Weatherford, Carole Boston 1956-

PERSONAL:

Born February 13, 1956, in Baltimore, MD; daughter of Joseph Alexander and Carolyn Virginia Boston; married Ronald Jeffrey Weatherford (a minister), February 2, 1985; children: one daughter, one son. Education: American University, B.A., 1977; University of Baltimore, M.A., 1982; University of North Carolina—Greensboro, M.F.A. Politics: Democrat. Religion: Methodist.

ADDRESSES:

Home and office—High Point, NC. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer and educator. English teacher at public schools in Baltimore, MD, 1978; American Red Cross, Baltimore, MD, field representative in Blood Services Department, 1978-79; Black Arts Review (radio talk show), creator, producer, and host, 1979; Art Litho Co., Baltimore, MD, account executive, 1981; National Bar Association, Washington, DC, director of communications, 1981-85; B & C Associates, Inc., High Point, NC, creative director, 1985-88 and 1992-95; freelance writer and publicist, 1988—. Fayetteville State University, professor, 2002—.

MEMBER:

Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, College Language Association, Associated Writing Programs, North Carolina Writers Network (vice president, 1996-97), Phi Kappa Phi, Delta Sigma Theta.

AWARDS, HONORS:

North Carolina Writers Network, winner of Black Writers Speak Competition, 1991, and Harperprints Chapbook Competition, 1995, both for The Tan Chanteuse; fellow, North Carolina Arts Council, 1995; Carter G. Woodson Book Award, elementary category, National Council for the Social Studies, 2001, and NAACP Image Award nomination, both for The Sound that Jazz Makes; Furious Flower Poetry Prize; North Carolina Juvenile Literature Award, for Freedom on the Menu and Remember the Bridge; North Carolina Children's Book Award finalist, for Freedom on the Menu; shortlist, NCSS Notables, International Reading Association Teachers' Choices, and Voice of Youth Advocates Poetry Picks, all for Remember the Bridge.

WRITINGS:

FOR CHILDREN

Remember Me, African American Family Press (New York, NY), 1994.

My Favorite Toy, Writers and Readers Publishing (New York, NY), 1994.

The Tan Chanteuse (poetry for adults) North Carolina Writers' Network (Carrboro, NC), 1995.

Juneteenth Jamboree (novel), illustrated by Yvonne Buchanan, Lee & Low Books (New York, NY), 1995.

Me and My Family Tree, illustrated by Michelle Mills, Black Butterfly (New York, NY), 1996.

Grandma and Me, illustrated by Michelle Mills, Black Butterfly (New York, NY), 1996.

Mighty Menfolk, illustrated by Michelle Mills, Black Butterfly (New York, NY), 1996.

Sink or Swim: African-American Lifesavers of the Outer Banks, Coastal Carolina Press (Wilmington, NC), 1999.

The Sound That Jazz Makes (poetry), illustrated by Eric Velasquez, Walker and Co. (New York, NY), 2000.

The African-American Struggle for Legal Equality in American History, Enslow Publishers (Berkeley Heights, NJ), 2000.

Princeville: The 500-Year Flood, illustrated by Douglas Alvord, Coastal Carolina Press (Wilmington, NC), 2001.

Sidewalk Chalk: Poems of the City, illustrated by Dimitrea Tokunbo, Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press (Honesdale, PA), 2001.

Jazz Baby (stories in verse), illustrated by Laura Freeman, Lee & Low Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Remember the Bridge: Poems of a People, Philomel Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Stormy Blues, Xavier Review Press (New Orleans, LA), 2002.

Great African American Lawyers: Raising the Bar of Freedom, Enslow Publishers (Berkeley Heights, NJ), 2003.

Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins, paintings by Jerome Lagarrique, Dial Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2005.

A Negro League Scrapbook, foreword by Buck O'Neil, Boyds Mills Press (Honesdale, PA), 2005.

Jesse Owens: The Fastest Man Alive, illustrated by Eric Velasquez, Walker & Company (New York, NY), 2006.

Dear Mr. Rosenwald, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie, Scholastic Press (New York, NY), 2006.

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, Jump at the Sun (New York, NY), 2006.

Champions on the Bench: The Story of the Cannon Street YMCA All Stars, illustrated by Leonard Jenkins, Dial Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2007.

Birmingham, 1963, Wordsong (Honesdale, PA), 2007.

OTHER

(With husband, Ronald Jeffrey Weatherford) Somebody's Knocking at Your Door: AIDS and the African-American Church, Haworth Pastoral Press (Binghamton, NY), 1999.

The Tar Baby on the Soapbox, Longleaf Press at Methodist College, 1999.

The Carolina Parakeet: America's Lost Parrot in Art and Memory, Avian Publications (Minneapolis, MN), 2005.

Contributor of articles and poetry to magazines and newspapers, including Essence, Christian Science Monitor, and Washington Post.

SIDELIGHTS:

The writings of Carole Boston Weatherford, wrote Heather Ross Miller in her review of Juneteenth Jamboree for the African American Review, "are remarkably forthright celebrations, a colorful assembly of African American tradition, pride, and love." Juneteenth Jamboree is the story of a tradition, the celebration of the day in 1865 when Texas slaves learned of their emancipation. It had taken more than two long years for the word to reach them. In Weatherford's novel, young Cassandra has recently moved to Texas and has never heard of "Juneteenth," despite the fact that it became a legal holiday in that state in 1980. She witnesses the elaborate preparations with the eyes of a newcomer and feels the excitement rising in her community without understanding, at first, what it means. Gradually, Cassandra and the reader learn the significance of this historic celebration, its importance amplified by the jubilant crowds, the parades and dances, and the picnic that all bring the community together. "Weatherford does an excellent job," commented Carol Jones Collins in School Library Journal, of introducing the reader to this holiday. A Publishers Weekly contributor remarked that the "enthusiastic text allows readers to discover—and celebrate—the holiday along with Cassandra."

Sidewalk Chalk: Poems of the City is an expression of pride, according to a reviewer for the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. Weatherford celebrates the city in twenty vignettes of urban life as a child might experience it. Her poems evoke the spirit of the neighborhood and the daily activities of the people who live there—jumping rope on the sidewalk, getting a haircut, going to the laundromat or to church. "The overall tone of the collection is upbeat and positive," Booklist contributor Kathy Broderick remarked. The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books reviewer acknowledged some inconsistency in the quality of the poems but described them as "vivid snapshots of city life."

The Sound That Jazz Makes is a celebration in rhyme of American music and its roots in African-American history. Weatherford's short poems and the paintings of award-winning artist Eric Velasquez depict a musical journey from the drumbeats of Africa to the drumbeats of rap music in the streets of the city. Poet and illustrator lead the reader from the work-chants of the cotton fields to the plaintive laments of the blues echoing through the Mississippi delta, to the celebrations of gospel, the sweet rhythms of the swing era, and the bold harmonies of the nightclubs of Harlem. Weatherford's poems, according to Booklist contributor Bill Ott, "possess a flowing rhythm that younger readers [in particular] will respond to eagerly." A Publishers Weekly reviewer found the rhymes to be "at odds with" the rhythms of the very music the book is intended to honor, but in Black Issues Book Review, critic Khafre Abif described The Sounds That Jazz Makes as "a soft poetic journey of rhythm" in which the "words are as seamless as the rhythm's growth" from primitive drumbeats into one of the most far-reaching musical movements of modern times.

Remember the Bridge: Poems of a People is a celebration of the men and women who contributed to African-American history from the earliest times to the present day. Weatherford writes of the great and the not so great: the leaders whose names are familiar and the people whose names were never known. For these latter people she creates fictional profiles, exploring in her poetry how it must have felt to be sold into slavery or showcasing, for example, the diversity of African Americans in a wide array of occupations. A Publishers Weekly reviewer appreciated the free-verse poems but was less satisfied with the metered rhymes, and found the chronological narrative somewhat "confusing." A contributor to Kirkus Reviews, on the other hand, claimed that Weatherford "brilliantly summarizes … a complete timeline" of history. The last poem in Remember the Bridge is titled "I Am the Bridge," perhaps an allusion that this book, this poet, and every individual can be a part of what the Kirkus Reviews writer called "a bridge toward understanding and acceptance."

Jazz Baby is a collection of story poems designed for toddler and preschool readers. The poems introduce children to the rhythms and sounds of jazz music, the various instruments that jazz musicians play, and the sense of freedom and joy that jazz music can bring. Illustrator Laura Freeman contributes bright, soft-focus, colorful images that complement Weatherford's poetry. Weatherford encourages even the youngest reader to get up and dance and experience the power of jazz. School Library Journal reviewer Marge Loch-Wouters called the book a "bouncy celebration of rhythm and music." Lynda Jones, writing in Black Issues Book Review, observed that "parents and children alike will be swept away by Jazz Baby's lyrical celebration of the music."

A number of Weatherford's later books deal with pivotal events and personalities in the civil rights movement and the end of slavery in America. Though these titles deal with complex issues, the occurrences and the forces behind them are portrayed in a manner accessible to young readers. Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins is told by Connie, an eight-year-old African American girl who experiences, but does not understand, segregation in her North Carolina home, where blacks and whites use separate drinking fountains, swimming pools, bathrooms, and movie theaters. When she and her mother want a refreshing drink from the Woolworth soda fountain, they are forced to stand and sip since no blacks are allowed to sit at the counter. Connie would like nothing more than to be able to sit down and have a big banana split, but she knows that day has not come yet. Connie is on-hand as an eyewitness when a peaceful act of bravery and defiance by four young men sets the stage for the breaking of segregation. The young men stage their sit-in at the Woolworth lunch counter, refusing to leave until they are served. Their act galvanizes the African American community throughout the South, and the citizens engage in protests, pickets, and sit-ins in other southern states. A tumultuous six months later, segregation in the American South has started to retreat in defeat, and a delighted Connie is able to sit at the Woolworth lunch counter and enjoy a longed-for banana split. "Together, author and artist translate a complex issue into terms youngest readers can understand, in a resonant meshing of fact and fiction," commented a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Terre Sychters, writing in Childhood Education, called the story "a great book to explore a part of history often shortchanged" in school textbooks. A School Library Journal reviewer concluded, "these stories bring history to life for today's readers." Weatherford's "quietly moving story pays tribute to the peaceful protesters who did indeed ‘overcome,’" commented a Kirkus Reviews contributor.

In A Negro League Scrapbook, Weatherford tells the sometimes tragic, often inspirational story of baseball's Negro Leagues, teams of African American players that flourished in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1887, the owners of the major league teams declared that black players were no longer welcome in the majors. Because of this segregation, the Negro Leagues were formed to give black players the op- portunity to serve on a team and play at a professional level until they were allowed back into the major leagues. Almost fifty years later, trailblazer Jackie Robinson was the first black player to rejoin the major leagues. Weatherford recounts the lengthy history of the Negro Leagues in her book, from inception to demise in 1963, presenting facsimiles of memorabilia such as tickets, banners, equipment, and advertising as though they were affixed in a scrapbook. Though the Negro Leagues were denied access to the major league teams and venues, they still had their own storied history, which Weatherford relates in her book. Throughout, her words and images also evoke the difficult realities of segregation. Even though the leagues were the result of segregation, they were still of considerable significance to the black community, and Weatherford details the cultural importance of the teams. "One doesn't need to be a baseball fan to be fascinated" by the involving story of the Negro Leagues, remarked a Kirkus Reviews contributor. Marilyn Taniguchi, writing in School Library Journal, noted that Weatherford's book "succeeds as a thoughtful introduction, capturing both the significance of the Negro Leagues and the accomplishments of its great players."

Dear Mr. Rosenwald is set in the rural American South of the 1920s. This "terrific picture book uses evocative free verse to describe the building of a school for black children" using grant money from Sears, Roebuck president and catalog magnate Julius Rosenwald, commented a Kirkus Reviews critic. Weatherford describes in detail how Rosenwald was inspired by Booker T. Washington to devote millions of dollars to the construction of schools in black communities, how the targeted communities would receive seed money from Rosenwald for these important construction projects, and how local residents, both black and white, also had to make substantial contributions of cash, land, and other valuable considerations to the projects. The story is told from the point of view of Ovella, daughter of poor sharecroppers, who narrates the process and the difficulties encountered by her friends and neighbors. She also describes their determination to take best advantage of the Rosenwald grant and see the school built. When the White Oak School opened, it used hand-me-down books from the local white school, but there could be no doubt that the students of White Oak had a school of their own, of which they could be proud, and which would give them the educational boost sorely needed to help propel them out of poverty.

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, recounts the heroic story of Harriet Tubman, her escape from slavery, and her divinely inspired mission to help other blacks flee from slavery through the Underground Railroad. The story is told in three voices; that of the narrator; of Tubman herself; and God, with whom Tubman is in constant communication as she travels dangerous roads at night to avoid detection, as she establishes the structure of the Underground Railroad, and as she constantly risks her own life and safety to help her fellows escape the tyranny and brutality of slavery. Weatherford also includes a foreword that explains the concept of slavery for a child's understanding, and presents a brief biographical sketch of Tubman and her accomplishments. "The migration of African-Americans to the north is rendered breathtakingly by Weatherford in this brilliant picture book," stated a Kirkus Reviews critic. "In elegant free verse," Weatherford depicts Tubman's "remarkable escape from slavery and her role in guiding hundreds to freedom," noted another Kirkus Reviews contributor. A Publishers Weekly reviewer called Weatherford's work a "gorgeous, poetic picture book," while the Kirkus Reviews writer summed up the book in a single word: "transcendent."

Weatherford once told CA: "As a child, I never aspired to be a writer, although I think I always was one. My first poem—one about the seasons—came to me almost magically. I dictated the poem to my mother on the way home from first grade. She was so amazed that she parked the car and wrote down the poem as I repeated it. She asked my father, a high school printing teacher, to print some of my earliest poems on the letterpress in his classroom. I was thrilled to see my work in print. Having my work published as a child strengthened my belief in my talent so that I could later endure the inevitable rejections of a professional writing career.

"My poetry, nonfiction and historical fiction are inspired by oral traditions and informed by my African-American heritage. My favorite book is an upcoming one—a fictional verse memoir of Billie Holiday—my muse. I grew up listening to my father's jazz collection. So it is no coincidence that my writing often focuses on jazz.

"Of my published books, Moses is my proudest accomplishment. My own spiritual and ancestral roots led me to Tubman. One of my grandfathers hailed from Dorchester County, where Tubman was born, and my other grandfather was a Methodist minister. When I sought to address faith in my writing, I found the ideal subject in Tubman, whose conversations with God were her compass on the Underground Railroad.

"I grew up in Baltimore but have roots on a Maryland farm that dates back to the Reconstruction. That land links me to my heritage and inspires my literary mission: to mine the past for family stories, fading traditions and forgotten struggles. I hope that my books, which honor the past and salute unsung heroes, help children understand the freedom struggle, the price of equality, and that our humanity is more important than our differences."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

African American Review, spring, 1998, Heather Ross Miller, reviews of The Tan Chanteuse and Juneteenth Jamboree, p. 169.

American Visions, December-January, 1995, Yolanda Robinson Coles, review of Juneteenth Jamboree, p. 37.

Black Issues Book Review, September, 2000, Khafre Abif, review of The Sound That Jazz Makes, p. 81; July-August, 2002, Lynda Jones, review of Jazz Baby, p. 77; March-April, 2004, Phebus Etienne, review of Stormy Blues, p. 27.

Booklist, December 15, 1999, Carolyn Phelan, review of Sink or Swim: African-American Lifesavers of the Outer Banks, pp. 783-784; August, 2000, Bill Ott, review of The Sound That Jazz Makes, p. 2133; September 15, 2001, Kathy Broderick, review of Sidewalk Chalk: Poems of the City, p. 224; February 15, 2002, Kay Weisman, review of Princeville: The 500-Year Flood, p. 1014; February 15, 2003, Gillian Engberg, review of Great African-American Lawyers, p. 1080; February 1, 2005, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of A Negro League Scrapbook, p. 976, and Carolyn Phelan, review of Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins, p. 980; August 1, 2006, Hazel Rochman, review of Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, p. 81; October 1, 2006, Hazel Rochman, review of Dear Mr. Rosenwald, p. 61.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, October, 2001, review of Sidewalk Chalk, p. 81.

Childhood Education, spring, 2006, Terre Sychters, review of Freedom on the Menu, p. 177.

Children's Book & Play Review, March, 2001, AnnMarie Hamar, review of The Sound that Jazz Makes, p. 23.

Ebony, September, 2006, review of Dear Mr. Rosenwald, p. 31.

Georgia Review, summer, 1997, Ted Kooser, review of The Tan Chanteuse, p. 375.

Kirkus Reviews, December 1, 2001, review of Remember the Bridge: Poems of a People, p. 1691; December 15, 2004, review of Freedom on the Menu, p. 1211; March 1, 2005, review of A Negro League Scrapbook, p. 297; May 15, 2006, review of Moses, p. S23; August 15, 2006, review of Dear Mr. Rosenwald, p. 853; September 1, 2006, review of Moses, p. 914.

Publishers Weekly, October 30, 1995, review of Juneteenth Jamboree, p. 61; May 15, 2000, review of The Sound That Jazz Makes, p. 115; September 17, 2001, review of Sidewalk Chalk, p. 82; December 24, 2001, review of Remember the Bridge, p. 62; January 3, 2005, review of Freedom on the Menu, p. 55; February 7, 2005, "The Roots of Many of Baseball's Greats," review of A Negro League Scrapbook, p. 61; July 31, 2006, review of Moses, p. 78.

School Library Journal, January, 1996, Carol Jones Collins, review of Juneteenth Jamboree, p. 97; July, 2000, Ginny Gustin, review of The Sound That Jazz Makes, p. 99; June, 2002, Marge Loch-Wouters, review of Jazz Baby, p. 114; March, 2005, Marilyn Taniguchi, review of A Negro League Scrapbook, p. 236; April, 2005, Mary N. Oluonye, review of Freedom on the Menu, p. 115; August, 2005, Blair Christolon, review of Freedom on the Menu, p. 50; October 2005, review of Freedom on the Menu, p. S27; October, 2006, Catherine Threadgill, review of Dear Mr. Rosenwald.

ONLINE

Carole Boston Weatherford Home Page,http://www.caroleweatherford.com (December 10, 2006).