Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 05/01/2022 Gr 7 Up—An incisive look at how race has been woven into the fabric of our country since its inception. Spanning from 1865 to 2021, this work profiles 20 Black Americans, including Ida B. Wells and Nikole Hannah-Jones. Other subjects who are not as widely known include 16-year-old Mary Church, who desegregated a train car in Bowling Green, KY, and went on to be one of the first Black women to graduate college, and Michelle Alexander, a lawyer who fought against "the New Jim Crow," the over-policing of Black people during the "War on Drugs" in the 1990s. The authors' goal is to feature the freedom fighters from all walks of life who have been at the center of U.S.'s 150-year struggle for equality and to emphasize that "ordinary" people have pushed back against white supremacy. They make the case that this history cannot be disentangled from the broader American story. Teens can digest the substantial narrative profile by profile, but the work is best read as a whole. This is an excellent, accessible selection for history and political science classes. Thoroughly sourced and richly researched, it can be shelved alongside Stamped and Tracey Baptiste's African Icons. VERDICT Empowering, profound, and necessary, purchase for all collections serving young adults.—Shelley M. Diaz - Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 05/15/2022 This book's purpose is to ensure that important events in American history are not forgotten or suppressed—specifically stories about racial inequalities and atrocities leveled against African American individuals and communities. The text revisits 20 pivotal events, recreating what happened in real time, adding social and political context along with explanations of how mainstream accounts often distorted what actually took place. The accounts also include jarring details (in courts, Black and white people swore on segregated bibles; southern postal workers scribbled out honorifics like Mr. and Mrs. on mail intended for African Americans). Events are tied to notable people ranging from Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. to more obscure pioneering advocates, like Ossian Sweet and Yusef Salaam. The book's afterword maintains that these past events foreshadow present-day disinformation campaigns, and stresses that to change the future it's necessary to understand the past. Copious chapter notes and further reading suggestions help document these more rounded versions of American history and will hopefully inspire young audiences to seek transparency and equality in their own futures. - Copyright 2022 Booklist.