Boundless enthusiasm. This is what comes across most clearly in the photos that make up Too Fly Not to Fly, a book published last year that invites children ages three to seven to think critically about issues such as health and colorism, using words connected to letters of the alphabet—D is for dream, H is for history, Y is for youth. The book also contains a collection of bright, playful, and ultimately thoughtful photos—some staged, some spontaneous—that celebrate Chicago and its youngest occupants.
Writer Briana McLean, coauthor of Too Fly Not to Fly, says she and photographer and fellow author Desmond Owusu used this approach because children spend a large portion of their early years learning the alphabet. “In addition to having meaningful and culturally relevant discussions with students, we also wanted to introduce new vocabulary to them,” McLean says, citing the influential 1972 linguistics book Black English as one of the inspirations for Too Fly.
McLean, who’s from Denver, and Owusu, who’s from Chicago’s Burnside neighborhood, met in 2011 when they taught at Trinity United Child Care in Beverly and Betty Shabazz Academy in Chatham, respectively. She calls working with Owusu “a dream.”
“He really dedicates himself to creating positive energy in Chicago,” she says, “and everything he does is a reflection of that.”
By July 2015 the pair had begun taking groups of their students on day trips throughout the city. While many of the photos were shot in the students’ surrounding neighborhoods—Bronzeville, the South Loop, and Marquette Park—McLean and Owusu also made a point of giving them experiences they weren’t as familiar with, like taking the Chicago Water Taxi from Chinatown to the LaSalle stop in River North.
Photo book Too Fly Not to Fly celebrates #blackgirlmagic and #blackboyjoy
Owusu: “This was right after we got the shot for M is for magic. Heading back to the car, Cedrick decides to stand atop of one of those stone sitting rings in this Superman hero-like pose. We knew we had to capture it, and I think Cedrick knew it was the photo. And yup, this unplanned, spontaneous picture is the cover of our book. Big shout-out to Cedrick. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him as a creative director of a company when he gets older.”
McLean: “I taught A’Kasha in kindergarten. She was one of the most bright and inquisitive students. Over time, though, I saw that she was treated differently because she was darker skinned. I wanted to make space for darker-skinned kids to see themselves as nuanced . . . to show joy but also that struggle in creating relationships, friendships, and loving yourself.”
Owusu: “It was apparent to me that Kentrell and Kaylen were really good buddies. When good buddies link up, they have a great time. Good buddies also tend to compete with each other. Once I told Kentrell and Kaylen that I needed both of them to soar high in the sky, they looked at each other and said, ‘Oh, I’m gonna jump higher than you, watch!’ And there you have it, two black boys flying high in the sky.”
McLean: “Food deserts is something we wanted to tackle with students. We wanted to capture the resiliency of black children against the backdrop of systemic oppression, in the form of a Food & Liquor. We chose this image for O is for obstacle, to allow students a space to unpack what elements of their world create obstacles for them but may not exist for children who live 12 miles north of them in the same city.”
Owusu: “I’ve lived in Chicago all of my life. It wasn’t until my first year of grad school that I discovered that Chicago had a water taxi! I never want any child in Chicago to not be able to experience the beauty of the city. My hope is that she looked in amazement but also with an assurance that the world is bigger than what she thought and if she wants, she can shake up this world and make it a better place.”
McLean: “Ellis has been charismatic since he was three years old in my pre-K classroom, so I knew he was going to be able to show that admiration of a younger brother, nephew, or son inspired by an older family member.”
McLean: “Before this picture we had a discussion around representation in their favorite cartoons and TV shows. I asked one student how it felt when he didn’t see people that looked like him on his favorite programs, to which he responded, ‘It feels like I don’t belong.’ ”
Owusu: “Some people in the city may not look at Lake Michigan and call it a wonder of the world, but I like to think it’s a wonder in our city. When we came up with this scene, our goal was for the girls to, one, realize the beauty within our city and, two, realize the beauty and magic in friendship and sisterhood. I was really impressed by how fearless each of the girls were to go by the water.”
“It’s really special to have developed such a strong bond with students that their families trust you enough to let their children be a part of a project that you and your friend have always wanted to create,” McLean says of the trips. McLean and Owusu’s ultimate goal is to build black children’s self-esteem by creating materials where the kids can really see themselves and their peers.
McLean says this became especially important when she began to see students doubt their self-worth as “a result of the negative depictions of blackness that the world was continually showing them.” This self-doubt manifested itself as inattentiveness and even bullying. She cites James Baldwin as another guiding force for the book, paraphrasing him at length: ” ‘In order to survive you have to really dig down deep into yourself and recreate yourself according to no image that yet exists in America. You have to decide who you are and force the world to deal with you and not this idea of you.’ It was watching four-, five-, and six-year-old children grapple with the fact that the world still has yet to know and accurately represent who they are,” she says.
The pair have ambitious plans for their project. In May they’ll participate in the fifth annual African American Children’s Book Fair in Baltimore. They also developed a partnership with the African American Male Achievement Program in Oakland, California, to create a book specific to children in that community. And they’ve collaborated with Chicago-based musician Teddy Jackson, who wrote the song “The Flyest Singalong” after reading Too Fly, producing a soon-to-be-released music video to accompany it. McLean emphasized that proceeds from sales of the book will go toward promoting it to schools and publishing more copies. “We’re not living off the book by any means,” she says.
There’s even talk of taking part in one of the biggest and oldest traditions in Chicago: “We’re also hoping to get our own Too Fly Not to Fly float in this year’s Bud Billiken parade,” says McLean. Owusu, meanwhile, hopes the book will be a call to action for each child who picks it up. “This started out as an idea. I want children to know ideas and words can really change the world.” —DANIELLE A. SCRUGGS
