Publication Date
3-2024
Abstract
This study analyzed how people with disabilities are portrayed in picture books with the Coretta Scott King Award (CSKA) to address the intersectionality of African/African American racial identity and disabilities. Disability critical race theory was foundational for this study. The pool of 134 picture books that received the CSKA from 1971 to 2020 was used as the data for the systematic content analysis. For analysis, the researchers utilized a qualitative approach that guided axial coding and selective coding in looking for emerging themes. They found that 13 picture books portrayed African/African American characters with disabilities. The majority of these books did not necessarily emphasize the disabilities of these characters. When focusing on other dimensions of identity such as gender, age, disability type, and so on, the researchers found underrepresentation, invisibility, and marginalization issues, which led them to discussions of power relations. This study calls for future studies that can discover more portrayals of African/African American people with disabilities and that can deepen scholarly discussions about their representation in children’s literature.
Recommended Citation
Meacham, S., Meacham, S. J., Walker, I., & Davis, B. (2024). Disability Representations and Portrayals in Picture Books With the Coretta Scott King Award. Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts, 63 (1). Retrieved from https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/reading_horizons/vol63/iss1/2
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