Song of the Land
Song of the Land
Celebrating the Works of Mildred D. Taylor
Contributions by Jennifer Ansbach, Jani L. Barker, Melissa Bedford, Helen Bond, Wanda M. Brooks, Susan Browne, Sabrina Carnesi, Emily Cardinali Cormier, Y. Falami Devoe, Bahar Eshraq, Latrice Ferguson, Catharine Kane, Michelle H. Martin, Devika Mehra, Ngozi Onuora, Lauren Rizzuto, Shelly Shaffer, Bryanna Tidmarsh, Ann Van Wig, Annette Wannamaker, and Raen Parker Washington
A major figure in African American children’s literature, Mildred D. Taylor (b. 1943), has been publishing groundbreaking, award-winning books for fifty years, including Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Song of the Trees, Let the Circle Be Unbroken, The Friendship, The Road to Memphis, and The Land. Taylor’s renowned Logan family saga has become a staple in classrooms and libraries, resonating internationally with its profound impact on readers. Her significance in literature extends beyond captivating storytelling. She has effectively illuminated the struggles and triumphs of African American families, challenging societal norms and shedding light on historical injustices. Through compelling narratives rooted in personal experiences and family history, Taylor has enriched the literary landscape and sparked crucial conversations about race, resilience, and the enduring power of love and courage in the face of adversity.
Yet, her significant literary contributions have not received the critical recognition they deserve. Seeking to fill that gap, Song of the Land: Celebrating the Works of Mildred D. Taylor, brings together creative and critical responses to Taylor’s work and ongoing legacy. The chapters in this anthology represent an array of disciplines and theoretical lenses, highlighting the impact of African American children’s literature. Song of the Land is an invitation to learn more about Taylor’s work, which lays bare the dangers of white supremacy and racism in American society.
Song of the Land is a testament to the richness of Mildred Taylor’s legacy and to the diverse practices that enrich our understanding of Black children’s literature.
Sarah Layzell is a writer and editor. Their research has focused on economics in children’s literature and sports in children’s literature. Layzell is author of the children’s novel, Cottonopolis. Tammy L. Mielke is an English language arts teacher and academic. Her research focuses on the ways in which culture is represented in literature intended for children and young adults. Her previous publications include a history of illustrations of Little Black Sambo and responses to African American dialect in children’s literature in the 1930s. She has also published on steampunk, representations of religion in YA fiction, and the concept of flow in coteaching contexts. Michelle H. Martin became the Beverly Cleary Endowed Professor in Children and Youth Services in the Information School at University of Washington in 2016, and she was the inaugural Augusta Baker Endowed Chair in Childhood Literacy at the University of South Carolina from 2011-2016. Her current research project, Dream Keepers for Children of the Sun, is a critical analysis of the collaborative and individual works that Langston Hughes and Arna Bontemps wrote for children during their 40-year friendship. Martin co-founded with Dr. Rachelle Washington Read-a-Rama (www.Read-a-Rama.org), a non-profit that uses children’s books as the springboard for programming.
Acknowledgments
Poetic Tribute: An Oriki for Mildred
Y. Falami Devoe
Introduction
Michelle H. Martin
Poetic Tribute: Homemade Love: Sower. Weaver. Receiver.
Raen Parker Washington
Part 1: The Self: Intersectionality and Insider/Outsider Perspectives
The Story in the Silence: Reading Between the Lines in Mildred D. Taylor’s Logan Family Saga
Latrice Ferguson
“I Wanted to Write a Truthful History”: Intersections of Critical Race Theory and Gender Schema in Mildred D. Taylor’s Work
Shelly Shaffer, Melissa Bedford, and Ann Van Wig
Beyond the Veil: In Search of Duboisian Double Consciousness in the Works of Mildred D. Taylor
Helen Bond
Racial Education and Audience in All the Days Past, All the Days to Come
Jani L. Barker
Part 2: The Self: Reimagining the Logans
Re(cover)y of the Logan Family Saga
Ngozi Onuora and Sabrina Carnesi
Re/figuring the Child-Signifier and Agency in the Film Adaptation of Mildred D. Taylor’s Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Devika Mehra
How the Logans Travel to the East: Exploring the Persian Translations of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, The Friendship, and The Well
Bahar Eshraq
Part 3: The World Outside: White Supremacy, Justice, and the Land
White Supremacy and the Black Storyteller’s Narrative Unveiling
Susan Browne and Wanda Brooks
“Don’t Speak for the Trees—Listen”: Mildred D. Taylor’s Song of the Trees for Environmental Justice
Lauren Rizzuto
Contested Space: The Black Agrarian Tradition in Mildred D. Taylor’s The Land
Emily Cardinali Cormier
Her Bandage Hides Two Festering Sores That Once Perhaps Were Eyes: “Justice” in the Logan Family Saga and To Kill a Mockingbird
Catharine Kane
Part 4: The World Beyond: Legacy, Activism, and Education
Disrupting Mavericks: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, The Hate U Give, and Critical Race Theory
Annette Wannamaker
Care Ethics and Activism in Mildred D. Taylor’s Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry and Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give
Bryanna Tidmarsh
Blending Fact and Fiction: All the Days Past, All the Days to Come as a Novel of Black Resistance
Jennifer Ansbach
List of Contributors
