Throughout the month of February, Rutgers-Camden will be honoring the contributions of African Americans to children’s literature through our series, Picturing Black Childhood: African American Images in Children’s Literature. Open and free to the public, we encourage you to participate in this timely conversation by attending these informative events.
Feb. 1, 5-6pm: Marley Dias, Ida B. Wells-Barnett Black History Month Lecture. Multi-Purpose Room, Camden Campus Center, 326 Penn Street, Camden, NJ 08012
Marley Dias will kick off our month-long exploration, Picturing Black Childhood: African American Images in Children’s Literature. Dias, who is only 11 years old, is the founder of #1000blackgirlbooks, a diversity campaign that has collected over 8,000 books featuring African American girls. Marley has appeared on Ellen, The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore, CBS This Morning and Charlie Rose and was honored at BET’s Black Girls Rock! with a M.A.D. (Making a Difference) Award.
Feb. 13, 10am-12pm: Parent/Guardian Book Arts Workshop. Stedman Art Gallery, 314 Linden Street, Camden, NJ 08102
Rutgers-Camden Center for the Arts staff, Carmen Pendleton and Noreen Scott Garrity, will be using the book, Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson (Illustrated by E. B. Lewis), to discuss strategies for reading with your child, and for making hands-on art activities to accompany and reinforce the text. Participants will each receive a copy of the book/one per family.
Feb. 16, 6-7:30pm: E.B. Lewis. Raptor Roost (Basement Level of Camden Campus Center), 326 Penn Street, Camden, NJ 08012
E.B. Lewis will discuss his prolific career as a pioneer in African American children’s literature. Lewis has illustrated over seventy (70) books for children, including Nikki Grimes’ Talkin’ About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman, the 2003 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Winner; Alice Schertle’s Down the Road, an ALA Notable Book; Tolowa M. Mollel’s My Rows and Piles of Coins, an ALA Notable Book and a Coretta Scott King Honor Book; Bat Boy and His Violin by Garvin Curtis a Coretta Scott King Honor Book, and Jacqueline Woodson’s The Other Side, a 2002 Notable Book for the Language Arts. In addition to his other achievements, he is a multiple winner of the Children’s Africana Book Award.
Feb. 20, 4:30-6pm: From Topsy to Tiana: Black Children’s Literature in Theory and Practice; Writers House, 305 Cooper Street, Camden, NJ 08102
The history of African American children’s literature is beautiful as it is complex. Join us for a discussion of the history of this neglected genre of writing, led by Dr. Nyeema Watson, Rutgers University—Camden associate chancellor of civic engagement. Dr. Watson earned her doctorate in Childhood Studies and her research focuses on images and representations of African American children, especially as it relates to children’s literature.
Feb. 22, 10am-12pm: Parent/Guardian Book Arts Workshop. Nilsa I. Cruz-Perez Downtown Branch, Camden County Library, 301 North 5th Street Camden, NJ 08102 (Intersection of 5th and Penn St.)
Rutgers-Camden Center for the Arts staff, Carmen Pendleton and Noreen Scott Garrity, will be using the book, Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold, to discuss strategies for reading with your child, and for making hands-on art activities to accompany and reinforce the text. Participants will each receive a copy of the book/one per family.
Sponsored by The Offices of the Chancellor and Civic Engagement, Rutgers Camden Center for the Arts, and Africana Studies