The First Step: How One Girl Put Segregation on Trial

Junior Library Guild Selection
2017 Orbis Pictus Honor Book
Chicago Public LibraryKids Best of the Best Book 2016
A Nerdy Book Club Best Nonfiction Book of 2016
An NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book of 2017

In 1847, a young African American girl named Sarah Roberts was attending a school in Boston. Then one day she was told she could never come back. She didn't belong. The Otis School was for white children only.

Sarah deserved an equal education, and the Roberts family fought for change. They made history. Roberts v. City of Boston was the first case challenging our legal system to outlaw segregated schools. It was the first time an African American lawyer argued in a supreme court.

These first steps set in motion changes that ultimately led to equality under the law in the United States. Sarah's cause was won when people--black and white--stood together and said, No more. Now, right now, it is time for change!

With gorgeous art from award-winning illustrator E. B. Lewis, The First Step is an inspiring look at the first lawsuit to demand desegregation--long before the American Civil Rights movement, even before the Civil War.

Backmatter includes: integration timeline, bios on key people in the book, list of resources, and author's note.

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The First Step: How One Girl Put Segregation on Trial

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ISBN-13:	9780802737410
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	01/05/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
File size:	16 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

Susan E. Goodman is the author of more than thirty nonfiction books for children, including How Do You Burp in Space?; See How They Run: Campaign Dreams, Election Schemes, and the Race to the White House;All in Just One Cookie, an ALA Notable Book; and On This Spot, a Washington Post Top Picture Book of the Year. She lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
www.susangoodmanbooks.com

E. B. Lewis is the acclaimed illustrator of more than fifty books for children, including the Caldecott Honor book Coming On Home Soon and several Coretta Scott King Award winners, such as Talkin' About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman and Bat Boy and His Violin. He lives in Folsom, New Jersey.
www.eblewis.com

From the B&N Reads Blog

Page 1 of

Editorial Reviews

Though little known by most young readers, five-year-old Sarah Roberts inspired an 1850 lawsuit against the city of Boston. Sarah, from a family of Boston’s educated free blacks, was removed from the school she attended near her home and assigned to another for African American students only. Her parents were outraged that their daughter had to pass five white-only schools on her extended walk to the segregated school. Benjamin and Adeline Roberts sued the city, hiring black lawyer Robert Morris to plead their case—Morris involved Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, a dedicated abolitionist; both spoke eloquently before the state’s Supreme Court. In 1851, however, the Court decided their constitution did not forbid segregated schools. Despite this failure, Roberts continued to work against segregation; in 1855, Massachusetts declared segregation illegal in their state, the first such law in America. At the end, Goodman cites the 1974 Supreme Court decision to end segregation nationally, and we see Linda Brown of Kansas walking to school as Sarah had done before. The fairly short story is enhanced by Lewis’s impressionistic illustrations in watercolor and gouache, though, since little is known about Sarah, she appears mostly in shadow or at a distance. On the other hand, her father Benjamin is shown as a tall, determined man—especially fine is Lewis’s portrait of lawyer Morris, modeled after a contemporary photograph. The artist uses color and texture skillfully to set the scene in nineteenth-century Boston, with brick façades and his evocation of citizens flooding into the Boston courthouse in a heavy snowstorm. Included are a timeline of the history of segregation, an “Author’s Note,” and an epilogue telling more about Morris, Sumner, and Roberts. Teachers and librarians wanting further details might try Stephen and Paul Kendrick’s Sarah’s Long Walk (Beacon, 2004). Reviewer: Barbara L. Talcroft; Ages 7 to 10.

Children's Literature - Barbara L. Talcroft

With Lewis's stirring watercolors that astutely capture the emotion of history, this book is an eloquent, inspiring reminder that "the march toward justice is a long, twisting journey."

The New York Times Book Review - Maria Russo

10/12/2015
Goodman (It’s a Dog’s Life) explores an 1848 case filed against the city of Boston by the father of Sarah Roberts, an African-American girl who was expelled from her elementary school because it was “only for white children.” Ably paring down the story, Goodman explains that, though the court ruled against Roberts, the case sparked a public campaign that led to the 1855 desegregation of Boston schools. Returning to the metaphor of the book’s title, Goodman reflects that this case launched a march toward justice, “a long, twisting journey. Three steps forward, one step back. One step forward, three back,” that led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision a century later. Endnotes include a time line, additional details about the major figures in the story, and information about the author’s approach (“One of Sarah’s living relatives... told me how Sarah was educated while awaiting her court date”). Lewis’s (Seeds of Freedom) light-dappled acrylic and watercolor paintings balance clear portraits with faded background images, illuminating the story’s emotional and historical heft. Ages 6–9. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"An important exploration of the struggle for equality and education in this country." - starred review, School Library Journal
"With Lewis’s stirring watercolors that astutely capture the emotion of history, this book is an eloquent, inspiring reminder that 'the march toward justice is a long, twisting journey.'" - The New York Times
"An excellent and careful telling of a lesser-known landmark case in the Civil Rights movement . . . E.B. Lewis’ watercolors add to the story and help readers feel the resolve and confidence of the people involved . . . would certainly add to a discussion on civil rights with older students and help them understand that there were many players in the civil rights journey and that each step was built upon the past. Highly Recommended." - School Library Connection
"Goodman’s real achievement here, though, is in the end matter, in which she not only expands on the lives of the major players but also talks at length of her research process and the educated guesses she made to fill in Sarah’s reactions. Although the first impulse will be to put this story to curricular use in civil rights units, this could be of excellent service as an investigation into how a history book gets written." - BCCB
"A stirring and inspiring story, this one is an excellent addition to classroom and library bookshelves." - Bookpage

From the Publisher

★ 01/01/2016
Gr 2–4—More than a century before Brown v. Board of Education, there was Roberts v. City of Boston; this beautifully illustrated picture book sheds light on this lesser-known case. Benjamin and Adeline Roberts enrolled their four-year-old in the closest neighborhood school. Sarah attended, until officials noticed and sent a police escort: in 1847, Boston mandated separate schools for African Americans. An extensive note differentiates facts from Goodman's speculation about what happened. Though Goodman covers weighty matters, such as the specifics of the trial, its unhappy outcome, and a longer view of segregation, her compelling story strives to help children identify with the unfair treatment. Before suing, Sarah's parents tried to envision their daughter's journey to the distant school, "crossing one neighborhood after another…. for a school that never taught subjects like history or drawing." Lewis's affecting gouache and watercolor paintings interpret both the solidity and fragility inherent in this story. The courthouse's classical columns and the school's brick facades contrast with the child's vulnerable posture. Sepia backgrounds suggest a historical lens. The metaphor of the "march toward justice" is accompanied by illustrations in the shape of footprints. The page with the phrase "one step forward" depicts Lincoln at Gettysburg; "three back" portrays the gun at Lincoln's head, the Ku Klux Klan, and labeled water fountains. The book concludes with the image of Linda Brown (the young girl at the center of Brown v. Board of Education) flanked by Supreme Court judges. VERDICT An important exploration of the struggle for equality and education in this country.—Wendy Lukehart, District of Columbia Public Library

School Library Journal

2015-10-14
A 19th-century chapter in the ongoing struggle for school integration. When Sarah Roberts was thrown out of her all-white Boston elementary school in 1847, her parents fought back through the courts. Robert Morris, an African-American attorney, and Charles Sumner, a white attorney, joined forces to argue the case before Massachusetts judges. Those judges ruled in favor of segregated schools, but Sarah's father turned to public opinion and legislation, eventually winning the right for his daughter and all others to attend integrated neighborhood schools. Goodman goes on to briefly enumerate the difficulties that would still be faced in the long fight for equal opportunity education, culminating in the more famous case of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. It's too bad that acknowledgment of Boston's 1970s-era school-integration battles is relegated to a timeline along with other dismaying post-Brown integration facts. Lewis' watercolor-and-gouache paintings portray the faces of the family, the courtroom scenes, and 19th-century Boston with delicacy and atmosphere. The concluding double-page-spread vista of a sailing ship docked near a modern skyscraper, albeit quite lovely, is out of place. Expanding the understanding of equal rights in the classroom is sadly timely, and this helps to fill in an early part of the picture. (afterword, sources and resources, author's note) (Informational picture book. 7-10)

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