I wanted to share a new children’s book with you which is a wonderful resource for History Classes. Coretta’s Journey: The Life and Times of Coretta Scott King by Alice Faye Duncan (Author), Keith Mallett (Illustrator). This amazing storybook touches on the Civil Rights Movement. Check out the Press Release here:
Charlie sat down with me this morning to read the story and we both enjoyed the cover of the book with the pretty lady on it in a pink dress I liked a lot. Behind her is a Two and the buildings captured Charlie’s attention. We had fun trying to decide what was inside the buildings.
When you open the book there is a quote from Coretta Scott King Charlie and I had fun discussing what the quote means to us as well as Coretta. The author ask us to listen to a recording of Coretta Scott King and to notice her speech is lyrical like music. This book uses different forms of poetry include acrostics, free verse, haiku, and tanka poems which will enhance our poetry studies.
Charlie and I had fun going through the table of contents and guessing what each chapter would be about. The book begins in 1927 and no, Charlie this isn’t when the Dinosaurs roamed the Earth. LOL In Heiberger, Alabama Coretta was born. A City Charlie can study when we begin our studies on States. Would you like to join us?
Charlie and I learned who her parents were and her siblings were. The Town was segregated which Charlie and I discussed in our studies. We learned of the injustices she had to face. She was treated like a second-class citizen. Coretta would punch people who disagreed with her including her siblings.
Coretta’s dad built her mom a house in 1921. Her mom was only 17 and her dad 22. Obadiah was the first black man to own a truck. They used there home as a barbershop and her dad worked hauling lumber. Coretta’s mom loved her husband but told Coretta to get an educations and become someone. America was a “male-dominated Society Coretta’s dad didn’t treat his wife and daughters this way.
1n 1942 white men on Thanksgiving evening torched there home. Here dad asked God to forgive the evildoers. They moved into a rental home and one day he built them a new home and purchased a Sawmill. White men wanted to buy the sawmill and when he wouldn’t sell it they torched it as well.
Next her dad built a grocery store next to there home which welcomed whites and blacks and became a success. 1945 Lincoln School accepted Coretta who was in 7th grade. A “Negro school” in Marion founded by missionaries after the Civil War. Through the book we learn of Coretta’s accomplishments in school.
In the book we learn Coretta was the first women to do many things and no, I am not going to tell you what because you need to read Coretta’s Journey: The Life and Times of Coretta Scott King and share it with your family and friends to find out what she did.
Through the story Charlie and I learned many things we didn’t know about Coretta and facts we can research and learn more about in our Homeschool this year. There is a timeline in the back of the book which touches on times of my life. Like 1964 when I was born.
About the author: ALICE FAYE DUNCAN
ALICE FAYE DUNCAN is a National Board educator, who writes books for young learners. Her books, HONEY BABY SUGAR CHILD & JUST LIKE A MAMA were nominated for an NAACP Image Award in Children’s Literature during 2006 and 2020.
Alice speaks to children and adults about the American Civil Rights Movement as it happened from 1955 to 1968. Her writing is celebrated for its vivid imagery and musical lyricism. Recent titles include OPAL LEE AND WHAT IT MEANS TO BE FREE, THIS TRAIN IS BOUND FOR GLORY, CORETTA’S JOURNEY and TRAVELING SHOES (The Willye White Story).
Her book, MEMPHIS, MARTIN AND THE MOUNTAINTOP received a Coretta Scott King Honor Medal for Illustrations in 2019. This same book was banned in Duval County Florida without anyone in the school district reading the book. You can read that story in the Florida Times Union from journalist–Mark Woods.
Check out the Press Release here:
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
