Bradley Brown, Stacia R.
Abstract:
The researcher examined 31 years (1979 to 2009) of the Caldecott Award and Honor books for the inclusion and representation of African-Americans. This study replicated one conducted by Frank in 1979. There were six research questions – three were quantity questions and three were quality questions. The quantity questions focused on the number of times African-Americans appeared in the award and honor books from those three decades. The other three research questions focused on the quality of African-American representation in pictures and illustrations, story line, loaded words, characterization, setting and overall contribution of the book. Coders made decisions about the quality of those characteristics using the criteria of anti-racist, non-racist, racist by omission and racist by commission. Findings of Frank’s earlier study were that many of the Caldecott Award and Honor books from the inception in 1938 until 1978 contained racism either by commission or omission. Findings of the current study were that the books from 1979 to 2009 were for the most part non-racist and anti-racist.