A Long Time Coming: A Lyrical Biography of Race in America from Ona Judge to Barack Obama (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781662680663)

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.

Author: Ray Anthony Shepard
ISBN-10: 166268066X
ISBN-13: 9781662680663
Publisher: Calkins Creek Books
Language: English
Published: 08/08/2023
Pages: 336
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 2.00lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.20w x 1.10d

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 7.5
Point Value: 6
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 521804 / Long Time Coming: A Lyrical Biography of Race in America from Ona Judge to Barack Obama


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 06/01/2023
Booklist 06/01/2023 pg. 65
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 07/01/2023
School Library Journal 07/01/2023 pg. 85