posted on 26 Jun 2016

Ellington was not a street by Ntozake Shange illustrated by Kadir Nelson

The Americans do this kind of children's book celebrating cultural diversity so well. Here, African-American poet Ntozake Shange remembers her childhood home and the array of of black activists and artists who passed through the house during the fight for civil rights. There's a fantastic simplicity in the poem 'Mood Indigo' that is illustrated here and which insists upon the living legacy of these great campaigners, musicians and artists - their names mean more than just the names of streets and, unlike the derogatory labels they attracted these were heroes. Most importantly for Shange, these are her people and she grew up with them.

Moving as the poem is, the book gets its power from the fabulous illustrations by Kadir Nelson. These are bold, three dimension paintings from an award-winning artist who is in demand across a whole range of commercial concerns. His sense of colour is fabulous and the emotion and atmosphere of those days in the house as people came and went and talked art, politics and freedom are captured perfectly.

At the end we are given some brief pen portraits of the characters who appear in this book and it's a parade of real greats - Paul Robeson, W.E. DuBois, Dizzy Gillespie, Kwame Nkrumah, Duke Ellington and Honey Bear Akins to name but a few. We picked this book up on a trip to the States and I've never seen it in any bookshop here. I guess this is where the internet comes into its own because you can get it shipped across for just a few pounds - a superb bargain.

Terry Potter

June 2016