After receiving the 1958 Newbery award, the book was scheduled to be reprinted due to an expected increase in sales. This award brought the attention of librarian Charlemae Hill Rollins of the Chicago Public Library, who saw the opportunity to change certain descriptions of African American characters in the book; the period in which these changes were proposed was during the fall of legal segregation and Rollins believed the language should reflect this.[4] After communicating with Rollins, Keith accepted one proposed change but rejected the others, claiming that he used similar language to define other white characters[5] and for that reason it was not race-specific. The changes made in the third printing of the book did not touch on the characters' use of language because it was deemed that the author was not pushing his own thoughts into the book but instead attempting to keep them as genuine as possible to the time period.
This content is from Wikipedia. GradeSaver is providing this content as a courtesy until we can offer a professionally written study guide by one of our staff editors. We do not consider this content professional or citable. Please use your discretion when relying on it.
