black people – Reading for you

Black artists of interest

Black Comix Returns by John Jennings
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I was growing up, when I first started reading comics, I fell in love with Supergirl, because she was like me. We all look for ourselves in what we read, even if we are trying to escape. We like to think that if we find someone like us, that looks like us, or is from our part of the country, or talks like us, or is any way like us, that we can project ourselves into this world of make believe.

Later, of course, as I grew up, I looked at what was then called the Underground comics, to find people more like me, that thought the way I did. It was the time when women were drawing their own comics, and I was, again drawn to that.

Representation, anywhere is important. We need to see ourselves in books and stories, so that we feel part of it. When we see women in power, we know we too can grow up to have power. When people of color see themselves in books and stories, they feel more engaged.

So that is why this book is so important, although it is more of a taste than anything else. There are so many great artists, so many different styles out there, it makes you want to go and seek all of them out. Amazing stuff.

The only problem with this collection, as some of the reviewers pointed out, is that there is not enough of each artist. That it is only a taste, and we need more than that. What we probably need now, is an anthology, more like what some of the reviewers though this book was.

Here are just some of the examples of the huge number of artists mentioned far too briefly in this collection:

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

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AFAR, projecting out there

Afar by Leila del Duca
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lovely colorful book, set in the distant future, in a desert community where Boetema and her brother Inotu must make their way int he world while their parents have gone off to earn some money. The only problem is, Inotu has gotten in trouble, and Boetema keeps going on spirit trips every time she falls asleep.

The places are real, and she wants to go back to the same places again, but can’t figure out why. Meanwhile, the two have to keep alive.

Good story telling. Lovely pictures, as you can see below. The brown scenes are the here and now part of the story, and the colorful ones are for when she is spirit traveling.

Good, quick read. Makes me wonder if there will be a volume 2, as this ending leaves a bit of things open. Oh, and Agama Wanwatu is caracturer from her myths, who is now a constellation which includes the North Star. (For us it would be Ursa Minor ).

Agama Wanwatu

Market scene

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The Pullman Porter

The Pullman Porter by Vanita Oelschlager
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Great book for teachers or curious students about what was important in the lead-up to the Civil Rights movement. I was not aware of the history of the Pullman porter, nor what part it played in the Civil Rights movement.

Short, brief sentences, easy to read, great pictures, fun facts. This was a delightful book to read.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

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Young, gifted and black

Young, Gifted and Black: Meet 52 Black Heroes from Past and Present by Jamia Wilson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book, as the authors point out, is written in the spirit of the song “to be young, gifted and black.”

Not all the men and women in this book were young when they became famous. But, it is important to see that there are others who had dreams, before you, who succeeded.

And it may be that you have never heard of Matthew Henson, but he was an explorer who was the first African-American to trek in the Arctic, despite the fact that he didn’t learn to read until 12, and found work on a merchant ship, where the ship’s captain taught him. He was right along there with Admiral Perry when he went to explore the Arctic.

There are the usual people in there, of course, as well, such as Harriet Tubman and George Washington Carver. But there is also Mo Farah, Kofi Annan and Jesse Owens. The time line spans the past and the present, including Simone Biles, the gymnast. This is also not limited to African-Americans, but Black people from all over the world. We have Oprah Winfrey next to Pelé. And each short bio has a quote. Nelson Mandela’s “It always seems impossible, until it it’s done”

This is a great book, that should be in every school and library. It will inspire, and delight. And show what has gone before.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

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White people and black friends

Your Black Friend by Ben Passmore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

OK, not the easiest book for a white person to read, but a good one, just the same.

Your Black Friend is a short comic, not more than eleven pages, but filled with the thoughts of racism and having white people want to be taught about being black.

Although I am not black, I run into this with some people who want to know about lesbianism and Wiccan. As though I was an exhibit at the museam, and that I know how every lesbian is, and what all wiccans do.

This is that book, but for white people from a black person. Well written, short, and pointed. We are sometimes so clueless. We do not have a friend so we can educate them about ourselves. We do not have to prove that we are who we are, and there is racism.

Go out and buy this. Go out and read this, and see if you get a little bit more about what “Your black friend” goes through every day.

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