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You should, so you can learn about that which has made your
life easier. And in the new book Strange Fruit by
Joel Christian Gill, you’ll learn about people that
history books have mostly forgotten.
Shortly after grad school, Joel Christian Gill did a series
of paintings that he says “freed” him from the racism that
his father and grandfather endured. But something was
missing from his paintings: he was “coming up short” in
storytelling.
That’s when he started doing comics, telling stories of
“obscure black history.”
Take, for instance, Richard Potter.
Potter was born around 1783. After his father ensured his
education, young Richard spent many years traveling and he
became fascinated with magic tricks. He tried, practiced,
learned, and tried again until he mastered several tricks
and invented some of his own – which eventually made him
“very wealthy.” And on his deathbed in 1835, he finally
admitted something important: Richard Potter, America’s
first stage magician, was a black man.
After his emancipation, Theophilus Thompson worked as a
janitor. One night, he noticed that his employer had a
curious game set up on a table, and Thompson studied it. He
figured out how the strange game worked, and it didn’t take
long before he was playing competition chess – and winning!
He even wrote a book about it… and then one day, he
vanished. Rumors swirled around his disappearance, but
Thompson was never seen again.
In this book, you’ll learn about The Black Cyclone who
started his biking career due to a great kindness from
“family” and later, lay in an unmarked grave for more than
seventy years. You’ll read two letters from a man determined
to save his daughter from slavery. You’ll learn about the
baddest U.S. Marshall that ever lived – so bad that he even
jailed his own son. And you’ll read the sad, sad story of
the Malagites who lost their home off the coast of
Massachusetts a mere century ago…
Are you always on your child to READ SOMETHING, anything,
except a comic book? Well, Strange Fruit is a
graphic novel, and you’ll want him to read it.
Through the art of the cartoon, author Joel Christian Gill
tells nine stories of African Americans who did something
astounding for the time in which they lived, thereby making
a difference that resonates today. These fascinating tales
are somewhat marred by weird mini-vocabulary lessons, but
that stops early-on and the tales get more meaningful as
things progress. Ultimately, I liked this book because I
think it speaks to kids who want their learning more on the
arty side.
There’s really no reason (except for font size) that an
adult can’t enjoy this book, but it’s more meant for
12-to-17-year-olds. For teens who don’t know enough about
history, in fact, Strange Fruit will wake them up. |
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