I began this blog, Stargazing Dreams, with wonder. It’s not surprising that wonder keeps her home next to awe, her sacred collaborator. Together they change the face of the world, shooting light to the stars and watching it rain back as inspiration.
Inspiration could easily lose its way nowadays, yet it’s exactly what we need. To help us find inspiration, I believe we need stories of heroes and heroines of the great sort who fill us with inspiration by who they are and what they have bought to our world.
While all the fault lines in our society are being exploited, I want to devote this blog newsletter for a few months to children’s books about heroes and heroines of the great sort, the ones who inspire by kindness, non-violence, and steadfast example.
I start with a great hero of the civil rights movement, John Lewis (1940-2020) and the children’s picture book about his early life, PREACHING TO THE CHICKENS: The story of the young John Lewis by Jabari Asim, illustrated by E. B. Lewis.
PREACHING TO THE CHICKENS has a soft and steady feel. It tells the story of John’s early life on his family’s farm in Pike County Alabama. John’s family were sharecroppers and there was much work on the farm. Young John was put in charge of caring for the family’s flock of sixty chickens. John loved the chickens. He knew each one individually and took great care for their safety. When one chicken, Big Belle, fell into the well, John rescued her. When the “rolling store man” came to trade for a “healthy hen”, John convinced his parents to trade eggs instead.
John’s family and extended family were a central foundation of his life. Another deep foundation was his church and his Christian faith. John loved Sunday church services. He longed to be a preacher, leading people to stand up for what was right and be their best selves. He decided to start early with his “flock” on the farm, his chickens.
In the morning, John would bring the chickens out of their coop for another day. When the chickens were out in the yard and fed, John would preach to them. He felt that the chickens listened and were calmed and comforted by his preaching. John’s family soon began affectionally calling him “the Preacher”.
John continued preaching to his “flock” through his childhood. Mornings would find him in the yard sharing the “good news” with the hens. John knew that their “cluck, cluck, cluck” in response meant “amen”.
The book’s luminous illustrations by Caldecott honoree E. B. Lewis make the text come alive. The warmth of John’s family, the hard work on the farm, and John’s relationship with his beloved chickens are shown in beautiful impressionistic watercolors.
This is a highly recommended story of the life of young John Lewis, one the most dedicated and inspiring leaders of our time.
Further notes on the life of John Lewis
John Lewis was an ordained Baptist minister, a leader in the non-violent civil rights movement, and the US representative to Congress from the Georgia’s 5th district from 1987 until his death in 2020.
As a young man, John met the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. Inspired by their work, John became an active leader in the civil rights movement. He co-founded the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and served as its chairperson. In 1965, John co-led a March for Freedom from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, Alabama. John was in the forefront of the march and was attacked by the police and state troopers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in an incident that became known as “Bloody Sunday”.
John continued his non-violent protests against injustice and discrimination, getting into what he called “good trouble, necessary trouble”, even after he became a member of the House of Representatives. John was jailed multiple times for his resistance and sustained injuries many times.
Through all his work, John never lost faith in what he called the “beloved community”. And here is a particularly brilliant example of the inspiration I find he gave. Believe in the good as a present reality. John viewed the US Congress as a beloved community. He did not imply that Congress would someday become a beloved community. For John, Congress was already a beloved community.
The beloved community was part of what John referred to as “the dream”. To quote John from his inspiring book, CARRY ON: REFLECTIONS FOR A NEW GENERATION, “we believe that the dream already existed and we had to invite others to share in its conception and manifestation. We were so sure about our convictions that we believe they were whispered into our hearts and minds by a higher power.” This faith sustained John through his many years of service.
Thanks for reading!