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Nancy Keane's | Booktalks -- Quick and Simple | |
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Boyce, Jo Ann Allen. THIS PROMISE OF CHANGE : ONE GIRL'S STORY IN THE FIGHT FOR EQUALITY New York : Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2019. IL 3-6 ISBN 9781681198521 2 booktalks |
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Booktalk #1 Imagine a world where boys and girls of all races could not attend the same school and experience the same learning opportunities. This world existed in 1956 in most of the South. This true story takes place in Clinton, Tennessee, where twelve African American high school students wished to attend school within a mile from their homes rather than being bussed to a neighboring “colored” school. These twelve students were the first to desegregate a public high school. Told in verse, Jo Ann Allen, one of the Clinton 12, relives this turbulent time where the National Guard was called in to protect the students who simply wanted to attend school and build a better life for themselves and those who followed them. (Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Award 2020-2021) Booktalk #2 Imagine you are on your way to school and angry mobs block your path, spitting insults and other derogatory terms at you. Even once you reach inside the school you are still berated by constant harassment from classmates and even teachers. You can’t even participate in extra-curricular activities because of the color of your skin. This was a reality for many black students who were paving the way for school integration in the 1950s and 60s. This Promise of Change is an autobiography written in verse by Jo Ann Boyce. In 1956 she was among 12 teenagers who enrolled in the all-white Clinton High School in Tennessee. While Boyce’s voice is hopeful, you will also empathize with her as she describes the difficult days she had attending a school where she was disliked because of the color of her skin. For example, she writes, “Mouths spewing insults. / (Do these mouths sing hymns on Sunday? / Do they say ‘I love you'?)" This book tells the story of a not so distant-past. Read This Promise of Change by Jo Ann Boyce and Debbie Levy to learn more about Boyce’s experiences during the desegregation of schools. (Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Awards, 2021) |
| SUBJECTS: African American students. African American teenage girls. Race relations. School integration. Tennessee -- Clinton. |
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