Children of Promise

This mixed media collage incorporates fabric and a page from the book Children of Promise: African-American Literature and Art for Young People. This is a book that I used for many years as a language arts teacher and which I continue to share with my daughters. The title, in the context of parenthood, speaks volumes in my mind. As a mother and as a teacher to young students of color, it felt like an additional and critical task (beyond the already difficult work of generally parenting and teaching) to infuse into our babies the understanding -- despite what our world shows us about ourselves and each other; despite being disproportionately killed at the hands of law enforcement; despite being demonized, marginalized, and dehumanized -- that they are children of promise. It felt like everything I did and said in the home or in the classroom was a whisper, a reminder, a reverse indoctrination to combat the messaging of the world.  Yes, you are children of promise.
You are a child of promise. 
You are a child of promise. 
You are a child of promise. Grow into your beauty.
 
In the foreword to the book, it says, "For two hundred years the country has grappled with the imperfect practice of democracy and its promise. For two hundred years the confrontation between the real and the ideal has resonated through every level of American culture. It is in the language of our laws, the images of our poetry and painting, the conscience of our prophets and presidents. Charles Sullivan's anthology Children of Promise lets us hear the voices, voices from the American past -- Black and White -- who bear the evidence of a country striving toward the reconciliation between the real and the ideal."
 
Pictured with Ego Tripping and Joy in the Blues (sold separately, but contact Akwi directly for a discount to purchase all three).
 
Paper and fabric collage handstiched on acrylic paper; 2021; framed dimensions: 13.25 x 16.25
Professionally framed using UltraVue anti-reflective glass (with up to 70% UV protection)