The People Could Fly

The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales
Author	Virginia Hamilton
Illustrator	Leo and Diane Dillon
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	Children's literature, Slavery in the United States, Folklore
Published	1985
Publisher	Knopf, Distributed by Random House
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages	178
ISBN	9780394869254
OCLC	975841967

The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales is a 1985 collection of twenty-four folktales retold by Virginia Hamilton and illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. They encompass animal tales (including tricksters), fairy tales, supernatural tales, and tales of the enslaved Africans (including slave narratives).

Publication history[edit]

1985, Knopf, ISBN 9780394869254, hardback^[1]
1987, Knopf, ISBN 9780375804717, audiobook on CD, 12 tales read by James Earl Jones, 1 disc and book^[2]
2005, Audio Bookshelf, ISBN 9780974171180, audiobook on CD, read by Andrew L. Barnes, 4 discs and book^[3]

Reception[edit]

A review by the School Library Journal stated, "The well-known author here retells 24 black American folk tales in sure storytelling voice. ... All are beautifully readable," and concluded: "With the added attraction of 40 bordered full- and half-page illustrations by the Dillons wonderfully expressive paintings reproduced in black and white this collection should be snapped up."^[4]

The New York Times review by Ishmael Reed called The People Could Fly "extraordinary and wonderful", commended Hamilton for writing "these tales in the Black English of the slave storytellers" and found it "Handsomely illustrated".^[5]

The People Could Fly has also been reviewed by Publishers Weekly,^[6] Booklist,^[7] Common Sense Media,^[8]

It has been used in study.^[9]^[10]^[11]

The book inspired the title of the 2021 Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition, Before Yesterday We Could Fly.^[12]

Awards[edit]

The People Could Fly has received a number of awards, including:

1985 – Horn Book Fanfare Book^[13]
1985 – New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books book^[14]
1986 – Coretta Scott King Award author winner^[15]
1986 – Coretta Scott King Award illustrator honor^[15]
1988 – William Allen White Children's Book Award nominee^[16]

References[edit]

^ The people could fly : American black folktales. Knopf. 1985. OCLC 11397814. Retrieved April 26, 2017 – via worldcat.org.
^ The people could fly : American black folktales. Knopf. 1987. OCLC 45259441. Retrieved April 26, 2017 – via worldcat.org.
^ The people could fly : American black folktales. Audio Bookshelf. 2005. OCLC 768832953. Retrieved April 26, 2017 – via worldcat.org.
^ "People Could Fly, The [downloadable audiobook] American Black Folktales: Reviews". catalog.wccls.org. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
^ Ishmael Reed (November 10, 1985). "Sunday Book Review: Children's Books - Allegories With Alligators". The New York Times. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
^ "The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales". Publishers Weekly. January 4, 1993. Retrieved April 25, 2017. This widely lauded anthology boasts stunning black-and-white artwork and stirringly told stories
^ "The people could fly : American Black folktales / told by Virginia Hamilton; illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon". avrl.catalogue.library.ns.ca. 1985. Retrieved April 25, 2017. A representative collection of 24 black folktales, dramatically retold with spirit and poetry and illustrated by the Dillons with vigor and beauty.
^ Mary Dixon Weidler. "The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales". www.commonsensemedia.org. Common Sense Media Inc. Retrieved April 25, 2017. Virginia Hamilton aptly captures the longing and the loss, the hope and the hurt, that carried these stories (often passed on orally) through the generations. The black-and-white drawings that illustrate some selections are rendered in a unique style.
^ "Summer Workshop 2005 - Sourcebook of Readings: IV. Folklore". 2.ku.edu. University of Kansas. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
^ Joyce Patton (February 8, 1993). "African-American Folktales and their Use in an Integrated Curriculum". Curricular Resources. II. Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
^ "Narrative Writing". uen.org. Utah Education Network. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
^ "Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
^ "Horn Book Fanfare: Best Books of 1985 - Folklore". The Horn Book. Media Source. December 5, 1985. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
^ "Children's Books; The Year's Best Illustrated Books". The New York Times. November 10, 1985. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
^ ^a ^b "Coretta Scott King Book Awards - All Recipients, 1970–Present". ala.org. American Library Association. 5 April 2012. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
^ "William Allen White Children's Book Awards: 1987–1988 Master List". emporia.edu. Emporia State University. Retrieved April 26, 2017.

[1] The people could fly : American black folktales. Knopf. 1985. OCLC 11397814. Retrieved April 26, 2017 – via worldcat.org.

[2] The people could fly : American black folktales. Knopf. 1987. OCLC 45259441. Retrieved April 26, 2017 – via worldcat.org.

[3] The people could fly : American black folktales. Audio Bookshelf. 2005. OCLC 768832953. Retrieved April 26, 2017 – via worldcat.org.

[4] "People Could Fly, The [downloadable audiobook] American Black Folktales: Reviews". catalog.wccls.org. Retrieved April 25, 2017.

[5] Ishmael Reed (November 10, 1985). "Sunday Book Review: Children's Books - Allegories With Alligators". The New York Times. Retrieved April 25, 2017.

[6] "The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales". Publishers Weekly. January 4, 1993. Retrieved April 25, 2017. This widely lauded anthology boasts stunning black-and-white artwork and stirringly told stories

[7] "The people could fly : American Black folktales / told by Virginia Hamilton; illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon". avrl.catalogue.library.ns.ca. 1985. Retrieved April 25, 2017. A representative collection of 24 black folktales, dramatically retold with spirit and poetry and illustrated by the Dillons with vigor and beauty.

[8] Mary Dixon Weidler. "The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales". www.commonsensemedia.org. Common Sense Media Inc. Retrieved April 25, 2017. Virginia Hamilton aptly captures the longing and the loss, the hope and the hurt, that carried these stories (often passed on orally) through the generations. The black-and-white drawings that illustrate some selections are rendered in a unique style.

[9] "Summer Workshop 2005 - Sourcebook of Readings: IV. Folklore". 2.ku.edu. University of Kansas. Retrieved April 25, 2017.

[10] Joyce Patton (February 8, 1993). "African-American Folktales and their Use in an Integrated Curriculum". Curricular Resources. II. Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. Retrieved April 25, 2017.

[11] "Narrative Writing". uen.org. Utah Education Network. Retrieved April 25, 2017.

[12] "Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2022-02-02.

[13] "Horn Book Fanfare: Best Books of 1985 - Folklore". The Horn Book. Media Source. December 5, 1985. Retrieved April 25, 2017.

[14] "Children's Books; The Year's Best Illustrated Books". The New York Times. November 10, 1985. Retrieved April 25, 2017.

[Coretta-15] "Coretta Scott King Book Awards - All Recipients, 1970–Present". ala.org. American Library Association. 5 April 2012. Retrieved April 25, 2017.

[16] "William Allen White Children's Book Awards: 1987–1988 Master List". emporia.edu. Emporia State University. Retrieved April 26, 2017.

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v t e Works by Virginia Hamilton
Novels	The House of Dies Drear (1968) The Planet of Junior Brown (1971) M. C. Higgins, the Great (1974) Arilla Sun Down (1976) Justice and Her Brothers (1978) Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush (1982)
Folktale collections	The People Could Fly (1985) Her Stories (1995)
Picture books	Drylongso (1992) Bruh Rabbit and the Tar Baby Girl (2003) Wee Winnie Witch's Skinny (2004) The People Could Fly: The Picture Book (2004)
Adaptations	The Planet of Junior Brown (1997)