Departments : A Poetry Workshop in Print :
Carole Boston Weatherford
By Lee Bennett Hopkins
This poet has made it her mission to connect readers with incredible stories from the past
Carole Boston Weatherford uses the poetic device of free verse in her recent books Dear Mr. Rosenwald and Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom.
Carole Boston Weatherford was born on February l3, 1936, in Boston, MA. Because of her parents' encouragement, she always knew she would become an author.
"I dictated my first poem to my mother when I was in the first grade. My father printed verses I made up on index cards," she said.
Mining the past
Since she began her career as a writer in the mid-l990s, Carole has become a pioneer in bringing the past to today's readers with an informative, yet poetic voice. "My mission as an author is to mine the past for family stories, fading traditions and the forgotten struggles," she stated. Her mission is brilliantly achieved in two recent books, Dear Mr.Rosenwald (Scholastic, 2006) and Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom (Jump at the Sun, 2006), both written in exquisite free verse.
Dear Mr. Rosenwald is based on the true story of the Rosenwald schools built in the l920s. Inspired by Booker T. Washington, Julius Rosenwald, the son of an immigrant and president of Sears Roebuck & Company, donated millions of dollars to build schools for African Americans in the rural South.
Carole's passion for Harriet Tubman stems from her childhood years and her own roots in Dorchester County, MD, where Tubman was born a slave and from where she eventually fled.
Making music of language
"Poetry is everything," she said, "from playground rhymes to John Milton's Paradise Lost. Poetry spares words, works wonders with language in terms of syntax, sounds, sense and sentiment. Poetry makes music of language; it sings – sings to the soul!"
Carole lives in High Point, NC, with her husband, Ronald, a United Methodist Minister and has two children, Caresse and Jeffrey. She enjoys going on school visits and conducting teacher workshops where she weaves poetry, history and chants into her interactive performances.
Be sure to visit her website at www.caroleweatherford.com for more information on her life and work.
Lee Bennett Hopkins is a distinguished poet and anthologist. A recent collection is Behind the Museum Door: Poems to Celebrate the Wonders of Museums (Abrams, 2007).
February, 2007, Vol.37, No.5
