CAROLE BOSTON WEATHERFORD

HONORS CONGRESSMAN ELIJAH CUMMINGS
IN NEW PICTURE BOOK

by Melissa Fales
photo by Gerald Young

Prolific children’s book author Carole Boston Weatherford is perhaps best known for her profiles of Black leaders in the sports, entertainment, and political arenas, such as Jesse Owens, Oprah, and Barack Obama. Her newest book, The Faith of Elijah Cummings: The North Star of Social Justice, hails civil rights advocate and long-serving member of the House of Representatives for Maryland’s 7th congressional district. “I was drawn to Congressman Cummings’ story because he was from my hometown of Baltimore, Maryland and we had commonalities, like finding refuge at the Pratt Library and watching planes take off during family outings at the airport,” says Weatherford.     

Weatherford displayed her way with words at a young age. “At age six, I dictated my first poem to my mother as she drove me home from school,” she says. “She parked and wrote the verse down. By the time I was eight years old, my father, a high school printing teacher, had used a few of my early poems as typesetting exercises for his students. So, I saw my work in print as a child—long before the dawn of desktop computers.”

Born to parents who were both educators, Weatherford grew up with a healthy appreciation for books and reading. “I was a major book nerd and I loved libraries so much that I created pocket cards for the books that I owned,” she says. “Among my favorites were Chanticleer and the Fox, A Snowy Day, Harriet the Spy, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Sounder, and The Learning Tree.” 

When she became a parent, Weatherford experienced a reawakening of her love for children’s books as she sought out books for her son and daughter. “As a young mother at library story times, I was exposed to a new crop of diverse books,” she says. “So, I studied the children’s book industry and shifted from writing poetry for adults to writing children’s books.” Weatherford didn’t turn to writing merely to fill her spare time or because she thought it would be a fun hobby. She was on a mission. “I aimed to amplify voices that had been marginalized, muted, or muzzled and to document history that had been suppressed or whitewashed. I wanted to set the record straight and give children the truth that they deserve.”

Weatherford entered the children’s book scene with her picture book, Juneteenth Jamboree. “I had pitched a poetry collection that Lee & Low Books declined,” she explains. “Instead, the editor asked if I’d develop a manuscript about Juneteenth, the date in history when the last enslaved people were freed in the United States. The book debuted in 1995. Twenty-six years later, Juneteenth was declared a national holiday.”

Weatherford never looked back. “I mine the past for family stories, fading traditions, and forgotten struggles that center on Black resistance, resilience, and remarkability,” she says. “That mission has led me to write books like Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-ins; Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library; R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul; You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen; and Becoming Billie Holiday.” Among Weatherford’s most recent books are 2021’s Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi Calls the House to Order and her upcoming release, Call Me Miss Hamilton: One Woman’s Fight for Equality and Respect; a collaboration with her son, illustrator Jeffery Boston Weatherford. Next up for Weatherford are more collaborations with her son. “One project is the verse novel KIN, which recreates voices of our enslaved ancestors at Wye House plantation,” she says.

“I aimed to amplify voices that had been marginalized, muted, or muzzled and to document history that had been suppressed or whitewashed. I wanted to set the record straight and give children the truth that they deserve.”

Weatherford’s books have been honored with numerous awards but there are a few that stand out in her memory. She’s especially proud of her two NAACP Image Awards (in 2007 for Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom and in 2016 for Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America) as well as her three Caldecott Honor books (Moses, Freedom in Congo Square, and Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement). Weatherford also received the North Carolina Award for Literature, the state’s highest civilian honor, in 2020. Her book Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom was a 2021 Newbery Honor Book. “The Newbery Honor for Box was really special because my mother was with me when I got the phone call from the award committee,” she says. 

In The Faith of Elijah Cummings: The North Star of Social Justice, Weatherford details Cummings’ truly inspiring life story as the son of former sharecroppers who would go on to chair the House Oversight Committee. “I was moved by his leadership,” says Weatherford. “I will never forget his appeal to our morality and our humanity: ‘We’re better than this.’” Cumming’s life and legacy prove a simple truth that Weatherford hopes readers will glean from the book. “Demographics are not destiny, and anyone can be a change agent.”

For more information about Carole Boston Weatherford and her books, visit cbweatherford.com.