I SEE COLOR

The love and appreciation of color shines through this vibrant retrospective on activism, courage, and resistance.

As an emphatic corrective to the oft-repeated but misguided phrase “I don’t see color,” luminous digital illustrations offer an unabashed education in race, culture, and the history of hard-fought social justice wins. An omniscient narrator sees a full palette, from the “smoky quartz” of Elizabeth and Roy Peratrovich, Tlingit activists whose advocacy led to the United States’ first anti-discrimination laws, to the “golden embers” of Native Hawaiian protesters such as Haunani-Kay Trask, who pushed for the U.S. government to acknowledge its role in overthrowing the Kingdom of Hawaii. Using color as a framework that goes beyond skin and race, this picture book celebrates well-known people and their accomplishments, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches or the labor activism of Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez. The book also illuminates often-overlooked figures, such as Fred Korematsu, who brought a Supreme Court case against the U.S. government in 1944 over the incarceration of Japanese Americans; Madonna Thunder Hawk, who fought tirelessly against the Dakota Access Pipeline; and Ayọ Tometi, Alicia Garza, and Patrisse Cullors, who founded the Black Lives Matter movement. Each color that’s emphasized, from “powdered oak” to “gleaming stardust,” not only paints a rich portrait but also provides texture to a cause or cultural context. Backmatter includes authors’ notes and brief bios of the illustrious figures included throughout to guide further research.

A powerful argument for seeing and celebrating color.