Bronx Masquerade-History of the 21st Century

      After reading a few chapters of “Stamped” by Jason Reynolds, I could not help but think about how this should be the way our history books are written. I thought to myself, “what’s the problem with learning about history in an assertive and energetic way?” If Reynolds’ writing style was in my history books growing up, I would have paid more attention to history. I loved the idea of history and I even thought about majoring in it for a few weeks. But sitting in the library reading page after page of the same monochromatic tone that’s been in every history textbook proved to be underwhelming. I decided not to study history and instead became interested in the English major because I had always loved English. But, before making a final decision I thought it was best to try taking an upper-level English course to see how I liked it. In my first upper level English class, U.S. and Caribbean Literature, I quickly learned that there was so much history involved in literature but it was told in an interesting and most of the time fictional way. One major takeaway from this class with Dr. Park was that literature can be used to rewrite history that has been untrue or hidden from textbooks overtime. Reynolds does this in his chapters of “Stamped” as he mentions facts about the early scraps of racism. It is not common knowledge that the Puritans had a climate theory and a curse theory that justified racism and enslavement. I had also never heard of Gomes Eanes de Zurara, the World’s First Racist who made “the first defense of African slave trading” (Reynolds 4). Reynolds is rewriting history and reaching an audience that not only wants to listen but also in a way has to listen because of his zestful tone on the subject of racism. I know there are aspects of just these few chapters that I will remember forever just because of his tone.  

    Nikki Grimes finds her own way to rewrite history in Bronx Masquerade. She shares the insights of teenagers in the twenty-first century. While writing history about teenagers in the twenty-first century, she emphasizes how learning about more than one student’s background can be powerful. She also explains how much art and intelligence can come from diverse backgrounds. Grimes writes about eighteen characters trying to show her audience that in real life, everyone around you has a story and preconceived stereotypes about people can be harmful. Each student in the novel rewrites their own history and background. In the last third of the novel, we meet Porscha Johnson, a student who let people pick on her for months but after a while she had had enough. The kids started calling her “crazy” because she had beat someone named Charmayne (Grimes 158). But, no one knew the truth about Porscha and how she feels about this. She knows she could never beat anybody again but admits that more than once her mom “came close enough to killing” her (Grimes 158). Porscha decided to read a poem on one of the last Open Mike Friday because she realized that “it was about what’s going on in the world, and about trying to make sense of it” (Grimes 160). Porsche had a lot of history about herself “to make sense of” (Grimes 160). She told her story in the form of a letter to her mom which I believe encapsulates a huge theme in this book. The truth about oneself is hard to tell and will sometimes be hidden, but this does not make it any less valuable. When the truth is shared with others, they are able to see this value and why it is important in a person’s history. Porsche rewrote her history to share with everyone and she owned her narrative. It was never not true, just hidden from the outsiders view. English courses have a way of telling history, but it is always in a unique and astonishing way that keeps you craving more.