January 07, 2020

SLATE

In the most recent edition of Slate’s Political Gabfest, Emily Bazelon recommended AWTT posters as great inspirational gifts for kids. 

“So one of the super excellent presents my children received, luckily over this holiday was my sister Dana sent my son Simon a couple of small posters from an organization called Americans Who Tell the Truth. The person behind it is named Robert Shetterly. And it’s these really beautiful illustrations. I think they’re paintings of different figures in American life. It’s like a very eclectic collection. Everyone from like Frances Perkins to John Brown to people who are alive and well and with us today. I like Bryan Stevenson. And they come with quotes that I think Robert [Shetterly]  has picked out that are on the pictures. And it they’re really beautiful. I imagine that they’re designed kind of for classrooms. But my kid really liked the ones he received. And if you’re just looking for art for a kid’s room or a present for a kid who’s interested in American history and curious about not famous people. Simon wanted one of Claudette Colvin. So anyway, we we really love these posters, these small posters. And the organization, again, is called Americans Who Tell the Truth. If you’re looking for a gift, I love these.”

Thanks, Emily. We do use the posters as compelling visuals for classroom lessons – and encourage teachers to do the same. But we like the idea of using as posters in kids’ rooms. If youngsters can draw inspiration from Americans who tell the truth,  there may still be hope for this country and the planet. 

Disclaimer: AWTT came up in the cocktail chatter segment of the podcast. The real story is about John Lewis, who inspired the title of this edition of Political Gabfest: “Good Trouble.” 

“The title I gave this episode [was] the Good Trouble episode, because it’s a phrase that I think is Lewis’s phrase. I know it’s [Lewis”s] faith. It’s a great phrase…. I saw it all over the writing about him and I just want to pay tribute to it. Lewis describes himself or maybe he has been described as getting in good trouble. So he’s a man who was arrested 40 times, 40 times in the late 50s and early 60s. And good trouble, as I understand it, is this idea that…you’re going to mess with the system. You’re going to get you do something that is going to cause you pain. I mean, literally physical pain. In Lewis’s case, he was attacked a number of times. He was beaten badly a number of times and be arrested and charged with crimes and be somebody who is in trouble. But you’re doing it in a way which is obviously noble and right and good. And I…love that concept of good trouble. And it’s really admirable. And I I wish it on more people that they find ways to get in good trouble.”

Co-hosts of the podcast:
Emily Bazelon, Yale Law School, New York Times Magazine (her new book: Charged: The Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration ); David Plotz, CEO of Atlas Obscura; Josie Duffy Rice, President of The Appeal

Listen to full “Good Trouble” edition here