Tell All the Children Our Story
By Tonya Bolden
Abrams, $24.95
ISBN 0810944960

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Celebrating the lives of black children

"My mama died when I was two years old and my aunty raised me. She started me out washing dishes when I was four years old and when I was six she was learning me how to cook. . . . When I got to be seven years old I was cutting sprouts almost like a man and when I was eight I could pick one hundred pounds of cotton . . . "

Mary Island, Union Parish, Louisiana

Mary Island's is just one of the myriad voices chronicling the experience of black children in Tonya Bolden's stunning new book, Tell All the Children Our Story, a rich compilation of narrative, period photographs and excerpts from primary sources such as letters, diaries and posters.

In this handsome volume, Bolden pays tribute to the strength of the African-American community, both past and present. She divides her history into three parts. The first section, "Out of Africa," begins in 1624, with the birth of William Tucker, the first African American baptized in Virginia. Bolden traces the origins of slavery in the colonies and describes the kinds of work children would have done, including sweeping, hoeing potatoes, weeding, fetching water and toting wood.

The next section, "Longing for the Jubilee," picks up around 1783 and chronicles the experiences of young black people in the years up to and just after the Civil War. Bolden shows the harsh conditions under which many enslaved children lived and also reveals how education was something to be treasured for all young African Americans. The voices of young people in the 20th century, from novelist Margaret Walker to James Todd Smith (LL Cool J), ring out strong and clear in the third part of the book, "Lift Every Voice and Sing." Bright graphics and color photographs reflect ever-widening goals, experiences and opportunities.

Generations of black children have persevered, Bolden tells us, and today young black girls and boys can look back with pride and forward to new challenges. Tell All the Children Our Story is a celebration of our history sure to inspire children and families of all races.