncomfortable in hopes that we can shield them. June 2020 began
with protests in the streets across the United States to confront racism. We
must help students to learn about and discuss these issues themselves so they
are equipped to join the conversation.
Works Cited
Bishop, Rudine Sims. “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors.” Perspectives:
Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom, vol. 6, no. 3, 1990, pp. ix-xi.
Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC). “Books by and about Black,
Indigenous and People of Color 2019-.” Cooperative Children’s Book Center,
ccbc.education.wisc.edu/literature-resources/ccbc-diversity-statistics/books-by-and-or-about-poc-2019/.
Accessed 17 Oct. 2020.
Kelly, David J., Paul C. Quinn, Alan M. Slater, Kang Lee, Alan Gibson,
Michael Smith, Liezhong Ge, and Olivier Pascalis. “Three-Month-Olds, but Not
Newborns, Prefer Own-Race Faces.” Developmental Science, vol. 8, no. 6,
2005, pp. F31-F36, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2005.0434a.x.
Kinzler, Katherine D., and Elizabeth S. Spelke. “Do Infants Show Social
Preferences for People Differing in Race?” Cognition, vol. 119, no. 1,
2011, pp. 1-9, doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2010.10.019.
Kotler, Jennifer, Tanya Haider, and Michael H. Levine. Identity
Matters: Parents’ and Educators’ Perceptions of Children’s Social Identity
Development. Sesame Workshop, 2019,
sesameworkshop.org/sites/default/files/2019-10/sw_identitymatters_screen.pdf.
Pauker, Kristin, Amanda Williams, and Jennifer R. Steele. “Children’s
Racial Categorization in Context.” Child Development Perspectives, vol.
10, no. 1, 2016, pp. 33-38, doi: 10.1111/cdep.12155.
Schaefer, Richard T., editor. Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and
Society. Sage Publications, 2008.
Turner, Cory. “Why Schools Fail to Teach Slavery’s ‘Hard History.’” NPR,
4 Feb. 2018,
npr.org/sections/ed/2018/02/04/582468315/why-schools-fail-to-teach-slaverys-hard-history.
[end of page 195]
Welch, Brynn F. “The Pervasive Whiteness of Children’s Literature:
Collective Harms and Consumer Obligations.” Social Theory and Practice,
vol. 42, no. 2, 2016, pp. 367-88, doi: 10.5840/soctheorpract201642220.
“What Is PJ Our Way?” PJ Our Way, pjourway.org/about/about-pj-our-way.
Accessed 17 Oct. 2020.
Heather J. Matthews is a doctoral student at the
University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She specializes in children’s and young
adult literature, with special attention to issues of diverse racial and ethnic
representations.
[end
of page 196]