Milestones in African American Children's Literature

Happy Black History Month! All month long I’m centering African American contributions to the history of the United States and beyond! Today I’m talking about the world of African American children’s literature: the people who helped to usher in a new era of authentic portrayals of the everyday stories, experiences, and joys of Black children in children’s books, and worked for those books to be available to all children.

In 1919, the first national literacy initiative, Children’s Book Week, was established as an annual celebration of books for children as well as the powerful impact and joy of reading. That same year, Macmillan hired the first children’s book editor, Louise Seaman Bechtel, to head the first U.S. publishing department exclusively devoted to children’s books.

However, until the late 19th century, most depictions of Black people in literature for people of any age were sources of ridicule, made up of negative images, caricatures, and harmful stereotypes—and were being consumed by African American children right along with White children. One publication that attempted to counter these damaging images that was written specifically for Black children was The Brownies’ Book, published in 1920, during the Harlem Renaissance.

This monthly children’s magazine was associated with a quarterly journal called The Crisis, put out by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Edited by author, poet, and educator Jessie Redmon Fauset and W. E. B. Du Bois, one of the founders of the NAACP, The Brownies’ Book was created for all children, but especially for Black children, who Du Bois felt should be taught to have pride in their racial history and identity as well as their ability to achieve great things despite the oppressive society in which they lived.

The Brownies’ Book cover was illustrated by prominent Black artists, and published stories, games, plays, poetry, current events, literature, music, and biographies of successful Black people, along with the artistry, academic achievements, and queries of Black children who wrote letters to the magazine. With only 24 published issues spanning two years, The Brownies’ Book helped launch the genre of African American children’s literature. Building upon this tradition of writing for Black children, in 1928 two...

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