To commemorate Black History Month, we will send around a series of articles, speeches, and reviews from The Horn Book archive that are by and/or about African American authors, illustrators, and luminaries in the field — one a day through the month of February, with a roundup on Fridays. It's a tradition we began in 2016 (see HBBlackHistoryMonth16 and HBBlackHistoryMonth17), and the stakes seem ever higher. Look for the social media tag #HBBlackHistoryMonth18 on Facebook.com/TheHornBook and @HornBook. You can find more resources about social justice and activism at our Talking About Race and Making a Difference resource pages.

To begin, here is author Angie Thomas’s powerful speech accepting the 2017 BGHB Fiction & Poetry Award for The Hate U Give: "Today I urge every single person in this room to fight. Fight for books that create empathy. Fight for diversity in all aspects of our industry. Fight so that the next Angies won’t have to wait until adulthood to see themselves in a book. Fight so that in the near future, teachers won’t tell me stories about black girls who are stunned to see someone like them on a cover."

Visit our BGHB microsite to read all speeches from the 2017 winners and honorees — including Ashley Bryan and Nikki Grimes.



Click the tag HBBlackHistoryMonth18 for more articles in this series.