Content area
Abstract
Written by both veteran and debut poets, these works—picture books, memoirs in verse, verse novels, and collections of voices for all ages—by and large sought to bear witness to our unique moment in history, and to celebrate, in the words of our winner, "the undefeated." Each spread contains an image evoking unspeakable violence: the victims of the transatlantic slave trade; the young girls Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Carol Denise McNair, who were killed by white men who were members of the KKK in the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing; and an impromptu memorial honoring victims of the persistent racist criminalization and dehumanization of young Black men and women, including Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and Trayvon Martin. Specifically, the first illustration in the set of three closely resembles the image of the British ship the Brookes that was published in 1788 by the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade to show the horrors of the Middle Passage. Color photographs of Bland, Brown, Rice, and Martin appear amidst objects of mourning and tribute, such as candles, flowers, stuffed animals, an American flag, and a balloon.