Fugitivity, Fantasy, Futurity, and Freedom: The Letter F for Critically Analyzing Children’s Literature

ABSTRACT

Scholars, educators, writers, and librarians have been calling for richer literary depictions of Black culture since the 1930s. Using a critical content analysis framework with the books Ada Twist, Scientist and Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut, I discuss how the concepts of fugitivity, fantasy, futurity, and freedom relate to contemporary depictions of Blackness in children’s literature. Nearly a century after the movement for more diversity in children’s literature began, we exist in an era when Black stories are imbued with dreams about an equitable future. In Ada Twist, Scientist, a little Black girl with boundless scientific curiosity defies limitations placed on her ability to inquire and discover. In Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut, a barbershop serves as the backdrop for a little Black boy’s loving poem to his people. Using the aforementioned scholarly and literary works as a point of departure, I take the following questions to task: Why is children’s literature with rich depictions of Black culture beneficial for Black children, their teachers, and their classmates? How can educators of Black children look for themes of fugitivity, fantasy, futurity, and freedom to critically analyze children’s literature, and why is it important to do so?

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

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Notes on contributors

Brooke Harris Garad

Brooke Harris Garad is a research scholar and the chair of the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee at the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community, Indiana University Bloomington. She has international experience as a teacher educator and holds a PhD in Global, Multicultural, and Equity Studies in Education from The Ohio State University. Equity issues are central to her academic line of inquiry, and she values the importance of community-oriented and culturally rich literacy practices.