Growing up, Andrea Jamison couldn’t spend summers outside because of the neighborhood she lived in. There was no money for camp, but she had access to books and read a lot, which she calls her “saving grace.”
Yet she was 14 years old before one of the books from her school’s library had a story she could relate to. She can still recall the first sentence: Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston put the assistant professor on the path she is today.
“I had read the Family Circus books, Dear God It’s Me Margaret, Little House on the Prairie, but I did not have the opportunity to read a book that was written by an African American person,” the professor said. “I didn’t see myself reflected in the literature.”
Now she plays a role in changing that. As an assistant professor, she teaches and researches diversity and inequities in children’s literature in libraries. Recognized as an expert in the field, she was selected as a juror for the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Jury, a seven-member jury with the American Library Association (ALA). Jurors serve a two-year term, evaluating hundreds of books for an award similar to the Newbery Medal and Caldecott Medal, which recognize notable children’s literature.
The Coretta Scott King Book Awards annually recognize outstanding books for young adults and children by African American authors and illustrators, which reflect the Black experience. The first award was presented in 1970, two years after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King.
Jamison has worked with ALA and other organizations promoting diversity in children’s books. She also served as chair of the ALA’s Ethnic and Multicultural Exchange Roundtable prior to being elected as a juror.
“It’s important for all children to see themselves represented,” she said. “Books can serve as a powerful affirming mirror. I accessed books predominantly through my school library, but we didn’t have a significant number of books that reflected the Black experience outside of slavery.”
Experiencing that void made her want to write. Last October she published, Decentering Whiteness in Libraries, as part of the Beta Phi Mu Scholars Series.
As a professor of school librarianship, Jamison teaches graduate courses that include how to select library materials for students in grades 6 through 12. She also teaches undergraduate courses in education. Over the summer she taught a professional development course for teachers on diversity and equity.
“It really keeps me connected to the work that I’m doing in terms of my research,” she said.
And, she’s starting to see more diverse content in children’s literature.
“It’s not just focused on having characters of color in the book that aren’t significant to the story line. Now we’re seeing African American children, children of color represented in books in meaningful ways and that’s what’s most exciting about it.”
It’s also important that these books stay on the shelves, she said, standing with the ALA in its opposition to attempts to censor books in schools and libraries that focus on LGBTQIA+ issues and the Black experience.
“It’s harmful to students whose lives or whose experiences may mirror the experience of characters in books that are being banned,” she said. “It’s important for all stories to be told.”
As a juror, she is surrounded by hundreds of books that arrive from publishers who want to nominate their authors for the CSK award. She reads, or listens to, all of them.
“It is a huge time commitment, but part of my research is how BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) communities are represented in children’s literature, so this gives me the opportunity to look at upcoming children’s books,” she said. “I’m able to identify or learn about book titles that are specific to the African American experience.”
She keeps a few for conversations with students about how people of color are represented. But she finds good homes for the rest, offering them to preservice librarians and teacher education students who are building their own libraries. “When I first started, I thought, ‘Oh no, what am I going to do with all these books after I’ve read them?’ I’ve had conversations with students about the need for more diverse books, and now I’m able to offer them to students for their libraries.”
