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A Long Time Coming

A Lyrical Biography of Race in America from Ona Judge to Barack Obama

Author Ray Anthony Shepard
Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie
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Hardcover
$19.99 US
Astra Publishing House | Calkins Creek
On sale Aug 08, 2023 | 336 Pages | 9781662680663
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This YA biography-in-verse of six important Black Americans from different eras, including Ona Judge, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Martin Luther King Jr., and Barack Obama, chronicles the diverse ways each fought racism and shows how much—and how little—has changed for Black Americans since our country’s founding.

Full of daring escapes, deep emotion, and subtle lessons on how racism operates, A LONG TIME COMING reveals the universal importance of its subjects’ struggles for justice. From freedom seeker Ona Judge, who fled her enslavement by America’s first president, to Barack Obama, the first Black president, all of Shepard’s protagonists fight valiantly for justice for themselves and all Black Americans in any way that they can. But it is also a highly personal book, as Shepard — whose maternal grandfather was enslaved — shows how the grand sweep of history has touched his life, reflecting on how much progress has been made against racism, while also exhorting readers to complete the vast work that remains to be done.
This is a work of creative nonfiction told in five
story-poems—flash lines of verse, prose, and quotes—
anchored in historical facts. Nonfiction in verse may sound
like an oxymoron, a mash-up gone astray, as awful as a
sardines-and-sauerkraut breakfast sandwich. Instead, I hope to
serve you banana and peanut butter spread on a toasted sesame
seed bagel—delicious, but not your usual fare. Nonfiction
in verse is my way to tell a story of race in the lives of six
American historymakers who helped form a more perfect
Union: Ona Judge, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman,
Ida B. Wells, Martin Luther King Jr., and Barack Obama.
I have not attempted to tell their complete life stories. Instead,
I present scenes from significant events that show how they
tilted the country’s moral arc toward liberty, freedom, and
justice to make the United States the world’s first major
multiethnic democracy. These scenes are authentic moments
inspired by real and confirmed facts of our country’s heroic and
continuing struggle to become an inclusive democracy. In place
of quotation marks, I have italicized all quotes and listed their
references in the sources notes. Also, I have capitalized Black
and White when pertaining to race.
—Ray Anthony Shepard
 
 
EPILOGUE
The Long Time
 
1796
Ona, not a Judge, but a
Thief.
Did not wait to hear liberty’s
Bell.
Stole what she could not have—
Herself.
It was a long time coming.
 
1838
Frederick Douglass’s lightning
Mind.
Did not wait for Union’s
Victory.
Sparked freedom from heaven’s
Stars.
It was a long time coming.
 
1849
Harriet Tubman fearless
Warrior.
Did not wait for Lincoln’s
Proclamation.
Guided the unfree with her North Star’s
Torch.
It was a long time coming.
 
1892
Ida B. Wells, citizens’
Crusader.
Did not wait to expose
Jim Crow.
Showed the world his brutal
Crimes.
It was a long time coming.
 
1955
Martin Luther King Jr., America’s protest
Preacher.
Did not wait for the Guardians’
Repentance.
Marched evil from the country’s
Promise.
It was a long time coming.
 
2009
Barack Obama, United States
President.
Did not wait for racial hate to
Clear.
Challenged the Guardians to
Change.
It was a long time coming.
 
Today
 
Ona to Obama, red, white, and blue
Sparks.
Did not wait for others to light the
Sky.
Declared a new Fourth of
July.
It was a long time coming.
 
Tomorrow
 
You, you, and you,
Friend.
Do not wait. Their work is not yet
Done.
Push We the people beyond the founders’
Vision.
It was a long time coming.
Copyright © 2023 by Ray Anthony Shepard; Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Ray Anthony Shepard is the grandson of a slave and was the first African American editor-in-chief of a major educational publishing house. He holds an MAT from Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he received a Martin Luther King Jr. Fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. He has taught at Phillips Andover Academy and Brandeis University. He lives in Lincoln, Massachusetts. rayanthonyshepard.com View titles by Ray Anthony Shepard
R. Gregory Christie is the award-winning illustrator of over fifty children's books, including The Palm of My Heart: Poetry by African American Children, edited by Davida Adedjouma, which won a Coretta Scott King Honor for illustration, and Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth, which was selected as a New York Times Best Illustrated Book. He lives in Decatur, Georgia, where he also owns and operates a bookstore that sells autographed children's books. gas-art.com View titles by R. Gregory Christie

A message from author Ray Anthony Shepard, author of A LONG TIME COMING

About

This YA biography-in-verse of six important Black Americans from different eras, including Ona Judge, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Martin Luther King Jr., and Barack Obama, chronicles the diverse ways each fought racism and shows how much—and how little—has changed for Black Americans since our country’s founding.

Full of daring escapes, deep emotion, and subtle lessons on how racism operates, A LONG TIME COMING reveals the universal importance of its subjects’ struggles for justice. From freedom seeker Ona Judge, who fled her enslavement by America’s first president, to Barack Obama, the first Black president, all of Shepard’s protagonists fight valiantly for justice for themselves and all Black Americans in any way that they can. But it is also a highly personal book, as Shepard — whose maternal grandfather was enslaved — shows how the grand sweep of history has touched his life, reflecting on how much progress has been made against racism, while also exhorting readers to complete the vast work that remains to be done.

Excerpt

This is a work of creative nonfiction told in five
story-poems—flash lines of verse, prose, and quotes—
anchored in historical facts. Nonfiction in verse may sound
like an oxymoron, a mash-up gone astray, as awful as a
sardines-and-sauerkraut breakfast sandwich. Instead, I hope to
serve you banana and peanut butter spread on a toasted sesame
seed bagel—delicious, but not your usual fare. Nonfiction
in verse is my way to tell a story of race in the lives of six
American historymakers who helped form a more perfect
Union: Ona Judge, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman,
Ida B. Wells, Martin Luther King Jr., and Barack Obama.
I have not attempted to tell their complete life stories. Instead,
I present scenes from significant events that show how they
tilted the country’s moral arc toward liberty, freedom, and
justice to make the United States the world’s first major
multiethnic democracy. These scenes are authentic moments
inspired by real and confirmed facts of our country’s heroic and
continuing struggle to become an inclusive democracy. In place
of quotation marks, I have italicized all quotes and listed their
references in the sources notes. Also, I have capitalized Black
and White when pertaining to race.
—Ray Anthony Shepard
 
 
EPILOGUE
The Long Time
 
1796
Ona, not a Judge, but a
Thief.
Did not wait to hear liberty’s
Bell.
Stole what she could not have—
Herself.
It was a long time coming.
 
1838
Frederick Douglass’s lightning
Mind.
Did not wait for Union’s
Victory.
Sparked freedom from heaven’s
Stars.
It was a long time coming.
 
1849
Harriet Tubman fearless
Warrior.
Did not wait for Lincoln’s
Proclamation.
Guided the unfree with her North Star’s
Torch.
It was a long time coming.
 
1892
Ida B. Wells, citizens’
Crusader.
Did not wait to expose
Jim Crow.
Showed the world his brutal
Crimes.
It was a long time coming.
 
1955
Martin Luther King Jr., America’s protest
Preacher.
Did not wait for the Guardians’
Repentance.
Marched evil from the country’s
Promise.
It was a long time coming.
 
2009
Barack Obama, United States
President.
Did not wait for racial hate to
Clear.
Challenged the Guardians to
Change.
It was a long time coming.
 
Today
 
Ona to Obama, red, white, and blue
Sparks.
Did not wait for others to light the
Sky.
Declared a new Fourth of
July.
It was a long time coming.
 
Tomorrow
 
You, you, and you,
Friend.
Do not wait. Their work is not yet
Done.
Push We the people beyond the founders’
Vision.
It was a long time coming.
Copyright © 2023 by Ray Anthony Shepard; Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Author

Ray Anthony Shepard is the grandson of a slave and was the first African American editor-in-chief of a major educational publishing house. He holds an MAT from Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he received a Martin Luther King Jr. Fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. He has taught at Phillips Andover Academy and Brandeis University. He lives in Lincoln, Massachusetts. rayanthonyshepard.com View titles by Ray Anthony Shepard
R. Gregory Christie is the award-winning illustrator of over fifty children's books, including The Palm of My Heart: Poetry by African American Children, edited by Davida Adedjouma, which won a Coretta Scott King Honor for illustration, and Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth, which was selected as a New York Times Best Illustrated Book. He lives in Decatur, Georgia, where he also owns and operates a bookstore that sells autographed children's books. gas-art.com View titles by R. Gregory Christie

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