A Wreath for Emmett Till

Title: A Wreath for Emmet Till
2006 Coretta Scott King Honor Book
Author/Illustrator: Marilyn Nelson/ Philippe Lardy
Published: 2005
Group: African Americans
Examples of African American culture in A Wreath: (1) A Wreath is a heroic crown of sonnets about the lynching of a 14 year old black boy named Emmett Till in 1955. Photos of Emmett's mutilated body catalyzed the civil rights movement. From the 1880s to the late 1960s (some isolated incidences of lynchings occurred as late as 1998) lynching was an act of terror used to control the political, social and economic behaviors of African Americans (2) In A Wreath Nelson writes, "If trees could speak, it could describe...the strange fruit that still ghosts its reverie..." Jazz is a music art form created by African Americans. Jazz has been used by African Americans as a medium to protest social injustices. In 1939 Jazz and Blues singer Billie Holiday recorded a rendition of "Strange Fruit" in response to the lynchings of Black Americans during Jim Crow. (3) Poetry has been used by African Americans as a medium to protest social injustices. African American poet, Paul Dunbar, wrote "The Haunted Oak" in response to the lynchings of Black Americans. In A Wreath Nelson signifies Dunbar's "Haunted Oak," " Though if I could, I would forget...No: I remember, like a haunted tree..." (4)Looking beyond the violence and brutality of lynchings, Nelson speaks of healing, "In my house, there is still something called grace, which melts ice shards of hate and makes hearts whole."Acts of forgiveness and reconciliation are persistent themes in the relationship between African Americans and the United States. (5) "I cling to the faith that innocence lives on...That miracles do exist." The tradition of African American struggles has been sustained by an unwavering faith that things will get better in spite of dire circumstances. (6) The sacredness of memory as a testament to the past is part of African American identity. A Wreath is largely about collective memory and forgetfulness, "...we must bear witness to atrocity." (7) Memory as a burden is part of African American identity, Nelson writes, "Though if I could, I would forget much of that racial memory." (8) Nelson writes that Emmett's mother had sent him to "the South to visit relatives and to be taught the family's ways." Modern day African American culture originated in the deep South. (9) The hypocrisy of America's democracy has been persistently critiqued and exposed through the African American experience. Nelson writes about the hypocrisy of American democracy, "One mouth speaks with forked tongue, the other reads the Constitution...(10) Nelson echoes Malcolm X when relating the ambivalent experiences of Blacks in America, "My country, 'tis of both thy nightmare history and thy grand dream..."