Evicted!: The Struggle for the Right to Vote

Shortlist, Goddard Riverside/CBC Young People's Book Prize for Social Justice

This critical civil rights book for middle-graders examines the little-known Tennessee's Fayette County Tent City Movement in the late 1950s and reveals what is possible when people unite and fight for the right to vote. Powerfully conveyed through interconnected stories and told through the eyes of a child, this book combines poetry, prose, and stunning illustrations to shine light on this forgotten history.

The late 1950s was a turbulent time in Fayette County, Tennessee. Black and White children went to different schools. Jim Crow signs hung high. And while Black hands in Fayette were free to work in the nearby fields as sharecroppers, the same Black hands were barred from casting ballots in public elections.

If they dared to vote, they faced threats of violence by the local Ku Klux Klan or White citizens. It wasn't until Black landowners organized registration drives to help Black citizens vote did change begin--but not without White farmers' attempts to prevent it. They violently evicted Black sharecroppers off their land, leaving families stranded and forced to live in tents. White shopkeepers blacklisted these families, refusing to sell them groceries, clothes, and other necessities.

But the voiceless did finally speak, culminating in the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which legally ended voter discrimination.

Perfect for young readers, teachers/librarians, and parents interested in books for kids with themes of:

Activism

Social justice

Civil rights

Black history

Publisher: Calkins Creek Books
Published: 01/11/2022
Pages: 64
Weight: 1.02lbs
Size: 10.10h x 8.30w x 0.50d
ISBN: 9781684379798
Age: Ages 4-8

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 6
Point Value: 1
Interest Level: Middle Grade
Quiz #/Name: 515814 / Evicted!: The Struggle for the Right to Vote


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 11/29/2021
Kirkus Reviews 12/15/2021
Booklist 01/01/2022 pg. 74

About the Author
Alice Faye Duncan is the author of multiple children's books, including Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop, which received a 2019 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor and Honey Baby Sugar Child, which received an NAACP Image Award Nomination for Outstanding Literary Work for Children.Visit alicefayeduncan.com.

Charly Palmer is a graphic designer and illustrator and has run a successful design studio with a Fortune 500 clientele. Charly is the illustrator of The Teachers March!, which received four starred reviews, and Mama Africa--a children's book chronicling the life of Miriam Makeba--for which he received the 2018 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award. Visit charlypalmer.com.