African American Children's Literature

Dear Colleagues,

Accepting the notion that “childhood” and “adulthood” are social constructs and not biological facts affords an opportunity to see and understand how the lived experiences of children and adults, past and present, intersect in complicated and multitextured ways. Literature created for and about children, then, is always filtered through the lens of adult experiences since children are not writing, publishing, or buying their own texts. Adults are the gatekeepers defining and documenting the good and the bad of children’s lives and placing value and legitimacy on the creative and literary expressions for and about children.

To read the history of a country, a community, and of a people is to attend to the children’s texts—songs, ditties, toys, stories, folktales, folklore, jokes, games, and the like—that serve to indoctrinate and to teach lessons and values about good and evil, about right and wrong, about Black and white. However, adult politics are framed allegedly around “protecting the children”, and children have participated directly in social movements and been directly affected by social injustices.

This Special Issue of Humanities focuses on African American children’s literature, and looks at the many diverse ways in which reading and studying children’s texts teach as much about the adult world as about the world of children. This issue is not a history of African American children’s literature though histories certainly inform the texts being written, published, lauded, celebrated, banned, taught, or ignored. Those who study and teach African American children’s literature know that stories and narratives about Black children were not always available in ways and forms that celebrated Black children when they were not altogether erased or absent. From stereotypes to violence, literary and creative expressions about Black children by non-Black authors–when available--engaged problematic tropes of white saviorism, animalization, primitivism, violence, and tokenism—too often in efforts to “educate” and entertain white children. When Black authors endeavored to rescue Black children from the damaging tropes that denied humanity, they too often subscribed to respectability politics, “toxic positivity,” and classism. From representations to illustrations to narratives, this special issue seeks essays and perspectives that offer a comprehensive, critical, and more nuanced treatment of Black children’s lives and experiences.

A 2018 “Diversity in Children’s Books” Infographic, created by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, Department of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison offers this breakdown: “American Indians/ First Nations (1%), Latinx (5%), Asian Pacific Islander/ Asian Pacific American (7%), African/ African American (10%), Animals/ Other (27%) and White (50%).”[1] Thus, while there are far more books about Black children, there is plenty of work yet to be done to move Black children’s literature to the same studied value both inside and beyond the academy to reflect the value and meaning of Black children’s lives and experiences. This Special Issue seeks to move that critical conversation along more deliberately and intentionally, moving African American children’s literature from the sidelines and margins to the center of literary and cultural studies. This issue further seeks to imbue African American children’s literature with the same complexity, nuance, and relevance as African American adult literature; essentially breaking down the artificial barriers around relevance, value, and importance.

In Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye (1970), Claudia MacTeer narrates a childhood memory of meeting her Black family’s new tenant. This perspective mirrors the ways in which adults have not always centered children or children’s experiences in the world: “Freida and  I were  not introduced to [Mr. Henry]—merely pointed out. Like, here is the  bathroom; the clothes closet is here; and these are my kids, Frieda and Claudia; watch out for this window; it doesn’t open all the way.”[2] Ideally, this Special Issue will contribute to the growing body of scholarship and discourse that covers a range of identity and representation issues that center rather than marginalize African American children. This issue will further underscore the reality that critical conversations about children and what they are exposed to is as much about the adults who create and present these texts and ideologies to children.  This issue will be of interest to and a valuable resource for students, parents, teachers, and community members invested in representation, narrative, social justice, critical race theory, and identity politics, and will serve as a way to make the invisible more visible and relevant and acknowledge children and children’s lives beyond just being extensions and human possessions of adults and parents.

Possible topics to consider:

• Black children and mental health
• Black children and sexuality
• Black children and transgender identity
• Black children and violence
• Black children and US history
• Black children and the diaspora
• Black children and toys and games
• Black children and sports
• Black children and death and dying
• Black children and education
• Black children and dance
• Black children and theater
• Black children and creativity
• Black children and disability
• Black children and racial justice
• Black children and white supremacy
• Black children and social movements
• Black children and Black Lives Matter
• Black children and “critical race theory”
• Black children and language
• Black children and music
• Black children and the arts
• Black children and folklore
• Black children and science
• Black children and class
• Black children and social organizations
• Black children and homelessness
• Black children and other racial/ethnic groups
• Parenting Black children
• Black children and “curriculum violence”
• Black children and trauma
• Black children and intergenerational trauma
• Black children and play

Please send full papers to: Neal.Lester@asu.edu by 29 February 2024.

[1] Sarah Park  Dahlen, “Picture This: Diversity in Children’s Books” (19 June 2019): https://readingspark.wordpress.com/2019/06/19/picture-this-diversity-in-childrens-books-2018-infographic/ (retrieved 1 August 2019). 

[2] Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye  New York: Washington Square Press, 1970. p. 16. 

Prof. Dr. Neal Lester
Guest Editor

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• children’s literature
• race
• United States literature
• intersectionality
• childism