Published: 2023
Author: Ray Anthony Shepard | Illustrator: R. Gregory Christie
Genres: Nonfiction, Biography-in-Verse, African American History
Audience: Grades 7–12
Number of Stars: ★★★★★ (5/5)
Goodreads Link: A Long Time Coming
Content Warnings: References to systemic racism, lynching, and the harsh realities of enslavement.
Publisher’s Summary
This YA biography-in-verse of six important Black Americans from different eras, including Ona Judge, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Martin Luther King Jr., and Barack Obama, chronicles the diverse ways each fought racism and shows how much—and how little—has changed for Black Americans since our country’s founding.
Full of daring escapes, deep emotion, and subtle lessons on how racism operates, A LONG TIME COMING reveals the universal importance of its subjects’ struggles for justice. From freedom seeker Ona Judge, who fled her enslavement by America’s first president, to Barack Obama, the first Black president, all of Shepard’s protagonists fight valiantly for justice for themselves and all Black Americans in any way that they can. But it is also a highly personal book, as Shepard — whose maternal grandfather was enslaved — shows how the grand sweep of history has touched his life, reflecting on how much progress has been made against racism, while also exhorting readers to complete the vast work that remains to be done.
Review
This collection of story poems tells the stories of six Black Americans: Ona Judge, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Martin Luther King Jr., and Barack Obama. It highlights the injustice many of them faced and shares lesser-known historical details that are both surprising and eye-opening. For instance, I learned that George Washington’s false teeth were not wooden; some were actually made from the teeth of enslaved people. I was so surprised by this that I had to verify whether this was true or not. (Sadly, it is!)
Before reading this book, I had never heard of Ona Judge. She was an enslaved woman belonging to George and Martha Washington, who escaped to New Hampshire in her twenties. Despite efforts by President Washington to recapture her, she was able to remain free by living in the North. The collection also features Ida B. Wells, a journalist and activist who exposed the lynching of Black Americans. Her editorials in the Free Speech newspaper caused some people to burn down the building where it was published.
The book concludes with a section depicting Barack Obama’s life: it opens on the day of Martin Luther King’s funeral, when Obama was 6 years old and living in Indonesia. The challenges he faced are best summed up in this stanza: “Halfway around the world, six-year-old Barry Obama…..wondered if there would be a day / when he would be judged by the content of his character / not the color of his skin.”
Overall, the book presents key moments from each person’s life in an accessible, engaging way. It may especially appeal to middle school readers who might not choose to read a full biography but would connect with a book of verse. I truly loved this book.
📊 Understanding the Scope of the Struggle
To understand the stakes for these figures, it helps to look at the statistics regarding the barriers they faced. For example, during the era of Ida B. Wells, lynching was a tool of terror used to maintain white supremacy.
- Lynching Statistics: Between 1882 and 1968, there were 4,743 reported lynchings in the United States. Of those victims, 3,446 (roughly 73%) were Black.
- The Literacy Gap: During enslavement, it was illegal in many states for Black people to learn to read or write. By 1870, the illiteracy rate among Black Americans was 79.9%; through the work of people like Ida B. Wells and Frederick Douglass, that rate dropped to 16.4% by 1930.
- Enslavement at the Top: While George Washington is a “founding father,” he held 317 enslaved people at Mount Vernon at the time of his death, including Ona Judge before her escape.
🎒 Classroom & Curricular Connections
- Social Studies (Primary Sources): Use the poems alongside primary documents.
- Activity Idea: Find the “runaway slave” advertisement George Washington posted for Ona Judge. Compare the language of the ad with the poem about her escape.
- ELA (Novel in Verse): Discuss the “stanza” mentioned in the review.
- Activity Idea: How does the rhythm of poetry change the way we feel about history? Compare a traditional textbook paragraph about Ida B. Wells with one of Shepard’s poems.
- Journalism (The Power of the Press):
- Activity Idea: Research Ida B. Wells’ newspaper, Free Speech. Discuss the risks journalists take when speaking truth to power. Why was her office burned down?
- Civil Rights (Generational Progress):
- Activity Idea: Create a “Living Timeline.” Each student researches one of the six figures and writes a poem about a “lesser-known detail” they discovered, similar to the dentist/Washington fact.
