ACCESS DIGITIZED EDITION
Guide/Reviews Database
HISTORY
Williams, Schele

Your Legacy: A Bold Reclaiming of Our Enslaved History

48 pp. | Abrams | September, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-1-4197-4875-2 $19.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-1-64700-072-1 $15.54
(2) K-3 Illustrated by Tonya Engel. A message from the African ancestors to today's African American children. Narrated in the second person, this picture book tells African American youth an uplifting story about the many positive qualities passed down to them: "love, intellect, determination, courage, brilliance, strength, ingenuity, grace, and dignity." Countering the notion that African American history started with slavery, Williams opens with "Your story begins in Africa," and says that Africans, "the first people on the earth," lived in thriving societies, speaking many different languages, for thousands of years before slavery. The narrative progresses through their kidnapping and enslavement, their sharing music as a common language, the vital connection between literacy and freedom, and the contributions of so many who made America successful. Readers meet well-known and lesser-known historical figures, some named, others only pictured, giving young people opportunities to learn more about them all. Engel's (Rise, rev. 11/19) mixed-media illustrations, which include acrylic, collage, and printmaking on wood and paper, capture the historical settings well, while her inclusion of flowers and trees throughout symbolizes growth and the potential of the next generation. (She illustrates Africans boarding slave ships unchained and fully clothed in their cultures' colorful garb and jewelry--perhaps to downplay the trauma of the Middle Passage.) An inspirational story that instills hope and encourages today's African ­American children to consider what they will give to their own descendants. Pair with recent similarly themed titles The People Remember and The 1619 Project: Born on the Water (both rev. 11/21).
Reviewer: Michelle H. Martin | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2022

RELATED 

HISTORY

We Are Still Here!
by Sorell, Traci
HISTORY

Shaped by Her Hands
by , Freeman, Anna Harber & Gonzales, Barbara
HISTORY

Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians but Were Afraid to Ask
by Treuer, Anton
HISTORY

Classified
by Sorell, Traci
HISTORY

Susan La Flesche Picotte
by Bailey, Diane
More

Get connected. Join our global community of more than 200,000 librarians and educators.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing.

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?