NEWPORT, R.I. -- In honor of our friend Pete Seeger, who passed on January 27th, 2014, and also in honor of Black History Month, New Street Communications LLC will make the Kindle edition of Black and White available free from Saturday, February 8th through Wednesday, February 12th.
Lyricist, graphic artist and teacher David Arkin (1906-1980) created the children's book Black and White in 1966. Arkin based his beautifully-illustrated volume on the popular song of the same name crafted a decade before by he and composer Earl Robinson (1910-1991).
The song was meant to celebrate the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case of Brown vs. Board of Education striking down segregation in public schools. Recorded by Pete Seeger in 1956 and Sammy Davis Jr. in 1957, "Black and White" was much later, in 1971, a Number 6 hit for the Reggae group Greyhound in the United Kingdom and (1972) a Number 1 hit for the band Three Dog Night in the United States.
Three years ago, New Street Communications LLC, in partnership with David Arkin's heirs (Bonnie Cordova, Robert Arkin and actor Alan Arkin), reissued Black and White with a new introduction by David's longtime friend Pete Seeger.
"[This] song was written over half a century ago by two friends of mine after they read in the newspaper some wonderful news," Seeger writes in his Introduction. "The nine old judges of the United States Supreme Court had voted on whether it was legal or not to keep kids with dark skin from going to school with kids who had light skin. They voted it was not legal."
Arkin's inspiring book serves as a wonderful aid for educating young children on the basics of the history of the Civil Rights movement.
All royalties and publisher's profits from the sale of the book go to support community-based educational efforts in the Third World.
The free download of the Kindle edition may be accessed here:
http://www.amazon.com/Black-White-Freedom-Together-Enhanc...
There is also a nice promotional video created three years ago, featuring Pete Seeger's original 1956 recording:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgPzlp-T9Ig
Contact
Monica Wister
