Guest Post: Monique Duncan on Centering Black Stories and Experiences in Children’s Literature
Once in a while, you come across a writer with a big idea—an idea in search of the words it needs for its telling. That was Monique Duncan when she took the picture book intensive semester with me at VCFA. She’d written that idea out, using a many words and plenty of compassion, all of it held aloft by a ton of historical research. Once in a while, you see a project like that settle into a pure, clear distillation of its early self. You see it combined with art that lifts the text so that the book becomes more than the sum of its parts.
Which is why I’m overjoyed to welcome Monique Duncan to this blog, as she writes about the history and personal experience that inspired her picture book, Freedom Braids, illustrated by Oboh Moses and published by Lantana Publishing.
From the publisher’s description:
A picture book of love, liberation, and legacy inspired by the true story of enslaved African women in Colombia braiding maps to freedom.
Here’s the promotional blurb I was invited to write:
“Freedom Braids pays loving homage to an imagined child’s journey, embodying the experiences of countless people who endured the horrors of the Translantic Slave Trade, and honoring traditions forged in community.”
And here’s Monique’s guest post:
Centering Black Stories and Experiences in Children’s Literature
by Monique Duncan
The impressions and messages contained in children’s literature help to cultivate a child’s understanding of themselves, their communities and the world around them. Purposeful text selection and meaningful inclusion of diverse stories can have a powerful, positive impact on children’s reading lives. As writers and lovers of literature, we can create and expose children to books that provide them with accurate and positive representations of the diverse groups of people that make up our community, society, and the world in which we live. We can reflect, honor and celebrate this diversity by uplifting books that center the stories of traditionally marginalized groups.
Photo courtesy of Monique Duncan
Throughout history Black children have been poorly reflected in children’s literature or omitted altogether. As a Black writer and an elementary school teacher, I am passionate about promoting literacy and creating stories that serve as mirrors for readers to see themselves and affirm their identities. Centering Black stories and experiences allows children to feel seen and embrace their identity.
Growing up, my mother used to braid or twist my hair every Sunday. As I got older, I learned that this routine was actually a shared experience. Many people throughout the African diaspora had mothers, grandmothers, aunts or older sisters who braided their hair. But I was astounded to learn that braids—the sacred traditions that culminated in the Sunday evenings of my youth, were tools for liberation!
“The stories of Black people⎯our history and lived experiences⎯need to be widely reflected, honored, and celebrated within children’s books. This need is about more than just representation. It’s about breaking down barriers of inequality, eradicating stereotypes, and reflecting the full humanity of our children. ”
While traditional African hairstyles have been worn for thousands of years and were passed down from generation to generation in the Black community, they were always a form of communication. Braids signified a person’s age, marital status, wealth, kinship or religion. But in the early 1600s, these intricate patterns served as “maps” that helped enslaved people escape in Colombia. Enslaved women braided patterns that represented escape routes and codes that allowed them to communicate with each other in secret.
This extraordinary history became the inspiration for my book Freedom Braids (Lantana, 2024). While this story is of an enslaved girl, who learns braiding techniques that liberate herself and others, it also highlights and affirms an experience that many Black children can relate to—getting their hair braided. In this story they learn that the hairstyles they commonly wear are a large part of their history and that they were tools for liberation. Freedom Braids educates, affirms and inspires Black children, while honoring the legacy of a rich culture.
The stories of Black people⎯our history and lived experiences—need to be widely reflected, honored, and celebrated within children’s books. This need is about more than just representation. It’s about breaking down barriers of inequality, eradicating stereotypes, and reflecting the full humanity of our children.
