My biggest personal takeaway from taking the graduate course that has required me to keep a blog about the 20 YALs I've read this semester would be this: I have become a huge Elizabeth Acevedo fan! Her poetry--slam poetry, writing--is so powerful and beautiful and thought-provoking. I've been telling friends, colleagues, and acquaintances all about her work. I also think it's important to clarify that all of these friends/colleagues/acquaintances are white women, as I am, too. I won't pretend that I fully understand the varied experiences of black women; however, reading some of Acevedo's work along with other BIPOC authors' work over this semester has helped me develop more empathy or understanding than I did before...It's a work in progress.
I did come across an op-ed from Jasmine Guillory (a Black woman author) in Time Magazine that I want to share an excerpt from that reminded me of how reading more fictional stories of BIPOC characters by BIPOC authors is not just to help me be a better educator but also to help me be a better person. "Black lives are not a problem to be solved or an academic text that can be studied. To recognize Black lives as ones to celebrate, empathize with and care about, here’s your antiracism work: read more fiction by and about Black people. Multiple studies have shown that reading certain types of fiction increases a reader’s empathy for others in the world. Fiction gives you a window into both lives you know and recognize and ones you don’t. It helps you to put yourself in the shoes of those characters, even when you have a different perspective when it comes to race, gender or sexual identity" (Guillory, 2020).
Summary
INHERITANCE, a visual poem is a spoken word journey through Black history, oppression, resilience, and love through the lens of Black women's hair. The poem explores Black hair, Afro-Latinidad, and the interwoven legacies of identity, pride, and resistance. There are vibrant illustrations by Andrea Pippins complement the poem. Originally, Acevedo performed the poem as a spoken-word piece title, "Hair."
The poem begins with a familiar directive where people tell the author to "fix" her hair. The poem then goes into intricate histories of slavery, Black women's hair; then it moves into how the author will raise her daughter to love her hair with an ending that literally gave me chills and brought me to tears...I won't add it here to avoid any spoilers. 😀
- art by Andrea Pippins
- genre: poetry
- number of pages: 48
- published: 2022
Recognition
- YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) 2023 Odyssey Honor for Audiobooks
- Outstanding Literary Work - Youth/Teens, nominee, 54th NAACP Image Awards
.jpeg)
Classroom Considerations
This short read has ample amounts of opportunity in which students can learn from! As with any text this powerful, I recommend any readings, discussion, and assignments be approached with cultural sensitivity in a supportive environment, with lots of opportunity for connection and student empowerment. Most notably, tokenism should be avoided where the poem isn't treated as a one-time lesson on "diversity." Discussions of identity and representation should already be being discussed in your classroom.
The poem's themes are accessible to middle and high school students, but teachers should ensure students are mature enough to engage respectfully with discussion of race, body politics, and historical oppression.
Ideas for the Classroom
I think a multiday/multiclass lesson exploring identity through visual poetry with a focus on cultural empowerment, identity, voice, and visual literacy could be really engaging. First, there could be a discussion around the term, "inheritance," such as, "What have you inherited--culturally, physically, or emotionally?" The poem could be read aloud in it's entirety as the group/class pauses throughout to talk about the illustrations. Students could be invited to write their own short poem titled, "Inheritance" and pair it with symbolic illustrations, collage, or other artwork. A "gallery walk" would be so fun for students to either display and/or perform their poems. Then the lesson would end in a reflection to gauge students' understanding of identity and voice.
Potential Read Aloud Excerpts
1. “...What they really mean is: Have you thought of your daughter’s hair? And I don’t tell them that my love and I are like sugarcane. Dark-skinned, paler-fleshed, meshed and pure sweetness. The children of children of fields. Our bodies curve into each other like an echo, and I let my curtain of curls blanket us from the world. Our children will be beautiful. Of dusk skin and brilliant eyes, HAIR a reclamation…” (Acevedo, 2022).
Or 2. The poem is honestly such a great one to read aloud in its entirety.
Moving Forward...
I want/need to continue to reflect upon my own personal biases and assumptions after reading Acevedo's Inheritance, a visual poem. I think it's important to keep examining my own beliefs about beauty, professionalism, and respectability in relation to hair and appearance. I honestly just had a conversation with extended family members about why they thought a medical practitioner with a face piercing was something that would cause them to find another physician. It really opened the door into their preconceived notions about professionalism and made me continue to examine my own.
References
Acevedo, E. (2022). INHERITANCE, a visual poem. HarperCollins/Quill Tree
Guillory, J. (2020, June 30). Reading Anti-Racist Nonfiction Is a Start. But Don't Underestimate the Power of Black Fiction. Time. Guillory, J. (2020), Time Op-Ed
Comments
Post a Comment