When UNC Press published Stella Gentry Sharpe's Tobe in 1939, it was hailed as one of the first children's books to offer a dignified portrayal of an African American child and his family. Today, the power of Tobe lies as much in the questions it raises: Whose story gets told? Who gets to tell it? How do stories shape how we see ourselves and each other?
This volume reproduces the original volume's text and images, places the...