Falling in Love with History, a guest post by Tonya Bolden

When I was a kid, I hated history.

It would be easy to say that this was because the history books didn’t have many (if any) people who looked like me.

The truth of the matter is that I would have done cartwheels and somersaults had I encountered in the pages of those history books people who didn’t look like me but who were interesting, not one-dimensional—alive!

Those were the days of just-the-facts history. It was all so dry and boring.

In my young mind so was Uncle Jake. This clerical worker by day (who later had a side hustle as a waiter and bartender for posh private parties) was on a mission to cram as much history as possible into my and my sister’s heads.

I remember him telling us about Phillis Wheatley and Crispus Attucks. I also remember not caring. Looking back, I can understand why. How could a kid get excited about either of them? One, yes, was a celebrated writer—but “a slave.” The other was free—but got shot dead.

I also remember Uncle Jake taking us to a brownstone blocks and blocks away from our home in Spanish Harlem. As we stood outside that brownstone’s gate, he pointed at the house and with great pride informed us that it was the home of Langston Hughes. I don’t remember what all else he said. A mini history of the Harlem Renaissance? Perhaps. I imagine myself shrugging and at the end of his lecture piping up with something like “Can we get ice cream now?”

My sister remembers Uncle Jake weaving bits of history into the hobbies he established for us: stamp collecting for her; coin collecting for me. Confession: A time or two (or three)—in moments of desperation—I dipped into my Buffalo nickels (minted 1913-1938) to buy popsicles and penny candy at Pepe’s, the Bodega across the street from our building.

My very first memory of my history-loving, history-wielding uncle was a late November day in 1963 when he came to my family’s apartment with a bunch of newspapers with coverage of a recent tragedy: the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Uncle Jake urged us to hold on to these newspapers. He said something like, “This is history!”

Who knew that years later I’d fall absolutely in love with history, especially American history. It began in the 1980s when I was book reviewing for Black Enterprise magazine, which only reviewed nonfiction. Again and again, I read books that gave me insights into how rich and painful and bloody and fantastic and mournful and maddening and glorious this nation’s history is. I came to understand that, as Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, “We are made by history” and that, as James Baldwin said, “History is literally present in all that we do.”

I discovered that if told with some heart and soul, history can be as compelling as fine fiction. And before long I found myself on a mission to make history come alive for young people.

But first, I have to make history come alive for me.

One of the ways I do that is by holding history in my hands.

For Maritcha: A Nineteenth-Century American Girl, I bought a copy of the July 15, 1863, issue of the New York Times with its front-page article “The Reign of the Rabble,” about the New York City Draft Riots and with a mention of the attack on Maritcha’s home.

For my biography of scholar-activist W.E.B. Du Bois I bought old postcards of Great Barrington, his hometown and more than a few copies of the NAACP’s magazine, The Crisis, which Du Bois launched in 1910 and served as its editor for years.

Treasures from my time doing research for Facing Frederick include two nineteenth-century prints: one of New Bedford, Massachusetts, where Frederick Douglass settled shortly after he made his great escape; the other of Rochester, New York, where the great man lived and worked for more than twenty years.

Sure, many of these artifacts I could have simply viewed online, but there’s something about being up close and personal with a piece of history. It helps greatly with the time traveling.

Because that issue of the New York Times was printed on rag paper (and so not fragile/brittle) I was absolutely comfortable reading not only the piece on riots (and feeling the terror of those horrible days) but also reading other items—and learning, for example, that the upper part of a house on Henry Street could be rented for $17 a month.  Gazing at the Rochester print, I imagined Frederick Douglass making his way from his first home in the city, on Alexander Street, to his newspaper office on what was then Buffalo Street. I imagined him making that walk with dignity and well-dressed. And as I hold an old photograph or print or newspaper in my hands, I can’t help but wonder who over the years held it in theirs. And what was their history?

Were he alive today, I believe Uncle Jake would be mighty proud.

Meet the author

Tonya Bolden, a native New Yorker, has authored, co-authored, and edited more than fifty books, most of young people. Her many awards include a Children’s Book Guild of Washington, DC’s Nonfiction Award for her body of work. Her most recent books include the graphic nonfiction novel Black Lives: Great Minds of Science illustrated by David Wilkerson.

About Black Lives: Great Minds of Science

Dive in to an exciting nonfiction graphic novel series about some of the greatest Black lives in history! “Sure to delight middle graders and encourage interest in STEM careers.” (School Library Journal)

This fun and accessible graphic novel for middle grade readers brings to light the lives of great but lesser-known Black scientists. Great Minds of Science is a kid-friendly introduction to some of the greatest scientists in history—doctors, engineers, mathematicians, and biologists.

Each of them faced challenges as they rose to the top of their professions, but they didn’t back down. They kept experimenting and questioning and learning, and they made significant contributions in each of their scientific fields.

Black Lives is the new graphic novel series from award-winning author Tonya Bolden and illustrator David Wilkerson that celebrates the lives of Black innovators and legends and helps bring these histories to life.

Celebrate the lives and contributions of Black scientists throughout history with the inspiring Great Minds of Science.

ISBN-13: 9781419752698
Publisher: Abrams Fanfare
Publication date: 09/10/2024
Series: Black Lives
Age Range: 8 – 12 Years

Filed under: Guest Post