Loretta Little Looks Back by Andrea Davis Pinkney & Brian Pinkney

Author:Andrea Davis Pinkney & Brian Pinkney [Pinkney, Andrea Davis and Pinkney, Brian & Pinkney, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2020-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

AGGIE B.

1962 to 1968

NEW DAY

High heat, coming ahead with a one-two punch.

An upper-cut to the chin.

But this center-stage slugger turns her cheek.

Races toward the hurdle.

Runs toward progress.

Raises her hand.

Volunteers for a scene-shift on discrimination’s stage.

When others try to press her down by pressuring her

to wear an apron,

she won’t dress as expected.

No frilly missy-miss. No fake curls. No, honey, this girl is real.

Her role is to bring it all home.

She’s been cast to help others cast their votes.

Rebellious one, star of a show called Let Us.

It’s her turn to speak.

While she gears up to enter,

Loretta looks on,

flap-flapping a straw fan, big as a gibbous moon.

Can she bring a breeze to her niece’s eager ways?

Or does the flap-flapping serve to fan the fire?

This girl, her brother’s child,

like a daughter to Loretta, is cut from the same

spirited cloth.

She snatches the baton from the branches

of her family tree to win the race on race relations

in the Magnolia State.

But wait!

There’s something to be said for legacy.

That playwright from long ago who asked us to explain

what’s in a name, will tell you that anything other

than being true to who you are is not as sweet.

So here she is, for true—Aggie B.—delivering this

journey’s final lines on why her bright name

speaks volumes,

as she ushers us to equality’s election.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.