Lecture An Indigenous Critique of Whiteness in Children’s Literature Dr. Debbie Reese

hank you, to all of the people who pulled Brother Eagle Sister Sky off the are here, and to the Ho-Chunk shelf and got ready to read it aloud, Liz T Nation, and to the committee told her that the book wasn’t right. Not that selected me and the community understanding what Liz was trying to that helped get me here. I’m nervous. say, that teacher told her that she could It is a huge honor and I acknowledge play somewhere else in the classroom. that honor. I hope that what I say deliv- Liz was only four years old but she knew ers for all of you because I do think it that there were images in the world that is important to talk about Whiteness in weren’t right and she was using that four- children’s literature. I talk a lot about year-old voice to say so. I want teachers to good books but it is equally important listen carefully when children are telling that we talk about the bad books because you something. Their words have mean- there’s way more bad books in children’s ing to them. A year later in kindergarten, literature and we need those to be moved Liz came out of her classroom at the end aside so people can say, “oh, this is actual of the day, plopped right down on the Indigenous story.” There are many sto- floor, opened her backpack, and opened ries Native writers tell about being out George and Martha, Encore to this page. and hearing people say, “but that’s not Native.” The stories they present are seen as not Native because they don’t match the expectations of Indians sitting around all the books that were in my classroom a campfire telling stories. So, I’m going library became her books. We read a lot. to talk about Whiteness in Children’s Literature, tonight. I also want to say In 1993, we moved from our adobe home the Diversity Jedi are here, so we have to at Nambé Pueblo to a non-descript apart- applaud for them. ment in the midwest. Our goal: gradu- ate school at the University of Illinois. The work I started doing in the mid-1990s My plan was to study family literacy but was shaped by this delightful child when that changed not long after we arrived she came into our lives. I had been a on campus and I encountered “Chief kindergarten and first grade teacher and Illiniwek” and love for that racist mascot. Trying to understand why people were so She jabbed at George with that indigna- moved by that clearly ridiculous image tion of a five-year-old and said, “Mom, changed my plans. I started studying and look! It’s George, and he’s a TV Indian.” talking about depictions of Native people That’s a phrase I was using with her, then, in children’s books. to describe stereotyping. See, just prior to moving to Illinois, we had both danced at Precocious child that she was, Liz—who Nambé. For us, dance is not performance. is here tonight, and her dad, and Nick It’s not entertainment. It is prayer. She who is soon to be part of our family—was understood the sacred nature of what we speaking up about stereotypes, too. When were doing and when we saw stereotypi- a teacher in her pre-school classroom cal Indians on TV westerns and cartoons,

Arbuthnot Honor Lecture • Children and Libraries • Digital Supplement • August 2019 3 I talked with her about what they looked before it is dark outside). I was head- announcement, but I did something I like, and what we looked like, and that ing up the stairs and my phone rang. I had done before. I invited Jedi Tom Crisp the ways that we are dressed when we are glanced at it, didn’t recognize the num- to watch the livestream with me. He was doing our traditional dances are not what ber, so I ignored it, got ready for bed, laid in Georgia, I was in Illinois, and we texted we were seeing on TV. The Indians on down. Then I saw that I had a message back and forth with a running commen- TV weren’t anything like us. They weren’t from the person who had called. I lis- tary as we watched. He didn’t know that real. So—TV Indians became a catch-all tened to it. It was Barbara Genco. She said Nina Lindsay, also a Jedi, would be saying phrase for us to use when we’d see stereo- something about needing to talk to me as my name. In spite of Barbara’s assurances, types in books. That particular incident soon as possible. I was anxious because, quite frankly, I with George became a Field Notes arti- expected some polite applause and I was cle in Horn Book Magazine. Its title—of worried that some people might even course—is “Mom, Look! It’s George, and boo loudly. If anyone did that, I knew that He’s a TV Indian!” Tom would help me out. Nina made the announcement. As Liz moved on through school, there was one book after another that we would need to address. In third grade, she spoke up about Caddie Woodlawn. I’ll have a little more to say about that book, shortly.

When you’re the parent of a Native or child of color, your child’s identity is not affirmed in the ways that the identity of white children is. You will be asking teachers for meetings to talk about prob- lems in textbooks, worksheets, and chil- (I took that photo last week for this part dren’s books that your child brings home. of the presentation.) I kind of panicked Fighting for my daughter’s well-being because I had been asked to be on the shaped my work as a scholar and critic. 2018 ALSC Charlemae Rollins President’s And there were cheers! And lots of Since then, I’ve met many people in Program panel at ALA and I thought, applause, and Barbara called me right Education and Library Science and some “dang, what did I do! Barbara is a big name after the ceremony to say, “did you hear writers, too, who focus on the well-being in ALSC! Why is she calling me? Is she them?” It was a great day! of children. Our work includes looking calling to tell me I can’t be on that panel?!” inside the pages of children’s books but I did not call her back. I was wide awake, As I suspected, though, some people were from there, looking outwards. What forces afraid, and I saw that she was on Twitter, not pleased. There was quite an active in society are shaping the words and illus- so, I sent her a direct message. She wrote conversation about it on social media. trations we see in children’s books? That me right back. She said we could talk the One writer who was at Midwinter said she is one question we, Jedi, bring to the work next day, and that she had good news. nearly leapt out of her chair to scream, that brought us all here, tonight. “No!” when she heard my name. Others The next morning, I sat by the fireplace, declared they would boycott the lecture. And it is a question that teachers and warm and toasty and listened to Barbara Some people wrote to the Arbuthnot librarians can ask when they pick up a tell me that I’d been selected to do this committee, some wrote to ALSC lead- book to use with children. Who wrote or lecture. “Are you sure, Barbara? I don’t ership, and some wrote to me, saying I illustrated it? Does the book have Native know… there’s a lot of people out there do not deserve the honor. Obviously the or People of Color in it? How are they who don’t like me and what I do.” She lecture was not taken away from me, and depicted? It is a questioning stance I kind of laughed and told me that they here we are! want teachers to bring to every single were sure. She went into some detail book they pick up. Don’t think that every about articles they read and videos of me The first children’s literature conference author is going to do okay because each they had watched. Clearly the commit- I attended was here in Madison in the book has to be looked at independently. tee knew what I do. So, I said okay. She 1990s when I was in graduate school. told me the announcement would be That’s when I met K.T. Horning and Ginny made at ALA’s Midwinter Meeting, spe- Moore Kruse. I’ve learned so much from cifically at the 2018 Youth Media Awards them. Since then, I’ve been up here a Just after 5 p.m. on Saturday, January 20, event and that I couldn’t talk about it till few times. I remember meeting Janice 2018, I was on my way to bed (some of then. I couldn’t go to Midwinter, couldn’t Rice and formed a wonderful friendship you know we turn in early, sometimes be “in the room” when they made the with her. She’s been a leading light in

Arbuthnot Honor Lecture • Children and Libraries • Digital Supplement • August 2019 4 the American Indian Library Association I have the word Indigenous in my title, that doesn’t mean that only three-quar- for years. And it is here that I met Omar but I could have said “Native American” ters of me is a tribal member at Nambé. If Poler and learned of his outstanding work or “American Indian.” All three are broad you are a citizen of the United States and with tribal libraries in Wisconsin. When I terms used to describe the peoples whose your grandma was born in France, that learned that I’d be doing the Arbuthnot roots are in these lands that we currently doesn’t make you three-quarters of a citi- here, all those warm memories of these call the United States. “First Americans,” zen of the United States. You are a citizen, people felt good. by the way, is not okay. Indigenous peo- period. Understanding the concept of ples were here long before the word, citizenry needs a lot of work in American America, was used. Calling us “First society. Americans” erases our standing as nations The title of my talk is “An Indigenous that were here before the United States On the right is my dad’s father. He was Critique of Whiteness in Children’s was a nation. I use Native American, or white, born in Arkansas in 1911. When Literature.” American Indian, or Indigenous unless he was born, his surname was Yates. That I am talking about a specific person or was his name all his life. I started using the word Whiteness in nation. tweets in December of 2017. The suffix “ness” turns an adjective into a word that When I talk about myself, I name my exemplifies a quality or state of being. nation. In naming it, I am being tribally So, “ness” turns the word White into the specific. That’s one of the things I want adjective, whiteness. I use it to refer to teachers to do: look for tribally specific individuals and institutions with power materials. I am enrolled at Nambé, one that goes back hundreds of years and has of the 19 pueblo nations in what is cur- a huge impact on our lives. In my mind, rently known as New Mexico. I’m try- it is shorthand for an idea put forth by ing to use “currently” and “now known On the left is my mom’s father. He Colonel Richard Henry Pratt, the U.S. as” because the historical record tells was Hopi, born at a Hopi village in army officer who founded Carlisle Indian us that things change. Borders change. Arizona, around 1895. His surname was Industrial School in 1879. His name is Names change. We are peoples with Sakiestewa, but when he went to a US commonly associated with United States unique histories, stories, songs, and lan- government boarding school, he was government boarding schools. In a guages. Some children’s books tell you given a new name. He became Rex Calvert speech about Americanizing Native stu- that the Indian word for baby is papoose, for the rest of his life. Changing a Native dents at Carlisle, he said:1 as if these hundreds of tribal nations child’s name was standard practice in all speak the same language. We don’t. the boarding schools. Whiteness changed A great general has said that the The Whiteness of the U.S. educational my grandfather’s name but he retained only good Indian is a dead one, and system means that most people grow up his identity as a Hopi man and raised that high sanction of their destruc- rather ignorant about Indigenous peo- several children at Ohkay Owingeh. He tion has been an enormous factor ples. Most people—for example, can say always called my mom by her Tewa name, in promoting Indian massacre. In the word “treaty” but not realize that it Oyégi. She was given that name through a sense, I agree with the sentiment, refers to diplomatic agreements between a ceremony. My Tewa name, and our but only in this: that all the Indian Native nations and other nations, includ- daughter’s Tewa name, were given to us there is in the race should be dead. ing European nations. At Nambé, we’ve through a ceremony. If you think about Kill the Indian in him and save the had diplomatic agreements with Spain, your own name, especially a name that is man. Mexico, and now, the United States. We’ve specific to your family or community, or fought hard—successfully—to retain our maybe a name that came to you through Essentially, Pratt wanted to do whatever identity and status as a sovereign nation. a religious ceremony, you understand was necessary to kill our identities as Next time you’re in Washington DC, go that names are important. Native people and train us to serve white see the statue of Po’pay. He led the Pueblo people as their servants and laborers. Revolt against the Spanish in 1680. We In 2015, my cousin’s little boy brought He was an individual working within an need a children’s book about Po’pay. One home this worksheet (pictured, page 6 institution that had nefarious plans for is being written and I think it will come top left) from school: “Native American Indigenous peoples and the well-being out in 2020. Names.” He was supposed to pick an of our tribal nations. Clearly, as you look Indian name. The instructions on the around the room tonight, you can see that Our present-day status as a sovereign worksheet say: “Think of an animal or he failed. We are here, with our songs, our nation, rooted in that history, and my per- part of nature. Think of a characteristic music, our stories. sonal history drive what I do. These two about yourself. Put them together!” His men (pictured, upper right) are my grand- parents were appalled and wrote to me fathers. I have a white grandfather, but about it. Activities like this, I hope you

Arbuthnot Honor Lecture • Children and Libraries • Digital Supplement • August 2019 5 Canada with enough Native content to from that of contemporary children. This be counted as being about Native people. line in her article has resonance for us— That 42 is the 0.9% you see in the graph the Jedi—today: (pictured below). “To the child who has been involved Of that 42, only 19 were published in in civil rights demonstrations of the United States. Canada publishes more Harlem or Detroit, it is small com- books than the United States does. If my fort to read of the Negro slave who cousin was looking for fiction, he’d have smilingly served his white master.”2 ten books to choose from. If he was look- ing for books by Native writers, he’d find Smiling slaves then, and, smiling slaves three. None of those three are published now, as we saw in 2015 and 2016 in A by one of the “Big Five” publishers. Being Fine Dessert (Random House, 2015) and published by one of them is important. A Birthday Cake for George Washington They have marketing departments that (Scholastic, 2016). I put the red x’s on can promote a book by sending copies the covers (pictured below) because I to bloggers and giving them away at con- want the image you carry away with you ferences. In short, lots of visibility. Books tonight to be one that says, “these books from major publishers have a visibility are not okay.” that books from small publishing compa- know, are a dime a dozen. They are inap- nies do not have. In my analyses, year after propriate and I hope that when you see year, books from the Big Five are ones I someone doing them, you’ll engage them cannot recommend. They are not written in a conversation and ask them to stop by Native writers and they are full of ste- doing it. reotyping, bias, and factual errors.

In 1900—when my Hopi grandfather was The graphic shows 7.6 percent in the a child—Whiteness was busy, chang- African/African American category. I ing Native children’s names. Killing the want to say a few words about that. In Larrick focused on books about African Indian, as Pratt had instructed. Fast for- 1965, The Saturday Review published Americans, but what, I wondered, were ward in time to 2015, and Whiteness Nancy Larrick’s article, “The All-White the depictions of Native people in chil- was asking kids to pick an Indian name. World of Children’s Books.” Larrick stud- dren’s books like? And how many were Seen in light of this history, I hope you ied books published from 1962 through there? I did a search on the Worldcat understand why I object when writers 1964 and found that 6.7% of the books database for 1962 through 1964, limiting and people who make worksheets make included in her study included one or my search to fiction and got 130 books. light of Native names. When you pick up more African Americans. Not much Little Runner of the Longhouse and Red a children’s book where the author has change. We’re looking at 50 years, and less Fox and His Canoe were among the first Native characters and makes light of their than a one percent change. Most of them, ten hits that I got. Both are “I Can Read” names, I’d like you to set it aside, but I’d Larrick wrote, showed a life far removed books and both are illustrated by Arnold also like you to tell Lobel. Both are stereotypical. That pose, others about what of Indians peering into the distance, is you are doing, and hard to get rid of. why.

Let’s look at some statistics now. If my cousin went look- ing for books to read with his child, he’d have had very few new books to choose from. That year, 2015, CCBC received 42 books published in the US and

Arbuthnot Honor Lecture • Children and Libraries • Digital Supplement • August 2019 6 I started first grade at Nambé Pueblo to it—helps me remain aware of how Day School in 1964. When I was there, powerful story is, how it can shape and the librarian from the local public school manipulate us. came by every couple of weeks with a box of books we could choose from. I don’t Music does that, too. A lot of people have a clear memory of reading these are captivated by Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “I Can Read” books, but I probably did. Hamilton: An American Musical. For Thirty years later, when I was teaching some, the music and the color-conscious children’s literature at the University of cast tug on their heart strings. Jean Illinois, a student brought a book from Mendoza, a Jedi, and I saw Miranda’s home to share with the class. Seeing it musical in Chicago a couple of years ago. gave me a jolt. It was definitely one of The almost all white audience was clearly the books from that box. I recognized under Miranda’s spell. Jean and I sat it immediately. When I started turning there…grumbling. The song that stands its pages, I had another jolt. So much out most in my mind is Song 22 in Act I: stereotyping! “Dear Theodosia.”

I don’t recall being upset by what I saw Lingering in in Little Owl Indian. I probably already the recesses had some semblance of that TV Indian of my mind in my head. I was, after all, surrounded was Janet, It is a duet sung by Aaron Burr and by my Native family and relatives and in her blue Alexander Hamilton. Both men are new community and I liked school. I loved to coat, hat, and fathers singing to their children that they read and I did well in school. See? (Top roller skates. will “come of age with our young nation. of next column.) That is me, holding an Why did I We’ll bleed and fight for you, we’ll make it award that I got from my teacher. If I find all of that right for you.” zoomed in on the award, you’d see that so striking? I it says “Debra.” That wasn’t my name. think it was We heard people around us sniffling, they My parents told my teacher, “her name the power of were in tears. It is a moving song. Dads is Debbie.” The teacher had told my par- Whiteness. singing to their babies is very moving. I ents they made a mistake in my name. My life as a was moved, too, but I was also angry. The “Debbie,” she told them, is a nickname. child grow- audience is meant to think about these My proper name, according to Whiteness, ing up on men fighting for independence from was Debra. Whiteness put that name on our reserva- the British. The audience is supposed my award. tion was not to think about how wonderful that new in any of the nation was going to be for white chil- Little Owl Indian did not hurt me, but a books that dren. The audience is not being asked to basal reading series did have an impact I read. I had think about the Native parents, of that on me. I learned to read from the Tip internalized time period, imagining the future of their series published by Houghton Mifflin. that “good children and their nations. That is not life: tree lined part of Hamilton’s musical. Miranda left When we moved to Illinois for graduate street, leaves, Native people out and he glossed over school, I was struck by the tree-lined roller skates.” the fact that Hamilton owned slaves. The streets, houses with pitched roofs, big That’s what life was supposed to be history—as historians have pointed out piles of leaves, and—it seems silly to say about. How could I not internalize that? in books and articles—is wrong. In our it now, but—the sidewalks. Whiteness is very powerful. I wanted to forthcoming young adult adaptation of be Janet. I’m sad about that memory Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s An Indigenous now, but thinking about it—holding on Peoples’ History of the United States, Jean

Arbuthnot Honor Lecture • Children and Libraries • Digital Supplement • August 2019 7 and I ask readers to think critically about is affirmed and the lighthouse that they character says, “the only good Indian is the history that is told through the musi- live in is on what used to be Native lands. a dead Indian.” I know, some of you are cal. Ticket sales tell us that Whiteness There’s no neutrality there. In fact, if we thinking, “but Pa and Laura…they like loves this rags-to-riches immigrant story. think about it, every children’s book for Indians.” But their sympathies are with Historical accuracy doesn’t matter. which the setting is this continent, is the good Indians. When Pa says, “that’s set on what used to be In recent years, a Native lands. If we could great many peo- all hold that fact front ple have shown and center every time we their support for pick up a children’s book immigrants by set on this continent, joining marches how might that change or protests. It how we view children’s was invigorat- literature? How might ing to see and that shape the litera- be part of that, ture as we move into the and to know, future? I don’t know, and too, that Yuyi Morales was working on it’s hard to think about, a picture book about her journey from but I want to think about Mexico to the United States. When it was it. I think we should think released in 2018, many of us were deeply about that. touched by the story and the vibrant, joy- ful, multi-media illustrations of a mother Let’s take a look at another book about one good Indian,” he’s talking about an and her child. a white family on Native lands: Little Indian who chose to fight other Indians House on the Prairie. That book and Laura in order to protect Pa and his family. If We were sure that we’d hear Jamie Ingalls Wilder have a tremendous hold that Indian had chosen to join the oth- Campbell Naidoo announce that on many people, especially in Wisconsin ers, I doubt Pa would be calling him a Dreamers had been selected to receive and some of these midwestern states. good Indian. If you think Pa and Laura the 2019 Caldecott Medal. But that didn’t I’ve written a lot about problems in Little are sympathetic towards Indians, I think happen. House on the Prairie, with its history and Whiteness might be manipulating you. representations of Native people in her With a blockbuster musical about immi- books. I do a lot of workshops with teach- On February 7, 2018, I read a post to grants and a societal-wide embrace of ers and librarians—that’s me highlighting the ALSC blog that surprised me. It was immigrants, I can’t help but wonder passages in the book; I buy lots of used an invitation to ALSC membership to what happened with the 2019 Caldecott copies of it, highlight passages, take them join their leadership discussions at the Award. Was an unconscious Whiteness at to workshops, and ask participants to Midwinter Meeting to talk about the work, there, in the room? Is that why the read them aloud. People generally don’t book award names. They wanted to “con- committee chose Sophie Blackall’s Hello remember those passages. sider the implications of having awards Lighthouse? Blackall won the Caldecott named for individuals whose currently in 2016 for Finding Winnie. Is it really the recognized place in the canon of chil- case that out of the thousands of books dren’s literature is not consistent with” published, her art is the most distinctive, ALSC’s organizational values.3 Those in two separate years? I posed these ques- goals and values include inclusiveness, tions on Twitter. As you may imagine, it integrity, respect, and responsiveness. made some people angry. The board planned to start by looking at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award. I was To me, Dreamers was the perfect book stunned. Skeptical. Having done years of for this time. But, was it, in unconscious work on stereotypical imagery in books— ways, deemed too “politically correct?” I especially Little House on the Prairie—I have no doubt that people think books I receive a lot of letters from Native par- thought this would go nowhere. But I was like Hello Lighthouse are “neutral” or ents who are frustrated that their child’s wrong. At the annual meeting in June, the “apolitical.” That’s Whiteness at work. teacher is using a book they know has board of directors listened to the findings From my perspective, the politics in potential to hurt their child’s sense of of the task force they had charged with Hello Lighthouse are front and center. Its well-being. Wilder depicts Native people studying the award names. And then, they nostalgia for times past is palpable. In as primitive, mostly naked, and more ani- voted. Again, I was stunned, because they Blackall’s book, the life of a white family mal-like than human. And three times, a voted to change the name. That was huge

Arbuthnot Honor Lecture • Children and Libraries • Digital Supplement • August 2019 8 news. The print and cable news media Washington by Ramin Ganeshram and For the mainstream media, articles about covered it. The New York Times article was The Continent by Keira Drake. In 2017, we these books were part of the 24-hour titled “Prestigious Laura Ingalls Wilder talked about The Secret Project by Jonah news cycle. They were big news in these Award Renamed over Racial Insensitivity” Winter. In 2019, Amélie Wen Zhao’s Blood 24-hour periods; gone from the next one. and CNN’s headline was “Laura Ingalls Heir and Kosoko Jackson’s A Place for But for the parents, teachers, and librar- Wilder’s name has been stripped from a Wolves were the focus of much discussion. ians who use children’s books, and for prestigious book award because of racist All these books and conversations about the writers, editors, publishers, review- themes.” Twitter exploded. Even William them were the subject of lots of articles ers, and critics who create, promote, and Shatner weighed in [his tweet began with or news segments in The New York Times, study children’s books, our concerns “Did you hear about the Laura Ingalls Newsweek, The Washington Post, NPR, about books aren’t a 24-hour news cycle. Wilder Award being renamed over neg- The Guardian, Fox News, MSNBC, and For those of us who believe in the power ative lines on the indigenous people of so on. Instead of taking children, chil- of children’s books, we are in it 365 days America?”] dren’s literature, and the analysis of that a year, 24 hours a day. We know that literature seriously, however, the main- children’s books shape the future. For To so many people, the idea that anyone stream media covered it as entertainment hundreds of years, Whiteness has had its would object to Wilder or her books was and drama and assault on freedom of way, but today, we are pushing against astonishing. In fact, Native and People of speech. To the Jedi, those mainstream that Whiteness. Color have been objecting to the content articles were ignoring the criticism that of children’s books and stories for a very can shape children’s literature and they In January of 2015, the American Library long time. I often cite William Apess’s were ignoring the audience for all these Association held its first-ever Day autobiography, A Son of the Forest, pub- books. That audience is young people. of Diversity at its Midwinter Meeting. lished in 1829, because in it, he shares a Co-chaired by Allie Jane Bruce and Jamie story from his childhood. He was Pequot. There’s another important dimension to Campbell Naidoo, it was a day-long, As a young child he was placed with a what is happening with these books. I’ve invitation-only event that brought many white family. He went to school with placed them on the slide in a deliberate people together to discuss strategies to them and through story, he learned to way (see below left). Books on the left are ensure that all children have access to be afraid of Indians. As an adult he wrote available to you, today. You can go get diverse literature and library program- about the impact those stories had on them. Books on the right were recalled ming. It was, in short, an all-out effort to him as a child. I imagine that if he were or cancelled. This is an early observation interrupt the Whiteness of children’s lit- alive today, he’d be using social media to I am making here, and it may not hold erature. Roger Sutton, the Editor in Chief talk about it. water over time, but is there a pattern at The Horn Book, was there, and a few developing? The books weeks after the Day of Diversity, Roger on the right are by writ- asked a provocative question on his blog: ers of color. The books “Are We Doing It White? Are we review- on the left are by white ing books from a White perspective?” A writers. Is it the case long conversation took place. One of my that writers of color are take-aways from it was that people can, more in tune with the will, and do find ways to say, “No, we’re impact of story on chil- not doing it white. You know—literary dren? When they with- merit….” drew their books from publication, they cited That question is on my mind because of criticism from people a children’s book exhibit in Minneapolis who know what they’re that I hope to see before it closes. The talking about. There was exhibit is called “The ABC of It: Why a lot of drama on Twitter, Children’s Books Matter.” It was first or, “pile ons” from some curated by Leonard Marcus and mounted Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook, people who don’t use their real names. at the New York Public Library in 2013. and blogs are all forms of social media They made the conversations uncom- Now it is at the University of Minnesota’s that have provided disenfranchised peo- fortable and painful for the writers, but Andersen Library. When they were bring- ple with a platform. In 2015, people used I believe the decisions the authors of ing that exhibit to Minnesota, they also Twitter to talk about Sophie Blackall’s color made were in response to criticism worked with the University of Minnesota A Fine Dessert and E. E. Trujillo’s When that they believe has merit. They know it press and published a companion book We Was Fierce. In 2016, we used it to matters. for the exhibit. Before the exhibit opened, talk about A Birthday Cake for George people were telling Lisa Von Drasek that

Arbuthnot Honor Lecture • Children and Libraries • Digital Supplement • August 2019 9 certain parts of the exhibit needed his- very white. Is it going to be edited? I hope A conversation about Rosoff’s comments torical context. Without that context, so. There is a pdf copy of it. I think edits ensued on Facebook and Twitter. It came problematic books and authors in it can happen but you have to make those on the heels of discussions of the depic- were being celebrated, uncritically. In things happen by asking the questions. tions of the smiling slaves in Sophie particular, people had concerns about Blackall’s A Fine Dessert and in the midst the Dr. Seuss books and about Caddie of conversations about “civilized” Indians Woodlawn. With enough pressure—some in Laura Amy Schlitz’s The Hired Girl. of it on social media—Lisa has begun to I’ll circle back now and tell you about the Three weeks later, Rosoff tweeted about make some changes to the exhibit. In the term “Diversity Jedi” and how it came to all of us and our conversations, calling case for Caddie Woodlawn, she started to be. us “the Debbie Reese Crimes Against make changes right away. In the photo Diversity stormtroopers.” on the left (see below), the card (in the On October 9, 2015, Edith Campbell, a red circle in the photo) wasn’t there when Jedi, shared some thoughts on Facebook Stormtroopers? The bad guys in Star the exhibit opened. Lisa put it there after about Large Fears. Wars? Sarah Hamburg, a Jedi—pointed the exhibit opened. People told her that out the historical roots of that word. wasn’t enough. So, Lisa put that yellow Stormtroopers were Nazis. Rosoff’s char- caution banner on the cover, and that acterization of us was clearly unaccept- caught people’s attention. That helped able. René Saldaña offered a different people to ask questions about why it was term: Jedi Knight. I started thinking about on there. Lisa has been blogging about what we might call ourselves. Then, on the exhibit. She’s been trying to respond November 2, Muscogee author Cynthia to criticisms. She reported that the cau- Leitich Smith sent out a tweet with the tion tape is generating a lot more interest hashtag #DiversityJedi. She said she than the card did. This afternoon as I was might have given up writing stories about double checking my notes about the blog Native peoples if it weren’t for people who post, I went to the site to find out what A self-published picture book by Myles E. care when so many others don’t. Lisa was calling that card and got one of Johnson and Kendrick Daye, it is about a those “Error 404” messages. I don’t know queer black boy. Edi was happy to know Her words had tremendous resonance what’s going on; I guess we’ll see. about the book because, she said, “there for me and for others who hold fast to the are not enough books for marginalized fact that the words and illustrations chil- young people.” Well, Meg Rosoff, a white dren see in their books can reflect their author of several books for children and existence or mock their well-being. young adults, responded to Edi, saying,4 Cynthia’s pic- There are not too few books for mar- ture book, Jingle ginalised young people. There are Dancer, is one hundreds of them, thousands of that I talk about a them. You don’t have to read about a lot. It is the book queer black boy to read about a mar- I wish we had ginalised child. The children’s book when Liz danced world is getting far too literal about for the first time, I am glad to know that there are changes what “needs” to be represented. back in 1994. to the physical exhibit, that there are peo- ple at the Kerlan who are interrupting the Whiteness of the exhibit by providing this kind of context. That is really important because that is a powerful institution. The book, however, created by Marcus, is another matter. Lisa is making changes to the physical exhibit, but what’s happen- ing to the book? When she was bringing the exhibit to Minnesota, she wanted to have a children’s book that would go along with it, that could be used in chil- dren’s literature courses. I’ve been doing an on-going analysis of that book. It is

Arbuthnot Honor Lecture • Children and Libraries • Digital Supplement • August 2019 10 Relative to the rest of the scholars and Indigenous Literatures Matter. My heart kid in the library she’s working in, right critics in children’s and young adult liter- swells every time I see the tweets from now. There’s more to say about Hearts ature, we Diversity Jedi are few in number the Native teens in Florida. They tweet Unbroken. In it Cynthia deftly addresses but we’re making a difference. We research from the @OfGlades account on Twitter midguided claims to Cherokee identity and write and talk about the numbers of and they blog about books at Indigo’s and mockery of Native names, the racist books published, and the quality of those Bookshelf. I want to talk about the work editorials written by L. Frank Baum, and books, and the politics of what and who that Shannon Gibney, Thaddeus Andracki, the ever present question many of us gets published. As scholars, we’re push- Breanna McDaniel, Sujei Lugo, Anne Ursu, wrestle with: what do you do when you ing the industry. We do in-depth study of Angie Manfredi, Ann Clare LeZotte, Cris find out that a favorite author is racist? Or books, situating our words within hun- Rhoades, Stacy Collins, Marilisa Jimenez, if you find out that a favorite author has dreds of years of Whiteness. and Sonia Rodriguez are doing, every day. I been sexually harassing someone? learn from and am inspired by all of them. I’m supposed to give a lecture that is a In 1986, Walter Dean Myers, an African significant contribution to the field of chil- So much of what we stand for is under American author, used The New York Times dren’s literature but I could easily spend attack by powerful forces. Some days it to call out stereotypical, racist, and biased this hour talking about the Jedi because feels hopeless. Many days, we are afraid. depictions of African Americans. He wrote their work is a significant contribution to And we should be. The threats Jedi receive that the images of Dinah, the black maid children’s literature. I want everybody to are serious. But here we are, gathered in the Bobbsey Twins, Friday in Robinson know about Naomi Bishop’s leadership in in this room, this evening. We are here Crusoe, and Eradicate in Tom Swift were the American Indian Library Association, because our parents, grandparents, and harming black children and white children, and their decision to rescind the award our great-great-greats fought for their chil- too. He reflected on the 1960s and his hope they gave to Sherman Alexie. I think dren and grandchildren and great great then, that change was coming. He saw everybody should read Ebony Elizabeth grandchildren. They fought for the rights more books coming out in the 1970s, and Thomas’s The Dark Fantastic. You should of our people to exist, to tell the stories said that he thought they were revolution- all know about Laura Jiménez’s blog and we choose to tell, the way we want to tell izing the book publishing industry. Then, her research on graphic novels and social them. We’re doing that, now. We’re doing in 2014, Myers had another item in The justice in children’s literature! I want to what they did: fighting for our children, New York Times. It’s title: “Where Are the tell you about the work that Sarah Park our grandchildren, our great-great grand- People of Color in Children’s Literature.” Dahlen and her team did to launch the children. We are all resisting Whiteness. It was a painful note on how much had open access journal, Research on Diversity not changed. He died a few months later, in Youth Literature. Look that up as soon I’m glad that Cynthia Leitich Smith kept before the highly visible conversations on as you can and download the article, “The writing her books. I think she’s done more Twitter started taking place. Cat Is Out of the Bag: Orientalism, Anti- to help Native writers of children’s and Blackness, and White Supremacy in Dr. young adult literature than any other On April 4, Vicky Smith, children’s book Seuss’s Children’s Books,” by Katie Ishizuka Native writer out there. Through their editor at Kirkus, published a column titled and Ramón Stephens. You should also stories and words, Native writers are “Diversity Jedi.” In it, she said that she look up Edi Campbell’s blog posts about resisting Whiteness and they are provid- thinks the changes we’ve seen in the last the research she’s doing on monkeys in ing Native children with mirrors. Though few years in children’s literature are due children’s books. I want you all to read Jingle Dancer will always hold a special to the sustained work of Diversity Jedi Zetta Elliott’s books and her blog, too, place in my heart, I think Cynthia’s Hearts on social media. If Vicky is right, we are where she asks some hard questions about Unbroken is her most significant work. I carrying on the work that Walter Dean the choices writers of color make. And love that one of her characters hands a Myers did. If you’re on Twitter, look for the I gotta tell you to go read the work of copy of Eric Gansworth’s If I Ever Get Out hashtag. Retweet us. Help us. Let’s all rev- Allie Jane Bruce and the people who blog of Here to another character! In my mind I olutionize the book publishing industry. at Reading While White! Before a week can see Alexis, one of the OfGlades teens, passes, order Daniel Heath Justice’s Why handing Hearts Unbroken to a Native Thank you. &

References 1. Excerpt from Pratt’s speech: “Kill the Indian, and Save the Man,” available online at http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites /all/files/docs-resources/CIS-Resources_PrattSpeech.pdf. 2. “The All-White World of Children’s Books” by Nancy Larrick, available online at www.longwood.edu/staff/miskecjm/384 larrick.pdf. 3. “Join ALSC Leadership Discussions at Midwinter,” available online at www.alsc.ala.org/blog/2018/02/join-alsc-leadership -discussions-midwinter. 4. “Sunday Morning Reads” by Edith Campbell, available online at https://campbele.wordpress.com/2015/10/11/sunday morningreads-107.

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