Hello!
Welcome to my stop on the Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round: My Story of the Making of Martin Luther King Day blog tour! Thanks to The Coloured Pages team for making this book available to me as part of the blog tour.
This book was a very quick read for me but a very powerful and inspiring one. I got to learn more about Martin Luther King and the people who marched and fought for the independence and freedom that African Americans enjoy today.
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Title: Ain’t Nobody Gonna Turn Me ‘Round
Author: Kathlyn J. Kirkwood
Publication date: January 4th 2022
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers (Clarion Books)
Blurb
This brilliant memoir-in-verse tells the moving story of how a nation learned to celebrate a hero. Through years of protests and petition, Kathlyn’s story highlights the foot soldiers who fought to make Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday a national holiday.
Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round is a deeply moving middle grade memoir about what it means to be an everyday activist and foot soldier for racial justice, as Kathlyn recounts how, drawn to activism from childhood, she went from attending protests as a teenager to fighting for Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday to become a national holiday as an adult. A blueprint for kinds starting down their own paths to civic awareness, it shows life beyond protests and details the sustained time, passion and energy it takes to turn an idea into a law.
Deftly weaving together monumental historical events with a heartfelt coming-of-age story and in-depth information on law making. Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round is a perfect engaging example of how history can help inform the present.
Purchase links: BLACKWELLS || AMAZON
Review
This book is an exploration of the passing of Martin Luther King Jr’s Day as a federal holiday. The marches, the civil right movements, Jim crow law and the solidarity that every African American was a part of. Their fight for justice and visibility. This book was beautifully written in prose, through different stages of Kathlyn (author) life from a high school student to an adult. We get to see how long it took for the remembrance law to be passed and the oneness of the Black spirit.
I really loved it. As a non-American, I have never really thought too deeply about how hard it must have been for a Black icon to be remembered for his role in fighting slavery, disproportionate income and mistreatment of Black workers.
It is a message and diary of perseverance, hope and loyalty to oneself, community and the beliefs that ties us all together.
Rating
I gave this a 4 out of 5 stars
Thanks for reading