This work examines the development of African American literature for young people--in terms of recurrent thematic content and underlying philosophies--from 1920 to the present. Johnson provides a close reading of various texts including 1) "The Brownies' Book" magazine, edited by W.E.B. Du Bois and Jessie Fauset from January 1920 through December 1921; 2) fiction, non-fiction, and poetry written by Langston Hughes and Arna Bontemps in the 1930s and 1940s, and the historical fiction that their work prefigures; 3) the picture book canon of Lucille Clifton, poet laureate of Maryland and...
This work examines the development of African American literature for young people--in terms of recurrent thematic content and underlying philosoph...