Leon's Story

Title: Leon’s Story

Author: Leon Walter Tillage

Illustrator: Susan L. Roth
Required Reading

In the hundred or so pages contained in Leon’s Story, I learned more about discrimination and the black south than I have ever learned in any history class, and let me tell you, it certainly wasn’t an easy thing to read about. I will admit that in the beginning of the story I had the idea in my head that what I was reading is nothing new to me – I had heard it all before. It is easy to read about racial hate crimes and segregation when the reality of the situation seems so far away. However, by the middle of the book my attitude towards the text changed dramatically. After reading about all of the horrendous things Leon personally witnesses, what happens to him and his family, and the life blacks were forced to live on a day to day basis, I found myself literally sick with hatred for my own people and guilt for what had taken place. I thought to myself, this is a piece of history that hits too close to home, that wasn’t all that long ago, and that still has serious relevance in today’s society. It was a scary realization.

That being said, I think there is a great deal to learn from reading Leon’s story. It is a story that is filled with sorrow, but it is a story that evokes raw emotion that simply can’t be duplicated in a history textbook. The first person accounts in this story are what truly makes the story. The personal connections the reader makes to Leon and his family only make what happens to them more horrifying. I’m unsure of what grade I would use this book in. On the one hand, I feel as if it is much too graphic for young students, even older students. I myself had a difficult time getting through parts of it. On the other hand, the reality of the situation put forth is this story is something that can’t be easily duplicated, thus it seems it would be an important component of a Social Studies unit about slavery. I would feel most comfortable using the text 7^th grade and older because of these considerations.