Fight for the Right to Read: Samuel Wilbert Tucker and the 1939 Sit-down Strike for Library Reading Equality

Award-winning author Jeff Gottesfeld and #OwnVoices co-writer Michelle Y. Green introduce us to another important historical figure who deserves to be better known.

Along with illustrator Kim Holt, Gottesfeld and Green bring vibrant life to the story of Wilbert Tucker who grew up in the segregated South and became a lawyer who loved to read. In 1939, he organized a sit-down-in-the-library protest to fight for the right to read along with the rest of the public. It took many court cases and years of fighting, but Tucker fought with words and conviction until everyone could sit and read in the public library.

Jeff Gottesfeld writes for page, stage, screen, and television. He's won many awards, including ones from the American Library Association, the Association of Jewish Libraries, and the Writer's Guild. His most recent title The Christmas Mitzvah was named a Sydney Taylor Honor Book. He currently lives in Los Angeles.

Michelle Y. Green is the author of several nonfiction picture books, illuminating important but little-known aspects of history. She lives in Maryland.

Kim Holt is an artist and children's book illustrator. Her passion for art and drawing started at an early age, fueled by her family's love for the arts. She received her BBA in marketing from Howard University and her BFA in animation from the Academy of Art University. Her goal as an artist is to create images that bring back memories and create pictures that make children wish they were inside the scenes. She lives in Maryland with her family.