Greatness Propels Greatness: A Conversation Between Kwame Alexander and Dare Coulter About Their New Book, An American Story
Hardcover $18.99
An American Story (Coretta Scott King Award Winner)
An American Story (Coretta Scott King Award Winner)
By
Kwame Alexander
Illustrator
Dare Coulter
In Stock Online
Hardcover $18.99
To describe An American Story by Kwame Alexander and Dare Coulter as simply an “important” book would be an egregious understatement. In the way only two distinctive creators such as Alexander and Coulter can, An American Story is the haunted but masterfully constructed bridge connecting the traditional African Village of the past and the modern day African American community. If there is one “must read” book for all ages, An American Story is it. Keep reading to discover more about the making of the book from Kwame Alexander and Dare Coulter.
To describe An American Story by Kwame Alexander and Dare Coulter as simply an “important” book would be an egregious understatement. In the way only two distinctive creators such as Alexander and Coulter can, An American Story is the haunted but masterfully constructed bridge connecting the traditional African Village of the past and the modern day African American community. If there is one “must read” book for all ages, An American Story is it. Keep reading to discover more about the making of the book from Kwame Alexander and Dare Coulter.
Kwame: Life imitates art and art imitates life. Sometimes there are situations where you don’t know how to deal with a challenging experience, and the only way you can cope is through art. I found myself in that situation when my daughter was in the 4th grade, and a racially insensitive incident happened in her classroom that revolved around the topic of slavery. The teacher did not know how to address it, and when confronted, she cried.
At first, I was angry at her, but then I realized her tears came from a place of fear and ignorance. She literally didn’t know how to teach slavery. I was raised learning all this stuff. I’ve been carrying this weight of being a Black person in America since I was born. I had one of those light bulb moments where I thought, I have to write a book about this. I have to write a book to help my daughter, one that helps teachers and parents teach this topic.
And the biggest part of this magical experience for me was when my editor sent me Dare Coulter’s artwork and my mouth dropped.
Dare: That’s so sweet! I have to say when I got the story, it felt like I had made a wish, and it came true. I had been introduced to Kwame’s poetry in The Undefeated and I thought “this man is a phenomenal writer.” I knew that I wanted to work with him one day, and for it to happen so quickly after that thought – and for it to be on such a powerful and important manuscript was unbelievable.
I knew the magnitude of the manuscript when I received it, and greatness propels you to greatness. From when I started creating the art to when I finished, the illustrations evolved in ways I didn’t expect. Sometimes your work takes you to places that surprise you.
Working on this book kind of took over my whole life. I did a lot of research and one night I had my first nightmare in relation to what I had just read. And that kept happening. Being immersed in such painful source material is weird because while I already knew about slavery, knew many specific stories of the brutality of it, I was still having a rough time. Being both immersed in accounts of these horrific experiences and then reading about people who said this didn’t happen, that people were not enslaved, or that that enslavers (slave masters) were kind, that was difficult to take in.
My goal was to balance all these hard experiences that people lived and figure out how to honor these stories, but not to turn this into a voyeuristic piece about this pain. Because that happens so frequently with black people.
Kwame: One of my favorite illustrations is the picture of the sculptured fists. The power, the strength, and the muscular verve of those fists that is juxtaposed against the fact they are chained.
They are strong and powerful but not free and I feel like that’s just such a bold statement. It’s the struggle of Black people in America. It’s a metaphor for our lives here.
Dare: For me, I think it is the “refusing to stop smiling and loving” page, that’s the one that I go back to. Curating a display of freedom and joy in the space of something so terrible is like the reclamation of your viability. Black people were told they weren’t viable, so as an artist, it’s a representation of reclaiming the space you have as a person.
That page, in tandem with the page before, “How do you tell a story about strength and pride and refusing to be broken” is my favorite section because in our daily lives, we’re trying to figure out joy while there’s simultaneously a lot of pain. Those three pages deal with the duality of that.
Kwame: We say that books can do the work of teachers. My hope is that this book can become the voice of a teacher. They can use this book to teach slavery, let the kids have a discussion. I tried to write it in a way that even the most unsure teacher would be able to still enter the subject, find their voice, and be able to engage with the students in a discussion.
Dare: I had a distinct moment of understanding in this process that this book can’t fix everything. At first, I wanted the hardest, most complicated racist to pick up this book and understand that maybe they’ve been lied to about this thing, that the core beliefs that support their racism are wrong. But I realize that you can’t reach and change everyone, but you can start a conversation. This book will wrap its arms around kids, hug them, and tell them that yes, this thing happened. I hope that alongside slavery, stories of resistance and resilience and Black enterprise are taught, because Black history doesn’t start with slavery. But it is vital as part of the American story because it informs the ways that the system is broken to this day, and how oppression and injustice were baked into the foundation of our country.
Kwame: I think that you are correct in your intention to change and impact everybody. I move through life believing that I can change them all. That may not be realistic, but that’s my outlook. Every person I come into contact with, every student, every reader, I believe I have that kind of power. To change the world one word at a time. So, I don’t think it’s a bad thing to be grandiose in your dream. That’s why we do what we do. When you look at the concept of legacy, it’s about what you leave behind, and if you made life better or easier for another person, that’s something.
Ultimately when you have a book like this, we are going to have some really heavy conversations. But as a country, we have to get on to the path of being better people. You can’t just say we’re not going to talk about slavery, but we’ll come together, hold hands and be one big, united America. This book lays the foundation for those conversations and understanding to happen. The work that we are doing is that big, and yes, we want to change everybody because anything else is unacceptable.