A Long Time Coming

A Lyrical Biography of Race in America from Ona Judge to Barack Obama

by Ray Anthony Shepard

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Pub Date Aug 08 2023 | Archive Date Aug 08 2023

Astra Publishing House | Calkins Creek

Biographies & Memoirs | Children's Nonfiction | Teens & YA

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Description

This YA biography-in-verse of six important Black Americans from different eras, including Ona Judge, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Martin Luther King Jr., and Barack Obama, chronicles the diverse ways each fought racism and shows how much—and how little—has changed for Black Americans since our country’s founding.

Full of daring escapes, deep emotion, and subtle lessons on how racism operates, A LONG TIME COMING reveals the universal importance of its subjects’ struggles for justice. From freedom seeker Ona Judge, who fled her enslavement by America’s first president, to Barack Obama, the first Black president, all of Shepard’s protagonists fight valiantly for justice for themselves and all Black Americans in any way that they can. But it is also a highly personal book, as Shepard — whose maternal grandfather was enslaved — shows how the grand sweep of history has touched his life, reflecting on how much progress has been made against racism, while also exhorting readers to complete the vast work that remains to be done.

This YA biography-in-verse of six important Black Americans from different eras, including Ona Judge, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Martin Luther King Jr., and Barack Obama...

Available Editions

EDITION	Other Format
ISBN	9781662680663
PRICE	$19.99 (USD)
PAGES	336

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Featured Reviews

Robin B, Librarian

This is hands down one of the best books I have read this year. Attention all libraries and schools buy this book. Beautifully written and illustrated. The Cover is gorgeous.

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Susan T, Educator

A great book for anyone seeking to learn how far we have come and how far we still have to go to reach equality in the U.S. A superbly written verse traveling through the times of American history as it relates to the progress of Black Americans striving for equal rights. From Frederick Douglass to Barack Obama, historical facts are relaying in verse with such grace, that each titled passage gives meaning and context to the subject.'

This is a book I would recommend to my students to read and reflect on, So much narrative brilliantly told in short, simple poems.