One of the things that always gets to me is that the Civil Rights movement was not “ancient history” but “recent history.” In fact, so recent that Diane Nash of Love Is Loud: How Diane Nash Led the Civil Rights Movement is only 85 years old (in 2023). This means that she is only about 12 years older than my father. And while that is a bit of a gap when you are in your early teens and someone is in her 20’s, that still means she was a contemporary of my father. Sure, my dad is old, but not like Abrahm Lincoln old. That is history in my book. Anything from 1949 and earlier is “history” in my book. Therefore, Nash should not be considered “history”. But this is history! But it is a piece of history I am one degree separated from, and that is as mind blowing as my own “no degree” separation from the history I’ve seen, or the mind blowing importance Diane Nash had on the world.
Nash was a strong leader in the Civil Rights movement, but in the end, who is she? How many of us know this woman? Growing up I knew about Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. but Nash is just as important, but rarely heard about. And Sandra Neil Wallace shows us how important she is. The language is in a poetic prose-like format, short, sharp and strong. My reading ear could hear this story almost as a song. This is enhanced by Bryan Collier’s illustrations, which are their signature rich, detailed, busy but not crowded, work. As I read via an online reader copy (but it is available in a physical copy) I was not in the best place to enjoy everything about this picture book. It is not a book you give a quick read to, either. I am not sure of the final product look, but the picture book format might turn off older readers, but it is good for up to about second grade. I could even see it used as high as third (maybe fourth), as this is a good introduction.
The focus of things is mostly on Nash herself, from a young child to adult. The extras at the end fill in a few blanks and have additional resources for you to use if you are in the need of more information. A great book for women’s history, civil rights history, African American history and contemporary history.
