In a 1957 speech delivered in Montgomery, Alabama, Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is ‘What are you doing for others?’” Memphis-born storyteller Alice Faye Duncan has made it her life’s mission to carry out King’s words through her transcendent work as a children’s author, educator, and librarian. In a time of rising book bans and systematic attempts to rid public schools of already sparse Black histories, Duncan knows her work is more important than ever.
Part of this work involves sharing the deeply rooted yet undertold history of African American spirituals and folk music, as she does in her recent picture books This Train Is Bound for Glory and I Gotta Sing! The spirit of song and dance conjures joy even in the most unthinkable conditions, and liberation movements are often accompanied by music as a form of resistance.
“Spirituals served the enslaved as a source of hope in the middle of their hardships. No gathering of voices could sing these songs without receiving a boon of faith to the soul,” Duncan says.
“As 2025 approaches and Americans endure flat wages, rising prices, and the vilification of writers and books,” she says, “we all need a soundtrack of hope.” Her hopeful playlist includes gospel music from Walter Hawkins, Memphis community choir, and O’landa Draper’s Associates, as well as King’s favorite vocalist, Mahalia Jackson.
Duncan’s personal favorites among contemporary artists who reflect King’s legacy include Dianne Reeves, Gregory Porter, and Cassandra Wilson. Her “singular anthem for 2025,” she says, “is ‘Rain Down on Me.’ This foot-stomping praise song is a collaboration from Memphis homegirl, Gloria Hallelujah Woods (GloRilla) and gospel superstar Kirk Franklin.”
“For the marginalized and underestimated, GloRilla sings, ‘I just want us all to win, I just want us all to prosper.’ I am praying that these are not unreasonable requests for 2025,” Duncan says.
In the decade after King’s 1968 assassination, Duncan’s teachers spoke frequently about his influence and inspiration. Her mother recited anecdotes about King and how he marched in Memphis with their local pastor, Henry Logan Starks.
“I was so fascinated with these stories that as a child, I made Dr. King one of my many imaginary friends. For me, the leader seemed immortal and mighty like the Roman gods,” Duncan says.
Today, Duncan enjoys writing history books for young learners where she explores the lives of King and other influential African Americans, while also shining a light on spiritual and folk music that nurtures joy, hope, and love.
“If we are going to nurture poets and prized artists for the future, children need countless opportunities to make art in unrestricted environments,” she says. That’s why all of her music-themed picture books provide little ones with templates to create lyrics that express their hopes, dreams, and wide range of feelings, challenging children to hone their writing talents for a new generation.
If young readers aren’t aware of the connection between creating music and activism, Duncan encourages them to listen to Mary Lou Williams’ Black Christ of the Andes, Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite, and Fannie Lou Hamer’s Songs My Mother Taught Me. These disparate jazz and folk sounds demonstrate that music can be forceful and demand justice even as it serves a salve for the soul.
“I also vote that parents require every child in the home to learn at least one musical instrument because playing music gives children a tool that communicates across cultures. Music can also bridge peace, understanding, and connection where there is division. … It remains the universal language,” she says.
As we remember the life of Martin Luther King Jr., Duncan feels we should also remember his steadfast love, Coretta Scott King. Before her husband was killed, Coretta Scott King was a concert soloist singing spirituals to raise money for the Civil Rights Movement. After the assassination, she abandoned her songbooks, putting on a prophetic mantle of grace to preach his message of nonviolent social change. Duncan tells Coretta Scott King’s story in her 2023 book Coretta’s Journey.
“Because of Coretta’s efforts to honor his sacrifice with a holiday, the shining Black leader stands larger than life in America’s collective imagination,” says Duncan. “Even now, as it was for me back in 1974, Dr. King remains a thunderous voice and vision of courage in the dreams of young children. Coretta Scott King was the great architect who built a memorial for Martin in our hearts. Don’t forget that. Say her name.”
This Train Is Bound for Glory
By Alice Faye Duncan
Waterbrook Press
40 pages
$14.99I Gotta Sing!
By Alice Faye Duncan
Waterbrook Press
40 pages
$14.99
Tonya Abari is a Nashville-based independent journalist, author, essayist, book reviewer, and homeschooling parent. Her words have been published in Nashville Scene, Essence, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Parents, Good Housekeeping, PBS Kids, and many more. You can find her hanging out on Instagram @iamtabari.
Tagged: Children & YA, Features, Nonfiction
