In the final of three blogs prompted by the “Getting There” article in Smithsonian magazine, I think about those who had no bus at all – neither the yellow one with a lengthy ride on which I did homework nor the farm wagon converted to school transportation ridden by my mother. Two favorite writers reached into the truth of their ancestors to produce fiction that tells this story well.
Mildred Taylor used her father’s stories of growing up in Mississippi during my mother’s generation in her book series about the Logan family, including a school bus story in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, the Newbery Award winner in 1977. She paints a vivid picture of the Logan children who are Black and have no bus. They are taunted by students on the white school bus as it passes and frightened off the shoulders of the road into the gully beside it as the bus driver deliberately drives too close to them as they walk to school. My junior high students of all ethnicities developed a real empathy for the Logans as I read the book aloud to them. I read Mildred Taylor’s words showing the Logans getting retribution during bad rains, “For a moment it (the bus) swayed and we held our breath, afraid it would topple over. Then it sputtered a last murmuring protest and died, its left front wheel in the ditch, its right wheel in the gully, like a lopsided billy goat on its knees.” I waited for the unanimous cheer from my students that always followed these lines.
Freddie Williams Evans picture book, A Bus of Our Own, is even closer to being totally nonfiction. She heard a story at her uncle’s funeral and put it into a picture book with only minor details changed. This story from my generation has Mable Jean walking five miles as she starts school because the Black children have no bus. Freddie, who is a friend of mine, turns this struggle on its head as the community, Cousin Smith, and Mabel Jean figure out a way to put the best parts of two old buses into one bus that will get the children to school. They see that paying twice (taxes that everybody pays and additional contributions for their bus) is worth it to get an education.
As important as it is to learn the history of those times in school, even more important are authors who bring a human touch and make the stories of history come alive by picturing people that readers care about. I recommend both books for sharing with the young people in your life.