{"id":2120,"date":"2011-04-19T20:13:46","date_gmt":"2011-04-20T02:13:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=2120"},"modified":"2011-04-19T20:13:46","modified_gmt":"2011-04-20T02:13:46","slug":"a-floyd-cooper-moment-just-cause","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=2120","title":{"rendered":"A Floyd Cooper Moment. Just ‘Cause."},"content":{"rendered":"

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“Look at these hands, Joseph. Did you know these hands used to make ivories sing like a sparrow in springtime? Well, I can still show a young fellow how to play
‘Heart and Soul’ — yes, I can.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center><\/p>\n

Will you join me this evening in quickly taking a look at some Floyd Cooper<\/a><\/strong> illustrations, just because I love his work so? His latest illustrated title, Margaret H. Mason’s<\/a><\/strong> These Hands<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (Houghton Mifflin, March 2011), tells the story of a grandfather with his young grandson. Mason, in her closing Author’s Note, tells how during the 1950s and early ’60s, African American workers at the Wonder Bread, Awrey, and Tastee bakery factories were not allowed to handle the bread in any way, meaning they were forbidden to operate as bread dough mixers or bread dough handlers. Having learned that story from an old friend and how he and his friends joined together to fight this discrimination, Mason nestled it within this warm picture book tale of a grandfather talking with his grandchild: “Look at these hands, Joseph,” he says to him, pointing out all the many things his hands could do—tie a triple bowline knot in three seconds flat, pluck the ace of spades right out of thin air, and more. But, “{d}id you know these hands were not allowed to mix the bread dough in the Wonder Bread factory?” he asks him and proceeds to tell his tale. <\/p>\n

“For all the many titles that appear on segregation and protest for younger readers,” wrote the Kirkus<\/em> review, “this one stands tall not just for delving into a piece of labor history not previously covered, but for its ability to relate history with heart and resonance,” while Publishers Weekly<\/em> called it “a moving study of multigenerational relationships and triumph over discrimination.” Cooper rendered these sepia-toned, soft-focus illustrations in oil wash, using kneaded erasers, and they nearly leap off the page. <\/p>\n

Here are two more spreads. Enjoy. <\/p>\n

<\/a>
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“Look at these hands, Joseph. Did you know these hands used to throw a curve ball faster than a dive-bombing honeybee? Well, I can still help a young fellow learn to
hit a line drive — yes, I can.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center><\/p>\n

<\/a>
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“Look at these hands, Joseph. Did you know these hands were not allowed to mix the bread dough in the Wonder Bread factory? Did you know these hands were not allowed to touch the bread dough in the Wonder Bread factory? These hands were only allowed to sweep the floors and work the line and load the trucks. Because the bosses said white people would not want to eat bread touched by these hands.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center><\/p>\n

* * * * * * *<\/center><\/p>\n

THESE HANDS. Text copyright \u00a9 2011 by Margaret H. Mason. Illustrations copyright \u00a9 2011 by Floyd Cooper. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Houghton Mifflin, Boston.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Look at these hands, Joseph. Did you know these hands used to make ivories sing like a sparrow in springtime? Well, I can still show a young fellow how to play‘Heart and Soul’ — yes, I can.”(Click to enlarge spread) Will you join me this evening in quickly taking a look at some Floyd Cooper […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-picture-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2120\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}