Social Justice Books draws inspiration from the work of the Interracial Children’s Book Council (CIBC) formed in 1965 with the goal of “promoting children’s literature that better reflects the realities of a multicultural society.” The impetus for creating the council came from Mississippi Liberty School teachers concerned about the racist portrayal of African Americans in school textbooks.
In 1966, the CIBC began publishing a book review called the Bulletin, which analyzed children’s books and materials and addressed negative stereotypes, biases, and historical inaccuracies. the goal was to “provide librarians and other educators with the perspectives of those our society has long oppressed: minorities, feminists, seniors, people with disabilities, etc.” To do this most effectively, CIBC hired writers who were social activists and who were part of the particular group represented in the book they were reviewing. [Note that CIBC Newsletters are digitized and searchable online at the University of Wisconsin.]
You are reading: Council on interracial books for children contest
As it grew, cibc developed as a resource center for culturally accurate and respectful books, textbooks, movies, and lessons. part of the obstacle to providing unbiased materials was that very few actually existed. In 1969, CIBC started an annual writing contest in an effort to publish more African-American authors, because they thought publishers were more likely to accept an entry if it had already won an award. Mildred Taylor and Walter Dean Myers published their first books after winning the CIBC Prize. Over the years, the contest expanded to include awards for Asian American, Chicano, Native American, and Puerto Rican writers.
One of CIBC’s directors, Brad Chambers, provided an invaluable overview of the organization’s history and purpose in this (ca.) 1983 interview with Noel Peattie of Sipapu. (sipapu was a magazine “for libraries, collectors, and others interested in the alternative press, including small and ‘underground’ presses, third world, dissent, feminist, peace, and all forms of nondescript publishing in general”)
interview with brad chambers about the council of interracial children’s books
sipapu: let’s start with the usual: birth and education, cultural background?
Cameras: The education I received did nothing to promote an understanding of racism and sexism. far from it: my formal education was designed to show the son of a relatively well-off white family her proper place in the world. the texts i read in a school (both here and in england) suggested that i, being white, was superior to people of colour. I’m lucky that discussions at the dinner table at home contradicted most of this. I am also lucky that my father provided me with an antidote to textbook messages. he was a biologist, and before he had read a book on the subject, he had firmly debunked the myth of white superiority.
sipapu: your political development: how did your consciousness rise?
CHAMBERS: A major turning point for me came when I was collecting documents for a young people’s books on the civil rights movement, then taking place. The media reported on the events of the struggle, but did little to explain why they were taking place, and school textbooks were (and still are) equally deficient in putting these events in context, and relating them to history of struggles against oppression. To help fill the void I complied Chronicles of Black Protest, which brought together historical documents of the struggle of Blacks for social justice. The book was quite successful. It received the 1969 Brotherhood Book award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and so it got into a many great schools.
As I researched the chronicles of black protests, I became more and more committed to the racial struggle for equality. That’s when I first found out about the Interracial Book Council for Children (CIBC). two of my children attended downtown community school (dcs) in new york city. i volunteered to organize a project to bring in children’s book authors and publishers to talk to students about issues related to children’s book publishing and was also helping with the annual dcs award for children’s books that promoted human rights. dcs principal norma studer, a highly innovative educator, had initiated the award, and the contest had become a highlight of the school year. (It was in connection with this award that Norman Studer, along with a number of librarians, publishers, and authors, helped found CIBC in 1965.) One particularly eventful day in 1967, amid conservative parent demands to cut the school’s scholarship program for minorities, Norman Studer asked me if I would take her place that evening at a CIBC meeting. I’ve been with cibc ever since.
When I joined, CIBC was judging the manuscripts submitted to its first Annual Contest for Unpublished Children’s Books by Negro Writers. (In those days “Negro” was still used). The contest was one way CIBC hoped to change what was then referred to as the “all-white world of children’s books” by encouraging the publication for Black authors. CIBC felt that publishers would be more likely to pick up a manuscript if it had won an award. And it was true that Third World Authors who had unsuccessfully made the rounds of publishers’ offices got their manuscripts published after they had won a CIBC award. Mildred Taylor’s manuscript, Song of the Trees, was rejected so many times that she nearly gave up. Once CIBC had given it an award in 1975, the book was published by Dial. The sequel, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, won the Newberry Medal. For some Blacks, the CIBC contest was the gateway to a new career: writing for children. Walter Dean Myers, now a well-recognized author, was working in the Brooklyn Post Office when he heard about the contest. He tried writing, submitted a manuscript, won the first CIBC award, and this led to a job as book editor in a major publishing house.
Over the years, the contest guidelines were developed to ensure that the books were both anti-racist and anti-sexist, and the contest was expanded to include Asian Americans, Chicanos, Native Americans, and Puerto Ricans. Prizes were awarded in each category. That the contest resulted in a series of beautifully written and highly acclaimed books would seem to contradict the charge in some quarters that the cibc guidelines inhibit a writer’s creative powers.
in addition to mildred taylor’s newbury winner, several cibc books have been finalists: illustrations from other cibc books have been finalists; Artwork for another cibc competition winner, margaret musgrove’s from ashanti to zulu (dial) won the 1977 caldecott medal.
despite its achievements, the cibc contest has always been one of the best kept secrets in the library world. The New York Times frequently reported on the winners of the contest, the annual supplements of at least one encyclopedia, and the Children’s Book Council Awards and Prizes regularly noted it, but major library magazines kept quiet about the contest for years. throughout its ten years of existence. the contest continued until 1978, when they were no longer in a financial position to keep it going. the prospects for resuming it in the near future are bleak, as publishers have become less and less interested in books written by minority writers.
sipapu: cibc, how did it come about, how did you get involved?
chambers: cibc grew out of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. a teacher at one of mississippi’s freedom schools (started as part of the voter registration drive and a attended by many black children) sent a distress message to his mother in new york, asking for printed materials with which black children could identify. His mother, children’s book author Lilian Moore, searched for those materials but found none. this search prompted her to gather, in 1965, a group of publishers, writers, librarians, concerned about the lack of good children’s materials on blacks. these groups became cibc. Author Franklin B. Folsom was the first president and civil rights attorney Stanley Faulkner the first treasurer.
The contest I mentioned earlier was one of the group’s early efforts to encourage the publication of books written by and about minorities. another was the publication of the cibc bulletin, which began in 1966 with a first issue of 8 stapled pages. the newsletter has certainly grown; now entering its fifteenth year, it is now a magazine that is up to 48 pages long and is published eight times a year.
The newsletter is often controversial, but it raises awareness. its goal is to provide librarians and other educators with the perspectives of those our society has long oppressed: minorities, feminists, seniors, people with disabilities, and so on. the most effective way to uncover prejudice and stereotypes is to ask for criticism from those who fight against their oppression. Who would be more sensitive to bias and more concerned with accurate and non-stereotypical presentations than the members of the portrayed group? In addition to ethnicity, the reviewers we seek are activists working for social justice. our approach caused no little surprise in the early years, but today reviews are generally accepted as a valid extra dimension of literary criticism. newsletter reviews are now regularly selected for inclusion in two annual reviews of children’s literature and contemporary criticism. hw wilson education index has been indexing newsletter articles for several years, and the newsletter and other cibc activities are regularly mentioned in the wing yearbook. A newsletter article, “Whitewashing White Racists: Junior Scholastic and the KKK”, was selected as one of the “Best Contributions to Library Literature” by Library Lit. ii, the best of 1980 (scarecrow press, 1981).
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Newsletter reviews are critical, but there’s a lot to criticize about our society, and once you start to recognize that children’s books reflect society’s biases, no detail is too small to ignore. furthermore, people do not always agree on what constitutes a “small detail”. a detail in the making of a dress, a bow or a sash, although not an essential part of the clothing, can often alter the total effect. a small detail, in fact, can be the key to a doctor’s diagnosis. With this in mind, it stands to reason that a reviewer, reviewing a book, should not overlook what some may regard as a “small detail” but which may remain in some memories long after much of the book has been forgotten. . this especially applies to children’s books that portray different cultures where attention to accuracy and authenticity is crucial.
the newsletter is not negative at all. our reviewers find quite a few books to praise. this may surprise some, but the books the newsletter has recommended in recent years number in the hundreds.
We also found biased books to be wonderful tools for teaching children about bias, and instead of advocating the removal of such books, we urge their use in that way. once children gain an understanding of the nature and function of stereotypes, they are quite capable of spotting stereotypes in books, on television, and anywhere prejudice exists. Providing children with the skills to identify bias gives them a kind of defense and antidote to the worst effects of bias. After all, we are not asking that children’s books take women out of the kitchen, but that they not limit women to that role. we’re not asking people of color to portray themselves as saints, but rather that they not be limited to subservient and stereotyped roles.
Eight years ago, cibc established a resource center to help educators counter racism and sexism in school and society. Since then, we have developed a large number of printed and audiovisual materials for this purpose. we publish, in addition to the newsletter, books and didactic manuals, we create films and slide shows, we develop study plans and school curricula: all with a boost of awareness. some of these materials are being used by librarians, teachers, parents, church and community leaders, at their locations or in workshops. each item comes with a training manual and discussion guide.
An increasing number of our materials are for direct use with students. We are especially proud of “Violence, the Ku Klux Klan and the Fight for Equality,” the first informational and instructional packet of its kind for use in middle and high schools. For its work in developing this material, CIBC has just received the 1982 Civil and Human Rights Award from the National Education Association. But we’ve found that it’s not just older students who can deal with social justice issues. Among our most enthusiastic supporters are fifth and sixth graders whose teachers have introduced them to CIBC’s “winning ‘justice for all'” curriculum. At ten and eleven years old, children are especially concerned about what is “fair” and “unfair”, and they are very concerned about prejudice and discrimination. This six-week curriculum provides children with knowledge about discriminatory institutional practices and the inequalities that result from these practices. it has been very successful and is in use in 44 states and 5 foreign countries. we are finishing an av resource that addresses issues of equity and social justice for first and second graders. and we are about to work on one for kindergarten. A free catalog of our CIBC materials comes from 1841 Broadway, New York, NY 10023.
sipapu: your own point of view, mainly about children’s books: how important it is that books are written about minority groups, or books about scenes that are likely to involve minority groups (urban settings , certain rural areas), or reviewed before publication, by members of appropriate groups? Should an “established” writer (white, male, etc.) ask for a review, or just stay away from the topic altogether?
cameras: there is no doubt that any author has the right to write on any subject. however, when white writers choose to write children’s books about other cultures, especially those of people of color, they often disappoint their young readers. there is a reason for this. almost all whites grow up in a white cultural milieu and have only superficial experiences with people of color. they are also inundated with stereotypes and misinformation about minority groups in literature, textbooks, radio and television. so, too, there is no question that whites and people of color experience different realities and that they perceive things differently. therefore, white writers are highly unlikely to adequately and accurately represent the cultural experiences and responses of minority groups. it is cultural arrogance to think otherwise. so, given the choice, then yes, it is preferable that books about minority groups be written by members of the represented group. writers from minority cultures can offer young whites insights they might not otherwise get, and offer young minority readers a validation of their lives that is often missing from the material of white writers. let us also recognize that while people of color in the us. uu. they must live in two cultures (the dominant white culture and their own), generally remain as uniformed as whites, over third world cultures than their own. ours is a very ethnocentric society.
That’s not to say white or majority white writers can’t write about minority cultures. they can make very important contributions by examining, for example, the dynamics of white racism. surely, the guy on the right is doing this: let’s give him the benefit of the infinitesimal doubt). it’s just that what they write won’t come from the same perspective as a minority person. in a pluralistic society, where differences are respected, then yes, intracultural writing would be much more effective; but it would not be easy; in such a society, writers would be more likely to appreciate the difficulties.
You ask if an “established” author should solicit “reviews” from members of minority groups. I think the writers should make their own revisions. On the other hand, I certainly hope that any children’s book author who chooses to write about cultures other than their own will seek input from members of the groups represented. that is legitimate and necessary research. no one without intimate knowledge of a particular sport or science would write about these topics without seeking expert advice. similarly, no publisher would publish such children’s books without verifying the content with an “expert”.
The way racial groups are portrayed in children’s books contributes greatly to the way white children think about other races and the way minority children form their self-image. surely some “expert” input in this area would be nice. the same principle applies to the preparation of bibliographies. it is no use simply putting together lists of children’s books about a particular minority. there are more chances that those lists contain not a few biased books. cibc has urged librarians to develop a process to ensure some minority participation in the preparation of such bibliographies. White librarians inviting minorities to participate in the book selection process will not guarantee total accuracy, but it will reduce a lot of unnecessary headaches. Such a model book selection plan was presented in the CIBC newsletter in 1976 (“The Iowa Plan: A Due Process for Submission of Book Challenges,” v. 7, no. 7). the plan incorporates racism and sexism awareness training for librarians and outlines how to bring minority input into communities from different populations.
sirapu: Should we really launch an affirmative action program in culture, that is, publish more work by or about oppressed or disadvantaged people, and let middle-class white men wait in the wings, so to speak? Or should we expand the pie to include opportunities for all?
cameras: About 20% of the us. uu. the children are minority children, but of the 2,000 children’s books published annually, about 1% are about minority children. this denies minority children positive role models and literature relevant to their lives. it is also a loss for white children who grow up ignorant and disrespectful of other people’s values and beliefs. That’s why cibc has long advocated for affirmative action to view and publish talented African American, Latino, Native American, and Asian American writers and artists.
yes, we should definitely work to expand the pie so that there are more opportunities available to everyone, so that there is more diversity and so that no group is left behind. but enlarging the cake without altering the proportional part of its portions will also be inequitable. the reality is that white writers are, and I always will be, favored over minority writers. this does not mean that they have any inherent “right” to be published at the expense of non-white writers. I suggest that it is more pertinent to look at the “right to publish” currently denied to minority writers. they are disproportionately underrepresented, and children’s literature is poorer for it, as we all are.
sipapu: If we should get more money for minority publishers, emphasizing the disadvantaged to the detriment of the more advantaged groups, how do we deal with the accusation of “moral morality” types who claim that they are insulted and hurt, that their values are flouted, and that they demand as much consideration as anyone else?
cameras – I’m assuming you’re talking about textbooks rather than commercial children’s books, since this is what mel and norma texas gabler, and other guys on the so-called, are complaining about moral majority (mm) over. phyllis schafly, by the way, has called on the right to make school textbooks one of their top four priorities.
As many research studies show, minorities, women, and many other groups have long been stereotyped in textbooks. their history and perspective have been distorted or omitted, their concerns have been ignored or ridiculed. Serious scholarship, as well as a concern for social justice, requires that efforts be made to provide more accurate and inclusive textbooks. it is not about emphasizing one group to the detriment of others. instead, it is about representing a diversity of viewpoints from groups that have been discriminated against and whose voices have generally gone unheard. the moral majority seeks to make books even more exclusive, in terms of alternative points of view, than they are today. groups like cibc, on the other hand, seek to make them much more inclusive. we don’t mind including the viewpoint of the moral majority, as long as there are other viewpoints as well. In this sense, the moral majority has no reason to feel “insulted and hurt”.
the moral majority does not really ask for the same space but for the total space. they insist that we politicians and leaders should not be criticized. And their lawsuits have already had an alarming impact on adoption requirements in Texas, a key state today in determining the content of textbooks. For example, the 1980 Texas Standards require that textbooks “present positive aspects of America and its heritage…do not contain material that serves to undermine authority…do not encourage lifestyles that deviate from generally accepted positions of the society”. the moral majority also demands that all students, not just their own children, be taught absolute rules about right and wrong. they are pushing for textbooks that allow only one correct answer to questions and prohibit critical thinking and value judgments. therefore, it is totally impossible to make the majority moral types happy and, at the same time, educate a responsible citizenry. Should the colonists have worried that King George felt “insulted and hurt”?
A little digression here, regarding school textbooks: these books have the official sanction of the educational establishment and are required reading by law. It could be argued that textbooks that omit or distort the stories of women and minorities violate the equal protection guarantees of the 14th Amendment.
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sipapu: To what extent does the pursuit of justice impair not only general freedom, including the freedom to be wrong, but (when persecuted by librarians) it exposes them to the charge of leaving to be? “neutral”?
cameras: far from impeding freedom, the search for equity strengthens it. What better way for librarians to achieve intellectual freedom than by offering perspectives that have traditionally been neglected? Nearly every book that is published, and thus the overwhelming number of books in library collections, is written from a white, upper-middle class perspective and generally reflects the sexist values of our society regardless of the gender of the author. . on issues of racism and sexism there is no conceivable way to achieve a neutral collection, as collections are so lopsided to begin with, and anti-racist and anti-sexist books are woefully limited in number. In light of this, the accusation that the pursuit of justice will somehow interfere with the librarians’ position of neutrality is a false accusation.
Many librarians seriously question the concept of neutrality in book selection. To begin with, let’s recognize that the existing book selection process, which begins with what gets published, is not truly neutral. One seemingly innocuous example: tween romance books in which young girls denote themselves to find and get Mr. Right. It’s no accident that books like these (they’ve been called training bras for harlequins) were all the rage in the 1950s, that time of general conformism and raging sexism. (and it is interesting that they are now being published and popularized again, when there is a backlash to the feminist movement). the publishers who produce these books and the few librarians who support them are not making a neutral decision: they are supporting some very specific messages.
for children’s librarians to be aware of the messages contained in books and to carefully consider the anger of books that endorse and perpetuate racism, sexism and other anti-human values, is simply another way to clarify the selection process, not to de-neutralize it. In other words, the act of selection involves a judgment about what is valuable and vital, and sensitization to feminist and minority consciousness is one way, among many, of informing that judgement. I hope that more library schools will show an interest in the message contest and introduce awareness courses that will allow children’s librarians of the future to analyze the contest and literary values. however, we are encouraged that children’s literature teachers and reading and language arts instructors in colleges and universities are definitely showing more concern.
sipapu: what is the largest currently ignored group that you think needs proper favorable treatment in children’s books?
Cameras: Many groups are still omitted from children’s books, but it would be unfair to single out a group that most needs “proper” representation. some believe that book publishers fulfilled their responsibility to minorities by responding to pressures from the civil rights movement and publishing books on black themes. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, children’s book publishers put out quite a few such books, some good, many more far from adequate. publishers were reacting both to federal funds that allowed libraries to purchase such books and to pressure from the civil rights movement. “black is gold” they say.
once federal funding ceased, books on black topics became fewer and fewer. As for other minorities, the situation is even more grim. We are just completing a ten-year update of a 1972 special newsletter on children’s books about Puerto Ricans. the high point of these books was 1972, when a total of 18 children’s books on Puerto Rican themes were published. a graphic that will appear in the next bulletin tells what happened next. in 1974, there was a precipitous drop to 3 books, then a slight increase over the next two years to 7 books in 1977, followed by a steady downward trend to zero books in 1980.
The group that is most represented is, ironically, the one that is most misrepresented. There are more children’s books about Native Americans than about all other minority groups combined, but with a few notable exceptions, these books reinforce traditional stereotypes. Despite all the new awareness of the oppression of Native Americans, average children’s books continue to depict them as painted and garish “savages”, or as “exotic”, not as people who live and continue to be oppressed in today’s world . That’s why Mary Gloyne Byler, a Native American critic of children’s literature, has said, “There are too many children’s books about American Indians.”
sipapu: bilingualism: does it help younger children or difficulty adapting to an inevitably English-speaking society?
cameras: The accusation that non-English speaking children will be disadvantaged unless they stop pushing their native language at home and start speaking only English is really baseless. numerous studies now show that bilingual children who develop proficiency in both their native language and a second language have intellectual and academic advantages over monolingual children. the important thing is that children learn the cognitive skills of the language spoken at home, whatever language it is. once they develop cognitive skills, around grade 3 they can easily transfer those skills to English. In what is known as transitional bilingual education, children are taught reading and other cognitive skills in their native language, while studying English as a second language. sometime between third and sixth grade, the native language is abandoned and the medium of instruction becomes English. in maintenance bilingual education, the instructional medium is divided almost equally, once the cognitive skills are learned. some subjects are taught in English, others in the native language.
An outstanding model for sustaining bilingual education is the Rock Point (Navajo) School in Chinle, Arizona. Before the program was introduced in 1971, intensive efforts had been made to begin teaching English to Navajo children in kindergarten, but by sixth grade they were two years behind us. standards in reading skills. a bilingual program introduced Navajo as the medium of instruction from kindergarten through sixth grade and about 50% of the time thereafter. instruction in English was introduced in the middle of second grade. by the end of sixth grade, the children were performing a little above us. English reading grading standards.
A big problem in our society is that any language other than English is considered somehow inferior. the opposite is true in some other countries, where the same respect is shown to different languages. Some believe that mastery of more than one language improves the speaker’s ability to reason and consider alternatives. there is a lot of confusion surrounding bilingual education, and i would like to recommend sipapu readers a toll-free number on which they can get objective information: 800-336-4560 is the number for the national clearing house for bilingual education in rosslyn, Virginia.
sipapu: To what extent are we in the mess we are in, because while “the majority rules” in this country, the minority has few, if any, rights other than what the majority is willing to concede to the minority?
cameras: I think the mess we’re all in goes way beyond majority versus minority, white versus people of color. it is the value system of our society, whose values such as greed, competitiveness, aggressiveness, are at the root of the disorder. these anti-human values must be changed before we can hope to achieve racial and sexual equity and social justice. this explains why, for example, the cibc newsletter has broadened the scope of its concerns to consider the social values reflected in children’s books and other learning materials. we believe that by reflecting society’s values, children’s learning materials will perpetuate them, and we want those values to change. i agree with the conclusion of an article you wrote about cibc, which appeared in sipapu a few years ago (v. 8, n. 1 consecutive number n. 15, january 1977; p. 16-20) that children’s books they cannot change society ( our p.19). that would be waiting too long. but children’s books can provide content that challenges traditional assumptions and role models, helping to bring about a more equitable, just society.
Now to get back to your question about an oppressive majority. your question implies that we have majority rule in this country. I don’t agree with that, political and economic power is concentrated in the hands of relatively few wealthy white men, and they benefit very materially from the value system of this society. although all whites benefit, to some extent, from white skin privilege in a racist society, most whites are actually disadvantaged by the values of the current system. Unfortunately, few whites recognize this.
In my opinion, those oppressed by the current white male establishment make up the majority of people in this country. when you consider the number of women of all colors, male minorities, poor white men, people with disabilities, gay and lesbian men, seniors, workers, that’s a huge majority. When these groups come to see the interrelationship of their particular oppressions, and work together toward common goals—whites seriously confronting racism, men seriously confronting sexism—social change is sure to follow. Of course, that’s what it’s all about: raising awareness.
sipapu: where do we go from here? Is the perspective grimly totalitarian or are we creating more awareness than ever?
cameras: Globally and nationally, trends that are both hopeful and frightening can be seen. I remember reading about a panel of historians and philosophers (Toynbee Sartre, Russell among them) who met in the 1960s to consider the state of the world. they observed that Western nations were becoming increasingly militaristic with ever-increasing military budgets, and concluded that by the year 2000 Western society would be essentially totalitarian. however, between then and today, political awareness has been increasing at an accelerated rate. black people sparked the process with the civil rights movement of the 1960s. all kinds of movements since then have broadened people’s consciousness, and many more people are becoming aware of the essentially oppressive structure of our society. the struggle that these movements provoke is, of course, what is important. as frederick douglass said, “if there is no fight, there is no progress”. it is when these struggling movements begin to understand each other’s problems and form coalitions that there will be a chance of reversing the drive towards totalitarianism. i think the special issue of the cibc newsletter that we just published is pertinent to this discussion. reports on militarism and education and makes links between the problems of racism and sexism and the strong militaristic bias in our society. We hope to reach people active in a variety of equity struggles and help make connections between their particular struggles and the anti-nuclear/disarmament movement. The patriarchal and racist militarists have the power, but they are not invincible if the rest of us can come together.
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