The Lack of People Of Color in Historical Fiction

What, You Mean To Tell Me There Were No People of Color in U.S. History?

I’m sure based on that title you’re shaking your head and saying “Ari you are obviously wrong, hello slavery and civil rights involved people of color” Oh and if you really know your history you might throw in the Mexican American war and perhaps Cesar Chavez and the migrant workers movement. (Note this post is mostly addressing American history with some mention of international history). And should I even ask if people know anything about the history of other countries I will most likely be met with blank stares. Now at this point, you’re probably thinking “oh so you have a problem with historical fiction and the American educational system.” Well, yes and no but that’s for another post at another time (perhaps after I actually finish the American educational system). This post is about the lack of historical fiction about people of color, specifically concerning American history. I want to make this a series of posts (there will be no regularity to them since I don’t have the time), my addressing the lack of books about poc in YA genres and offering recommendations of books that are out there. I decided to start with historical fiction because it’s my favorite genre and I’m doing the Royal Reviews Historical Fiction Challenge 2010 and it took me FOREVER to compile a list of historical fiction that was YA about poc. I tried to leave off slavery and the civil rights movement (see my sidebar for my list). It was a frustrating process and it got me to thinking, where is all the historical fiction about people who look like me or at least not white? Granted, I didn't have to read historical fiction about poc or I could have read MG or adult fiction. I will be reading some MG but I wanted to focus mostly on YA about poc since that's what my blog is about and it's so underrepresented. I wanted to raise people's awareness in this challenge and help them discover new, good books about poc.

Slavery in my mind is played out. It’s tied with the civil rights movement with the most books written about in YA and MG (I have no actual statistics this is just based on research on my part that involved Google and Amazon). As an African American teenager, I’m tired of reading books about slavery. It’s upsetting and the books are all starting to seem the same to me (there are of course exceptions). My view is this: if you want to write about slavery, at least do it during a different time period but please leave the civil war alone! Slavery during the time of the Civil War or right before the start of the Civil War is what most books are about. If an author really likes the Civil War and wants to write about African Americans how about you write about the life of AA soldiers or spies? It’s new and it’s different! But ultimately, try and leave slavery alone. It doesn’t make me feel all that much better, most of the time it just makes me angry, even if the protagonist triumphs in the end. The same thing applies to the Civil Rights movement; find a different, unexplored perspective! Most stories featuring an AA protagonist are told from the side of the non violent civil rights movement. That’s fine, but I’d like to see more books about the Black Panthers and the Black is Beautiful movement and anything else that is relevant to that time period. But how about something more original and different? There are so many unexplored aspects of AA history. African Americans have been a part of American history since it’s conception so where are the books about our role in the Revolutionary war, the war of 1812, WWI, WWII, Vietnam (any war except the Civil War!). I could name countless YA titles for each of these wars with white main characters. Or how about the Back to Africa movement, the Harlem Renaissance (my personal favorite period in AA history but there are NO YA books about it), policy kings (shout out to Christine Fletcher’s Ten Cents a Dance for informing me about what a policy king is. They are from the ‘40s), spies (I’m sure some AAs were involved in spying for the U.S. during all the wars), the beginning of hip hop (‘80s) and so much more.

It’s even worse for Latinos, Asians and Native Americans. I don’t even know much about the history of Latinos in America. Possible topics; the Mexican American War (or the history of Latinos fighting in any war!), how Latinos felt as their homes became part of the U.S. (California, Texas, New Mexico, etc.), and the migrant workers labor movement. Or make it international, there are so few YA historical fiction about independence movements in Latin America, life under dictatorships and anything about their history. The same applies for Asians, books about the history of Japan, China, the Philippines, Taiwan, etc. Or the role of Asians in America (I have no suggestions for possible topics because I really don’t know all I can think of is Chinese workers working on the railroad and during WWII when Japanese Americans were imprisoned in internment camps). And the historical fiction that is about Native Americans for YAs is very few and a lot of the books twist the facts and are considered offensive unless written by Native Americans themselves.

The few historical fiction novels that are out there about poc are marketed to middle grade readers. I’ve compiled a list below of some good historical fiction novels covering diverse time periods of history and the majority of novels I found were MG. I’m not sure why that is, so I would for someone to explain it to me. I suppose it might be because middle school readers are more open eyed and willing to read things from all genres, whereas in high school it can be considered ‘uncool’ to read historical fiction (or sci fi or manga, etc.).

I know the thought running through people’s minds (it crossed mine too) is, you are making a lot of suggestions so why not write a book yourself about a topic I’ve suggested. I would, but not everyone can write and I’m someone who can’t write. So I appeal to all current and aspiring writers (especially writers of color) who want to write historical fiction, think about these topics and break outside the mold, do something fresh.

Recommended Reading (I haven’t read all of these)

MG

1. Dear America Series-this series helped start my love of historical fiction, some good titles are; Color Me Dark (1919 Chicago race riot, I used this book as a basis of a history fair project and went all the way to State!), Look to The Hills (prior to the French Indian War), Valley of the Moon (the fight over California entering the U.S.). Also check out the male Dear Americas called the My Name is America: Journal series and the Royal Diaries series

2. Washington City is Burning by Harriette Gillem Robinet (any books by her are good, all MG and about AAs in different time periods not well publicized)

3. Girls of Many Lands series (Saba-Africa, Leyla-Turkey, Neela-India, and Spring Pearl –China)

4. Dragonwings by Laurence Yep (anything by Laurence Yep, not everything is historical fiction but most of his work is, mostly all about the history of Chinese people in America)

5. Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis-Set in the 1930s in Michigan, African American (anything by Christopher Paul Curtis, he's absolutely hysterical, but his books are also very sweet)

6. Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan-1930s Hispanic immigrant

7. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor-1930s African American family. A series

8. The Birchbark House by Louise Eldrich-Life on the frontier (1840s) told through the eyes of an Ojiibwa girl (anything by Louise Eldrich)

9. All the Broken Pieces by Ann Burg-Vietnamese American boy (son of a Vietnames woman, American soldier), who is airlifted out of Vietnam after the war and taken to America.

10. Journey of Dreams by Marge Pellegrino-1980s Guatemala, a 13 year old Mayan girl is fleeing the military who are trying to destroy the homes of the indigenous people.

(I apologize for my slightly older MG selections, I don't read much MG anymore so I'm not up to date on the current books, feel free to leave recommendations in the comments)

YA

See also my Royal Reviews Historical Fiction Reading Challenge sidebar list

1.Secret Keeper by Mitali Perkins (India, 1970s)

2.Bless Me Ultima (Hispanic child but it’s YA and adult reading level, ‘40s)

3. Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith (AA female passes as white to be a pilot, WWII)

4. Mare's War by Tanita Davis-WWII AA female soldier

5. CodeTalker by Joseph Bruchac- Navajo codetalkers, WWII (anything by Joseph Bruchac, especially March Toward the Thunder about NAs role in the Civil War)

6. A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliott-1863 Draft War riots in Brooklyn

7. Keeping Corner by Kashmira Sheth-India during the time of Gandhi

8. Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkatraman-India during WWII

9. Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez-1960s Dominican Republic under Trujillo

10. Gringolandia by Lyn Miller Lachmann-1980s during the terror regime of Pinochet in Chile

Upcoming Historical Fiction MG&YA

1. A Million Shades of Gray by Cynthia Kadohata MG (Life in Vietname during the Vietnam War) Release Date: Jan. 5, 2010

2. Escaping the Tiger by Laura Manivong MG (Communist Laos, refugees escaping to Thailand. Thanks for the correction Laura!) Release Date: March 9, 20120

3. Leaving Gee’s Bend by Irene Latham (1930s AA girl) MG Release Date: Jan. 7, 2010

4. Shooting Kabul by N.H. Senzai MG (post 9/11 Afghanistan and America) Release Date: Jun. 22, 2010

5. One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams Garcia- MG (Black Panthers, ) Release Date: Jan. 26, 2010

6. The Red Umbrella by Cristina Gonzalez-YA (Pedro Pan, Cuba) Release Date: May 11, 2010

7. 90 Miles to Havana by Enrique Flores-Galbis-MG (Pedro Pan, Cuba) Release date: Aug 23, 2010

8. The Firefly Letters: A Suffragette's Journey to Cuba by Margarita Engle Release Date: March 16, 2010 (about women's suffrage in Cuba, Thanks so much Wendy for this suggestion! Read synopsis in the comments section from Wendy)

Obviously, I couldn't list all the titles I found and for the most part I tried to go for the more recently published books, but some books are such classics and rarities that they needed to be included (like Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry)

Many thanks to Lyn Miller-Lachmann, author of Gringolandia, for her historical fiction recommendations and wonderful advice :)

ETA: Ah Yuan has a good theory as to the gap between how much MG and YA historical fiction there is

I think that may possibly be influenced by the fact that YA is a fairly recent category in the US publishing industry whereas MG, which were all considered children's books back in the day, were around for longer. I think if we look at the ratio of POC books in both YA and MG, they'd be about the same, and that the reason why POC MG novels are numerically more than POC YA novels simply because there are more MG novels in general. But um, I don't really have statistics to back this up, so just think of this as a hunch, a theory I thought up of on the sly

ETA 1/5/10: Another great comment that offered a different perspective is Jill's

I don't want to gainsay the problem, but I have another point of view to offer. This may seem like anathema to all you fiction fans out there, but there are some great, and really really readable nonfiction books out there, and I mean books that read like they're fiction, they're so good. Maybe there is also a deleterious stereotype about nonfiction that scares people away. Just a couple of examples of good nonfiction (not necessary re poc but just good reading): I was on the edge of my seat for Paul Revere's Ride by David Hackett Fischer, and Fischer is more of an academic historian than most. Or, and this does deal with slavery, and is by a POC: I loved loved loved Jefferson's Pillow by Roger Wilkins, because it dealt with slavery from the point of view of a black man (and civil rights leader) trying to reconcile Jefferson's behavior with his rhetoric. And it was just outstanding. There are great nonfiction books out there about the role of blacks in history, whether about the Harlem Renaissance, or building schools in the South, or colonizing Nova Scotia, or working in science (e.g., Granville Woods, "the black Thomas Edison) and these all make really good reading! Okay, now, the negative: many of these are not written by people of color. Some are, but many aren't. But maybe jumping into the history no matter who the author will inspire a POC to take up the topic for historical fiction. OR, maybe people will discover nonfiction as a great genre!!!

Please everyone take note that I'm reading ALL your comments, but it's hard to respond to all of them. But I am reading and I'll try to respond asap, but don't take it personally if I don't respond to your personal comment. Thanks for stopping by and contributing :D Also, I'm going to try and do a part-two of this discussion showcasing some comments, so if you DO NOT want your comment shared, let me know.