Product details
- ISBN 9781419754357
- Dimensions: 229 x 279mm
- Publication Date: 15 Oct 2026
- Publisher: Abrams
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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The only picture book biography of Dudley Randall—a poet, publisher, and leader of the Black Arts movement of the 1960s—from Ezra Jack Keats Award Winner Don Tate and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Honoree and New York Times bestselling illustrator Laura Freeman
Dudley Randall’s first published poem appeared in the Detroit Free Press when he was only 13 years old. He continued to write, and as he grew older, he realized that his voice could be powerful.
When calls for equal rights were growing louder during the civil rights movement, Randall wrote the “Ballad of Birmingham” in response to an incident of senseless violence against a Black community in Alabama—and suddenly, the world was paying attention to his words.
But Randall knew that most publishing companies were ignoring Black writers. In 1965, he founded the groundbreaking Broadside Press to give a platform to Black creatives like Audre Lorde, Gwendolyn Brooks, Nikki Giovanni, and Sonia Sanchez, as well as his own work. Randall and his fellow writers used their literary voices to express pride in Black history and culture.
From award-winning author Don Tate and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Honoree Laura Freeman comes a picture book biography of Dudley Randall—a poet, publisher, and leader of the Black Arts Movement.
Integrated throughout the story as well as the back matter, Randall’s most famous poems help bring the story alive. Back matter also includes more information about the famous figures and historical movements discussed in the narrative.
Included Randall poems:
“Ballad of Birmingham”
“On Getting a Natural (For Gwendolyn Brooks)”
“Twilight”
“Booker T. and W.E.B.”
“Langston Blues”
Don Tate is an award-winning author and illustrator of numerous critically acclaimed books for children, as well as a founding host of The Brown Bookshelf, designed to raise awareness of the myriad Black voices writing for young readers. His accolades include two Ezra Jack Keats Awards and an honor, the Carter G. Woodson Book Award, a Christopher Award, a Lee & Low New Voices Honor, and a Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List selection, among many others. A native of Des Moines, Iowa, Tate currently resides in Austin, Texas, with his wife and son. Laura Freeman is a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Honoree. Her work has been recognized with an NAACP Image Award, reached the New York Times bestseller list, and has been honored by the Society of Illustrators, and the Georgia Center for the Book. She has illustrated more than 30 children’s books, and her editorial images are frequently seen in The New York Times and other periodicals. Originally from New York City, Freeman now lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
