Rae Chesny with a collection of Zora Neale Hurston books.
Representation in literacy can make all the difference for African American children. The ability to see themselves on story pages helps create relevance and encourage imagination. Sadly, though there are Black narratives, accurate representation is few and far between. Hoping to inspire a natural level of curiosity, literary experts are encouraging storytelling in a new way to bring about change in inclusion.
Zora Neal Hurston was one of the most prolific authors of her time. Her work spans decades and has provided the groundwork for avid readers’ academic and literary endeavors. Now, one scholar is using her work, love, and adoration for Hurston to foster a love for reading for children and inclusion for Black authors.
“I’m a Detroit native and at the root of everything that I do for children, adults, sharing the legacy of Zora, is storytelling. I believe that storytelling and sharing connectedness through human experience is a very effective way in which we understand the world around us and each other,” says Rae Chesny, author, Zora Neale Hurston scholar, and social education expert.
Using her own story, Chesny expresses she, too, was once a part of the number of children who may have engaged in storytelling but were not a reader or lovers of books.
“I was actually a reluctant reader as a child. I didn’t have anyone who inspired me to write, I had just always loved to tell stories, but would not read them unless you paid me,” says Chesny.
As some children have a natural knack for reading, others struggle with finding themselves in the story. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, with 85 percent of Black students lacking proficiency and reading skills, the push for literacy is dire. Working with children since 2016, Chesny began summer camps and social education programs to help increase literacy. This led to an opportunity to guide students at Michigan State University and the ability to present Zora Neale Hurston as not only an author and historical icon but as a human.
“The students really took to the way that I presented my methodology and the innovative ways of using storytelling itself to get reluctant readers interested in literacy-based activities,” says Chesny.
In a world on the go, reading has shifted. Now, books are available via audio, decreasing the need for reading and comprehension. To help increase and encourage reading in children, programs have been developed that re-establishes books as the primary focus but allow children to discover different avenues to completion.
“My programs are all designed around that exact idea; how do we make reading engaging and interesting? How do we increase curiosity? I think that is the leading point; the engagement,” says Chesny. “In my programs, one of the things is that the book is always central, but there is multiple pathways to encourage that curiosity.”
Historically silenced in the literary world, Black authors are also shunned from storytelling. Underrepresented demographic, Black authors are just over five percent of all authors across the country. Looking to break barriers, Chesny began a group, Work in Progress Literary Club, to give Black adults a rare opportunity to watch the process of creating a book with the hopes of encouraging them to pen their own.
“I wanted to give a behind-the-scenes view of what it takes to actually not only publish a book, but to really craft a story,” says Chesny.
Storytelling is an inherited part of blackness spanning the African diaspora. Passed down through generations, folklore and family heritage have been traditionally gifted through word-of-mouth. A legacy for many Black families, storytelling is used to keep the ancestors alive. Restoring the storytelling methods of yesteryear, African Americans can immerse themselves in the traditional while helping to reignite the passion for narratives.
“The other piece is using the oral tradition, especially for children of color. Our ancestors were rooted in oral traditions so focusing on storytelling as a connection to the physical book is deeply powerful,” says Chesny. “A lot of times I work with children to get them to tell stories first because as they hear their own voice and value their own ideas, the value in others becomes more engaging.”
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