Reviewed by Paige Pagan
Review Source: Teaching for Change
Book Author: Lesa Cline-Ransome
They Call Me Teach is a fictional story based on true accounts of enslaved African Americans turning to literacy as a form of empowerment. The narrative takes readers through a week in the shoes of “Teach,” a young man who was taught to read and write by the son of his master in order to work at the family store. However, Teach dedicates himself to sharing this knowledge with other enslaved people of all ages. The author states in the backmatter: “So often, slave resistance narratives focus on those who escaped north to freedom. But for most, escape was a rare, if not impossible, feat. Among the enslaved, resistance took on many forms — disruption of work, theft, sabotage; resistance was also music, storytelling, and learning to read and write.” This book appropriately emphasizes the ongoing quest for a free and equal education.
The author also asserts in their note that “nearly every other group in this country” has been granted a free and equal education. Sadly, education has not been free and equal for everyone. For example, Native Americans were kidnapped and sent to punitive and often deadly boarding schools. Latinos and Asian Americans were sent to segregated, under-resourced schools and often punished for speaking their native language. However, it is the case that African Americans are the only group to have faced the extreme measure of the criminalization of literacy and instruction. They were denied not only education, but even the right to become literate on their own, which is why this book is so valuable — shining a light on the bravery and commitment of countless African Americans like Teach who risked their lives to teach others.
I recommend this book for early elementary readers for units on Black History and to use as a conversation starter on the right to education. Check out more historical fiction by Cline-Ransome, including Finding Langston, Leaving Lymon, and Being Clem.
Paige Pagan is a Social Justice Books program specialist at Teaching for Change.
Find more recommended books on this topic on our Slavery, Resistance, and Reparations booklist.
They Call Me Teach by Lesa Cline-Ransome
Published by Candlewick Press on September 24, 2024
Genres: Slavery
Pages: 40
Reading Level: Grade K, Grades 1-2
ISBN: 9780763681555
Review Source: Teaching for Change
Also by this author: Before She Was Harriet, Finding Langston
Publisher's Synopsis: In this stirring and powerfully illustrated story, an enslaved young man uses his ability to read and write to educate others in the pursuit of freedom.
Back inside the store
I write up receipts
for Master's deliveries
for Master's orders
In 'tween
I write up a receipt
for her freedomThe young man known as Teach secretly learned to read, write, and use numbers growing up alongside the master's son. And although on this Southern plantation these are skills he can never flaunt, Teach doesn't keep them to himself: In the course of a week, he'll teach little ones the alphabet in the corner stall of a stable and hold a moonlit session where men scratch letters in the dirt. He'll decipher a discarded letter bearing news of Yankee soldiers and forge a pass for a woman hoping to buy precious time on a perilous journey north. And come Sunday, Teach will cross the swamp to a hidden cabin, reading aloud to the congregation God's immortal words to the pharaoh: Let my people go. With a spare, moving first-person narration told in an era-appropriate dialect, complemented by stunning watercolor illustrations, the celebrated duo of Lesa Cline-Ransome and James E. Ransome honor the bravery and generosity of spirit behind countless untold acts of resistance during the time of slavery. An author's note highlights the vital role of literacy and education toward the securing of freedom, both historically and to the present day.
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