Separate Is Never Equal
Written and illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh, Separate Is Never Equal tells the story of Sylvia Mendez, and her family’s fight for justice and equality in education. The story follows the Mendez family as they discover the inequality between the “white” school and the “Mexican” schools in the Westminster area where they live. After a lot of hard work and help from many different people, the Mendez family is finally able to win their case and bring an end to segregated schools in California.
Duncan Tonatiuh was born and raised in Mexico. He illustrated Separate Is Never Equal using his signature artistic style inspired by 14th century Mixtec books filled with symbols, written signs, and pictures. He explains that his intention “is to celebrate [the] ancient art and keep it alive”. He combines his commitment to indigenous art forms “with an interest in digital collage” so that his work feels not only ancient but also contemporary- making them more accessible to today’s children (Marshall, 2016, p. 81).
Using Critical Race Theory to Analyze Graphic Representations
According the UCLA School of Public Affairs, critical race theory “recognizes that racism is engrained in the fabric and system of the American society.” Roy L. Brooks, a legal school, has defined critical race theory as “a collection of critical stances against the existing legal order from a race based point of view.” So what does critical race theory have to do with children’s books? A lot actually. It is important that we are actively analyzing and critiquing the images and language that we put in front of students for stereotypes and misconceptions that can be hurtful and damaging to their understanding of a given people group or situation.
On pages 18 and 19 of Separate Is Never Equal, Tonatiuh recognizes racism by illustrating the segregation of a public location. He depicts white children playing in a pool with colored children standing behind the bars of a fence looking longingly on. Beside the pool a sign is planted that reads “No dogs or Mexicans allowed. Public Pool.” The language used here mimics much of the language used in history such as “No Spanish or Mexicans” and it accurately represents that tragic reality that people viewed Mexicans as less than human.
One pages 24-27 of Separate Is Never Equal, Tonatiuh has created two distinct spreads where his characters are disputing stereotypes that the other characters within the book are trying to place on them. The first spread is set in a court room where Mr. Kent, the superintendent of the school district is questioned. He claims that the children are sent to the Mexican school to improve their English. Sitting in the court room with her family, Sylvia thinks, “That is a lie!” and recalls how her own English is as good as any of the children from the Westminster school. On the following spread, the family is shown sitting with their mouths open and arms outstretched to show their disbelief and disagreement toward Mr. Kent’s statement that at least seventy-five percent of the two hundred and ninety-two children in the Mexican school are “inferior to whites in their personal hygiene”.
One Last Word
You can check out a teaching guide for One Last Word here.
About the Author: Nikki Grimes
Grimes was born and raised in New York City where she began writing poetry at the age of six. She is a best-selling and award winning author who has written many books for children and young adults alike. In addition to this, Ms. Grimes has also written articles for magazines such as Essence, Book Links, and Today’s Christian Woman. Aside from writing, she is a published photographer, performing artist, jeweler, fiber artist, and “Jane of all trades”. Before writing full time, Ms. Grimes worked in both television and radio programs. This award winning author has traveled widely for speaking engagements and mission projects, but today, she resides in Corona, California.
What’s in the book?: Characters, Poets, and Setting
There are so many different contributors to the stories within this book that this question could be a blog post in itself, so I will offer you insights into a few of my favorites.
Clara Ann Thompson’s poem “Life and Death” can be found on pages 18 and 19 of One Last Word. Thompson, the daughter of slaves, was born in Ohio and worked as a teacher in the Ohio Public School System. After spending her days with students, she would spend her evening writing poetry. Her brother, Aaron, who was also a poet, helped her to publish her first book of verse in 1908. Her later works were honored and anthologized including “Life and Death” which depicts the story of family who has recently lost a brother and was included in the collection A Garland of Poems. This book offered a collection of poems that honored the black soldiers who fought courageously in World War I.
Ebony Glenn’s illustration of the poem “On Bully Patrol” can be found on page 63 of One Last Word. One of the most captivating illustrations of the book in my opinion, the image depicts a mother sitting on a bench with her children around her. The placement of her hand on one child’s shoulder and on the top of her other child’s head represent a gentle sense protectiveness as she teaches her girls to “Begin with whatever makes your heart sing” (p. 60).
How does this book serve as a counter narrative?
One Last Word serves as a counter narrative because the book is filled with poems that tell stories and offer the perspectives of individuals from a marginalized people group. In her article “Counter-Storytelling through Graphic Life Writing”, Elizabeth Marshall references Solorzano and Yosso who state the counter narratives serve as a “tool for exposing, analyzing, and challenging the majoritarian stories of racial privilege” (2016, p. 80). It is for this purpose that we, as educators, should seek to include counter narrative texts, such as the work of Grimes, in our classroom libraries. By providing a richer view of the world from multiple perspectives, we empower our students to recognize that everyone’s voices are powerful and significant to the combine world story. Emily Smith-Buster discusses this extensively in her article, “Social Justice Literature and Writing: The Case for Widening Our Mentor Texts” where she states that “the experiences that my scholars have (e.g. incarcerated parents, struggles with making ends meet, or fear of what is happening in the news) give them rich materials to speak and write about.” She goes on to explain that “The big ideas are important to my scholars; therefore, they drive my curriculum” (2016, p. 109).
How are oppression/stereotypes challenged and dismantled?
Oppression and stereotypes are challenged constantly throughout this book, but I find them to be most significantly dismantled in the poem “To a Dark Girl” by Gwendolyn Bennett and the golden shovel response poem “Through the Eyes of Artists” by Nikki Grimes. In each of these poems, the narrator is seeking to convince girls of color that they are beautiful for their individual qualities. Bennett opens her poem with the statement, “I love you for your brownness” (p.70) and Grimes claims, “Your complexion cries out for brush and canvas” (p.71). The artist asks, “Who has taught you to disdain your brownness?” (p.71) reminding the girls “Have you forgotten you come from African kings and queens?” (p.72). Finally, the artist tells the last subject, Tonya, “Your life’s story is a tale worth telling” (p.73). Throughout both of these poems, the writers have intentionally crafted words that offer their subjects and readers words of wisdom that dismantle the idea that beauty is what society often teaches and instills. Rather, these poems validate beauty as more than a skin color, or any given look, and focus on the beauty that is created when people come to see themselves and their stories as beautiful.
How does this book provide a platform for opening up critical conversations about overcoming obstacles?
By using the book One Last Word in your classroom, you will not only be giving a voice to the marginalized, but you will also be providing all of your students with a shared literary experience that will provide a platform for opening up critical conversations about overcoming obstacles. In Nikki Grimes poem “The Sculptor” found of page 32 of the book, she writes, “My father says hard work is the clay dreams are molded from.” Then, she continues on saying, “Yes. Molded. Dreams do not come. They are carved, muscled into something solid, something true.” I love these lines because I think that they provide a powerful visual for readers of all ages to understand the hard work that is involved in making one’s dreams become a reality. I believe that students could use these lines, and many others throughout the book, to link to their own personal experiences or examples of achieving goals to create a meaningful conversation about how overcoming boundaries might look similar and different between each of us.
Golden Shovel Poetry
Golden shovel poetry is a form of poetry that was invented by Terrance Hayes. To create a golden shovel poem, the poet uses a specific line (or in some cases an entire poem) to structure their own new work. They use each word of the selected line or poem as the final word in a line of their own poem.
Practicing Golden Shovel Poetry
I took inspiration for my own golden shovel poem from the final line in the first stanza of Nikki Grimes’s poem “In Search of a Superpower” from her book One Last Word. An excerpt of the poem can be found below.
Children, umbrage has its place, but sometimes we must let
small injustices and the casual spray of invective spit at us
roll of our backs. My grandma would say, “We be
better than such meanness. Show hatred the door and be still.”
My Golden Shovel Poem
We must each strive to make the world a better
place. Not just for better than
it used to be but such
a place where meanness
is just not merely criticized or frowned upon, but where we all show
our children, constantly, that hatred
does not have a place in the
hearts of human beings. And in the place of hatred is a door
which we should use to welcome others and
open ourselves to the world so that we can be
considered friends though we are all different still.
References:
Grimes, N. (2017). One last word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance. Bloomsbury Children’s Books.
Marshall, E. (2016). Counter-storytelling through graphic life writing. Language Arts, 94(2). 79-93. https://asulearn.appstate.edu/pluginfile.php/96946/mod_page/content/15/Counter%20Storytelling%20Separate.pdf.
Smith-Buster, E. (2016). Social justice literature and writing: The case for widening our mentor texts. Language Arts, 94(2). 108-111. https://asulearn.appstate.edu/pluginfile.php/96946/mod_page/content/15/Social%20Justice%20Mentor%20Texts.pdf.
Tonatiuh, D. (2014). Separate is never equal. Abrams Books for Young Readers.
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