Fact Friday: Remember the Bridge: Poems of a People by Carole Boston Weatherford

Remember the Bridge: Poems of a People by Carole Boston Weatherford. 53 p. Philomel Books/ Penguin Young Readers Group, January, 2002. 0399237267.   (Own.)

Fact Friday features Remember the Bridge: Poems of a People by Carole Boston Weatherford. This powerful collection of poems highlights pivotal events over four hundred years of African American history from the earliest slave traders' arrival in Africa through the Civil War, the Civil Rights Movement and America's first African-American female astronaut. Heroes both named and anonymous, male and female who helped shaped history. The book is beautifully designed and the poems are paired with archival photos and engravings, some of which are quite difficult to view. An author's note describes the origin and history of the book's journey from graduate class assignment to the finished book. There are many cross-curricular possibilities to explore here. No library collection is complete without this title. I was very sad to learn yesterday that the book has gone out of print. Such a shame. I hope nothing happens to my library's copy.