From: Jeri Ferris <jchaseferris>
Date: Thu, 23 Nov 2000 12:08:59 -0700

As the author of eleven biographies (Matthew Henson, Marian Anderson, Susan LaFlesche Picotte, Benjamin Banneker, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Noah Webster, Thomas Jefferson, Abigail Adams, Biddy Mason, Mary Ann Shadd Cary) for ya and children I'm delighted to jump in, though belatedly, having been out of the country for most of November.

I was a teacher for almost 30 yrs in Los Angeles, with mainly minority students, and concur with others who've called for biographies of lesser-known hero/heroines who have done great, courageous, and important deeds. My biographies are mainly about just such folks, and in response to Jill Davis, there certainly does seem to be a market for them! I hope you all are finding that this is the case in your own libraries and classrooms.

It's important that children read about people who perservered in spite of horrendous obstacles, whether of racial prejudice, circumstances of family, physical handicaps, or whatever cruel rejections can be imagined. It's also important that children see how heroic women/men overcome their own mistakes and go on to achieve their goals anyway. It's important they see that there are many, many heroes who are not white males. (I'm not being sexist here, it's just that nonwhites and women have been shortchanged.) It's important they see how and why heroes made the choices they did. It's important they think about what THEY might do in similar circumstances.

Maia raises the concern that a biographer may present her subject through her own projections. That possibility is uppermost in the minds of most authors. I, and the authors I know, go to extreme lengths to "become" the person about whom we are writing, so that no vestige of author comes through. Which brings up the issue: how can a middle class, middle aged, white woman presume to "become" a black 19th century man (for example). Jean Fritz and others have answered by saying it is the writer's gift
(and duty) which makes it possible. Of course, especially when writing for younger children, choices of material must be made, and to that extent the author's mind comes through. But responsible authors do not choose only the positive information, they present all sides of their subject so children can see a real, struggling, sometimes confused and discouraged person who STILL can make a difference for the better.

I use quotations from my subjects to tell the story, obviously, because it's his/her story, not mine. The subject's own words make the story lively and real, sometimes painfully so. For example, in ARCTIC EXPLORER, when Matthew Henson stands at the North Pole with Robert Peary and extends his hand to congratulate Peary on their triumph, Peary turns his back. Henson explained (to himself) this insult in his diary thusly:
"I ungloved my right hand and went forward to congratulate him ... but a gust of wind blew something in his eye, or else [the pain of looking at the sun] forced him to turn aside...." Readers draw their own heartbreaking conclusions from Henson's interpretation. This book, and others of mine, have won many awards including the Carter G. Woodson Award for "most distinguished book written for young readers depicting ethnic diversity in the United States."

An author has to ferret out the subject's emotions from his/her words and from the words of those who were also there. We try to avoid completely the dreaded "must have thought" and "probably felt," though there are cases in which these words must be used. Biddy Mason, for example, never wrote a word and not a word was written about her by her contemporaries. Her family has 25 precious words of hers which were passed down, and that's not enough to build a book upon! So in this case, I had to rely upon journals, diaries, newspaper accounts of those who were with her on her trek from slavery to freedom, from Mississippi slave to Los Angeles wealth. The title, WITH OPEN HANDS, and her life philosophy which is the theme of the book, did come from those 25 words.

Re the question on revising a bio when new information comes in. My biography of Jefferson was published just before the DNA evidence was available (a lack reviewers noted!). In the next printing, a note from the author will be added to elaborate on/contradict Jefferson's own words on the subject and clarify the matter of Jefferson and Sally Hemings as much as is possible at this point.

Lively, smooth, clear, exciting, absolutely accurate, based on primary sources, set carefully in historical context, filled with the person's own words and emotions, breathtaking, a story that cannot be put down
.... These, plus a thorough bibliography and author's notes, are attributes of a good biography.

This has been a fascinating discussion, filled with information which I am taking to heart as an author. I want my books to be well-used, not to mention well-loved, resources in your classrooms and libraries!

Jeri Chase Ferris Author of award-winning biographies on women and minorities Most recent (2000), REMEMBER THE LADIES: The Story of Abigail Adams
(Lerner Books) Watch for MARY ANN SHADD CARY: FIGHTER FOR JUSTICE (2001) Watch for SURROUNDED (historical fiction on the Siege of Leningrad) 2002 310?7!88 voice; 310?7U22 fax; jchaseferris at earthlink.net

?A Red, White and Blue 2000? at www.latimes.com/kids
Received on Thu 23 Nov 2000 01:08:59 PM CST