Historical Fiction

Historical Fiction

Bessie Smith and the Night Riders

By: Sue Stauffacher

Illustrated by: John Holyfield

Grade: 2-4

Have you ever wondered about any real stories about the KKK?  Would it interest you to hear about somebody standing up for themselves?  Then you should read “Bessie Smith and the Night Riders” a historical fiction book about a young girl and her idol, Bessie Smith taking on the Night Riders, or Ku Klux Klan, and sticking up for what she believes in.

In this book, Emmarene Johnson, a young, black girl living in the south has her dreams come true when her idol, blues singer Bessie Smith comes to town for a concert.  Even though she knows she is too young to go to the concert, Emmarene sneaks away and tries to go watch.  While sitting outside of the concert, which is located in a giant tent, Emmarene notices that the night riders are coming, on horses with torches.  She quickly runs into the concert and screams telling Bessie that they have come to ruin the concert.  Bessie, who was not backing down from a challenge, goes outside and starts yelling and singing at the night riders.  She does this so loud that the horses get spooked and they start running away.  Emmarene was in shock and awe, she knew from there on she would NOT put up with any discrimination, she says “I decided that if Bessie Smith wasn’t gonna take no mess, then neither was Emmarene Johnson.”

This book is a very good form of historical fiction.  In the back of the book there is a section in which it tells about the true story of how the night riders tried to break up a concert of Bessie Smith’s in July 1927.  The part that makes this fiction was Emmarene, who was not an actual person at that time and place.  This is a good change, though because it would allow students to relate to the main character.  It would really help students understand how they would feel if they were in this situation.  This book really made me think about taking a stand for something you believe in.  If everyone stood up for themselves like Bessie did, then maybe racism at that time would have not been as big of a deal as it was, black people could have possibly had more rights.  This book is historically accurate, as it is placed in a correct time and place that this story would occur.  You really get to know the characters and their personalities, and they are appropriate to the excellent story line.

I would definitely put this book into my classroom library.  It is historical, and puts a serious story into a way that students can read and understand.  The fact that the main character is a young girl, students would be able to relate to her.  I also really liked how they real story of what happened is in the back of the book, so that students could read it and see that it really, truly happened.  If they wanted to they could also research more about the KKK or Bessie Smith, too.

RI: 3.2: Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.

RL: 4.2: Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.

RL: 4.3: Describe in depth a character, setting or event in a story.