In Newbury Award-winning author Virginia Hamilton’s Her Stories, readers will find a wonderful collection of folk and fairytales focusing on the oft-overlooked cultural tradition and experience of African American women. The book is divided into five sections (Her Animal Tales, Her Fairy Tales, Her Supernatural, Her Folkways and Legends, and Her True Tales) and each section contains four or five short stories, accompanied by beautiful illustrations and a short paragraph on the story’s historical context. Hamilton does a great job at amassing tales which previously were passed down through the oral tradition only and manages to give each story a distinct and individual narrative voice. Not only will children love these tales for their plotline, the book also serves as a great historical piece on the journey of African American women from slavery to the present.
My favorite story in the collection was that of Annie Christmas. Anne Christmas is the female answer to John Henry and Paul Bunyan – a woman whose story became larger than life in southern Louisiana culture. Annie was supposedly “coal black and tree tall.” A keel-boat operator on the Mississippi, she was “the biggest woman in the state of Loo’siana, the strongest that ever lived in New Orleans-town.” In this version of Annie’s tale, she falls in love with a paddleboat captain after he demonstrates bravery in the face of danger during a rough storm on the Mississippi. The captain does not return her love and Annie wishes “big trouble” upon him. In the face of this rejection, she jumps overboard in her prettiest satin dress, never to be seen again. The captain and his crew mysteriously disappear as well. The captain is said to haunt that part of the Mississippi while Annie is said to occasionally appear from the mist of the river near New Orleans, singing a river-boat tune. I loved this story the most because of its strong heroine character and the high intensity and drama of the whole tale. I also loved the narrative voice Hamilton gave this story. This is by far her strongest writing technique, so much so that she reminded me a lot of Toni Morrison, except for a much younger audience.
Further research on Hamilton really surprised and impressed me. I hadn’t previously heard of her before picking up Her Stories, but her life and its achievements were so impressive, I can’t believe I haven’t encountered her sooner. The descendant of slaves, Hamilton grew up on a farm in Ohio that her grandfather bought and owned after escaping from Virginia on the Underground Railroad. Hamilton studied at Ohio State University before moving to New York, where her literary career really began. Over the course of her career she wrote 41 books within a variety of genres, mostly focusing on the African American experience. Not only was her work groundbreaking, she also has the distinction of having won every possible award for children’s literature, according to her website (http://www.virginiahamilton.com/biography/). Regardless of the fact that I came upon Hamilton's works a bit late, I think I will definitely try to incorporate her works into a future classroom library to provide my students with a variety of American perspectives and experiences.
I am so glad that you found this collection of tales about African American women. This is an area of literature which I know very little about. How interesting that this work won every possible award for children's literature! It is encouraging to see that there are authors out there who are collecting these tales for children everywhere to read and discuss. Is there a specific grade level that you would recommend for this book? I would love to include it in my classroom library. I am very interested in women's history, and eager to learn more about the historical triumphs and struggles of African American women.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Heather...this is an area I know almost nothing about. Since many of the kids I work with are female minorities, you've given me a great resource to point them to. So many traditional tales are ones that some groups of children can't relate to, but this collection brings in a whole group of children whose needs are often ignored. It's also great that this book has stories which were previously unrecorded. I'm glad the author recorded them for future generations to enjoy.
ReplyDeleteSo many oral traditions are lost to the wind, which is part of the reason they were so interesting- constantly being manipulated and tweaked by the millions of "authors" that have had the priviledge to tell them. When these stories are finally written down, they are then preserved for an endless future. I am sad to say that I grew up in an era (just a decade earlier than the present one) that didn't use books like these in their daily lessons in education. I feel robbed on so many aspects of my education. This is not a dig at past teachers, most were excellent educators, it was just that time frame, perhaps we were not ready for it. Now however, we (as future educators) have the opportuity to reach this breadth in our curriculum, our lesson plans, our inclusion of all students, regardless of gender, race, ses, (dis)ability, or any other student qualities. This book seems like it can help in this quest. I just wish that it was more well known! The fact that neither Brian, Heather, nor I (three W&M grad students)knew anything about this book, or even this author, who has scripted 40+ books makes me really sad. I wish it was better known, but perhaps, if we all add it to our classroom inventory,in a few years hundreds of students will know! Thanks for the great find, keep em' coming!
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