Reviewed by Valencia Abbott
Review Source: Social Education
Book Author: Carole Boston Weatherford
I hadn’t heard about Miss Mary Lucille Hamilton before reading this book. But after reading that she demanded to be addressed as “Miss Hamilton,” I knew I wanted to know her better. Miss Hamilton would become the plaintiff in the U.S. Supreme Court case Hamilton v. Alabama (1964), which upheld that a Black woman was entitled to the same courtesy forms of address customarily reserved for whites in the Southern United States. This book addresses the fact that calling a Black person by their first name was a form of racial discrimination and utter disrespect. By demanding that a Black person was owed the same courtesy greeting, Miss Hamilton positioned Black people as societal equals. While this may seem an inconsequential move to some, it was on par with any civil rights movement strategy, from sit-ins and protests to the March on Washington.
This book should be shared in every classroom from elementary to high school because it addresses a point of history that is undertold or unknown and showcases the story of an everyday person fighting for equal respect and equal rights. The illustrations propel this book into more of a historical research project with a montage of primary source images intermingled with scratchboard art that adds another layer of depth to the narrative.
Valencia Abbott is a history and social studies teacher at Rockingham Early College High School in North Carolina.
Reprinted from Social Education in a collection of reviews for the Carter G. Woodson Book Awards, edited by J. L. Gallaher, Social Education, 87(3), 164.
Call Me Miss Hamilton by Carole Boston Weatherford
Published by Lerner Publishing Group on February 1, 2022
Genres: Black History, Civil Rights Movement, Women
Pages: 40
Reading Level: Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8
ISBN: 9781728404776
Review Source: Social Education
Also by this author: Schomburg: the Man Who Built a Library, Voice of Freedom, Unspeakable
Publisher's Synopsis: Discover the true story of the woman Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. nicknamed "Red" because of her fiery spirit!
Mary Hamilton grew up knowing right from wrong. She was proud to be Black, and when the chance came along to join the Civil Rights Movement and become a Freedom Rider, she was eager to fight for what she believed in. Mary was arrested again and again — and she did not back down when faced with insults or disrespect. In an Alabama court, a white prosecutor called her by her first name, but she refused to answer unless he called her “Miss Hamilton.” The judge charged her with contempt of court, but that wasn’t the end of it. Miss Mary Hamilton fought the contempt charge all the way to the Supreme Court.
Powerful free verse from Carole Boston Weatherford and striking scratchboard illustrations by Jeffery Boston Weatherford, accompanied by archival photographs, honor this unsung heroine who took a stand for respect — and won.
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