A Is for Affrilachia

by Frank X Walker, Ronald W. Davis (Illustrator)

Overview

The people and places in Appalachia make it a rich, multifaceted, and diverse region. When author Frank X Walker first coined the phrase "Affrilachia," he wanted to ensure that the voices and accomplishments of African Americans in that region were recognized and exalted. A Is for Affrilachia not only brings awareness of notable African Americans from this region, but this inspired children's alphabet book is also an exuberant celebration of the people, physical spaces, and historical events that may not be as well-known in mainstream educational structures.

Illustrated by acclaimed artist upfromsumdirt, every image exudes vibrancy, beauty, and whimsy as it depicts an alphabetized word alongside each corresponding letter. Featured are a range of musicians, artists, and activists, as well as mountain ranges, literary works, and coal mining implements. Famous names, such as playwright August Wilson, writer Nikki Giovanni, actor Chadwick Boseman, and singer Nina Simone are spotlighted, as well as lesser-known individuals, such as artist Romare Bearden and musician Amythyst Kiah. Particularly poignant are the letters representing the four girls—Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley—who were killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963.

Equipped with a glossary to engage discussion regarding the importance of the individuals and places represented, this children's book is a unique and engaging ABC primer that offers a rich display of regional, racial, and cultural heritage through word and image.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813196374
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	02/21/2023
Pages:	64
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	6 - 8 Years

About the Author

Frank X Walker, the first African American writer to be named Kentucky Poet Laureate, is an artist, writer, and educator who has published eleven collections of poetry, including Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York, Expanded Edition; Masked Man, Black: Pandemic & Protest Poems; and Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers, which was awarded an NAACP Image Award and the Black Caucus American Library Association Honor Award. The recipient of the thirty-fifth Lillian Smith Book Award and the Thomas D. Clark Award for Literary Excellence, he is a founding member of the Affrilachian Poets. Upfromsumdirt is an award-winning artist who has galleried in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and Tennessee and participated in curator Tewodross Melchishua's traveling art exhibit entitled M3: MCs, Mics and Metaphors. His work has also been featured on the covers of African American Review and Tidal Basin Review, and he has created book cover designs for a number of authors, including Crystal E. Wilkinson, Dr. Adam J. Banks, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, Keith Gilyard, and for his own chapbook collections, Caul & Response and Tangerine Tubman: A Long-Playing Poem. upfromsumdirt's art or poetry has been featured online at Connotation Press, About Place Journal, New Southerner, Accents radio program, and Nat Creole Magazine.

Editorial Reviews

Frank X Walker's ode to Affrilachia paints a rich portrait of Black life, both past and present, in the Appalachian region of the United States. With each page offering a peek into lesser-known artistic, cultural, and historical identities, a helpful glossary at the back of the book opens the door further. Plain-spoken text, good for young readers, is balanced by bright and energetic illustrations that ring of the region's colorful contributions to American life.

Nansubuga Nagadya Isdahl

Walker does much more here than pay tribute to Affrilachia. He celebrates the people, places, and ideas that inhabit it, and at the same time he indicts the forces of white supremacy that have tried to destroy it.

Chapter 16

This little primer acts as a ticket to a journey around the circumference of American history and an aspect of its cultural currency. The road is bumpy—there are peaks, valleys, gleeful songs, and mournful dirges. So, strap in, lay aside all your assumptions and take a ride with Frank X Walker's Affrilachia!

Cozbi A. Cabrera

Walker, who coined the term Affrilachia, celebrates the concept's past and present in this abecedarian accounting of 'the spiritual and emotional home for everyone left out of the definition of Appalachia that requires whiteness as a prerequisite for membership.' Spanning from the titular phrase to 'the Zzzzs you can catch dreaming about all of Affrilachia you've just seen,' loosely grouped pages feature celebrated advocates, entertainers, and poets as well as storied events and locations. Throughout, Davis's vibrantly hued illustrations, which have an airbrushed feel, generally foreground one figure or object per spread against stipple-textured backgrounds: a quilt ('which sometimes had secret maps for Harriet Tubman's passengers') represents Q, while an image of 5 scrips from the 'Twirled Moustache Mining Company' stands in for S....This emphatically affectionate love letter offers a springboard for learning more.

Publishers Weekly

Black luminaries, Black history, and the geographic, spiritual and emotional spaces that hold resonance for Black people in Appalachia: These are the elements of Frank X Walker's "A Is for Affrilachia." This alphabet picture book, at more than 60 pages, is for readers of all ages. Walker does much more here than pay tribute to Affrilachia. He celebrates the people, places, and ideas that inhabit it, and at the same time he indicts the forces of white supremacy that have tried to destroy it.

Chattonooga Times Free Press

What a gift to children of color and all children worldwide to learn about the history of the Affrilachian region and those that made significant contributions to humanity as well as the American experiment.... Though it is a children's book, I found myself deeply engrossed and engaged in A Is for Affrilachia and could not put this down until I reached the last letter of the Alphabet.

Randall Horton