A review by mfwestfall
A Long Time Coming: A Lyrical Biography of Race in America from Ona Judge to Barack Obama by Ray Anthony Shepard

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

In case some of you don’t finish reading this review, I’m going to put this command right here at the top - All librarians and middle school and high school teachers reading this, go buy this collective biography of Ona Judge, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Martin Luther King, Junior, and Barack Obama and share it with your students! Want to know why? Keep reading . . . 

Sometimes a book or a piece of writing comes along and after you finish reading it, the lightbulb goes off, the fog clears, and a jigsaw puzzle of realization comes together in your head.  You want to share this newly gained knowledge with as many people as you can, and wish that everyone could join you in this newly enlightened frame of mind.  That’s where Ray Anthony Shepard’s beautifully rendered biographical story poems of six African-American icons takes you. Experiencing this unusual format of nonfiction is  enough reason on its own to read this book.  Add to that the new perspectives you will gain on the African-American leaders and other historical figures - Martin Luther King Jr. as an imperfect, sometimes even flawed leader, George and Martha Washington as cruel enslavers.  And the message at the core of this incredible book, that we are still on the long road to the destination of “we the people” and “ a more perfect union.”  This book is going on my forever favorites shelf. Even with all I’ve read over the years and having taught social studies myself, I still learned so much from this book, proving we are all  still students.  And I love author Ray Anthony Shepard’s intro to the unique format of the book:

“Nonfiction in verse may sound like an oxymoron, a mashup 

gone astray, as awful as a sardines and sauerkraut breakfast sandwich. Instead, I hope to serve you banana and peanut butter spread on a toasted sesame seed bagel - delicious, but not your usual fare.”

Absolutely phenomenal.