Children's Author Educates on African History

In a social climate where the value of black lives in America is often questioned, one author has elected to draw on history to remind today’s youth of their powerful origins.

Barbara Solomon, founder of Adzua Arts and author of the Princess Kamala book series, has for several years dedicated her work to creating animated children’s books that offer enjoyable storylines and share valuable and empowering lessons from pre-colonial Africa. Most importantly, they remind young people of a fact which many are unaware - that they were derived from kings and queens.

“The Africa that I present is not filtered through someone else’s lenses, Solomon said. “Most of what we see is re-filtered and re-lensed in terms of who we aren’t. We need to teach our kids who they are. That is what I have set out to do. Pop culture is not going to do it.”

Currently, the New York native has self-published four books with a fifth on the way. While stories like ‘The Frog Who Could Not Jump’ were inspired by her grandchildren, another, ‘Princess Kamala – The Lost Boy,’ is dedicated to Trayvon Martin. One book was inspired by President Barack Obama. The content is Christian themed and ranges from lessons on anger management and conflict resolution, to leadership, family and relationships. The books are for children ages 5 to 15.

Solomon’s interest in telling stories stems from her past as a dancer and her passion for culture and the arts. To her, dance is a form of visual storytelling which made it easy for her to transfer that creativity to her writing. She was influenced by figures like Alvin Ailey, Kweisi Mfume, Marcus Garvey, Ida B Wells and former Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba. Her favorite writers were Ernest Hemingway and George Martin. These individuals were trailblazers in culture, the arts and intellectual thought. Similarly,Solomon wanted to impact her community the way they did theirs. Therefore, her work to empower boys and girls focuses on assuring them that their possibilities are endless.

“I had a kid come to me once who said he was afraid to study calculus. I told him, listen, you invented calculus, you built the pyramids,” Solomon said. “We are the same people, we are no different. They will tell you Egypt is in the Middle East, but it is smack dab on the African Continent. That is our history.”

Solomon is very active. She is a member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, the NAACP Act-So program for youth and a board member of the African American Cultural Society in Palm Coast, FL. Also, she is a member of the award winning Harlem Honeys and Bears synchronized swim team, the only African American competitive synchronized swim team in the United States.

Moving ahead, Solomon is working to have her books placed in stores across the U.S. in addition to presenting them to schools. Her ultimate goal is to have her books developed into an animated film. To her, it all starts and ends with writing.

“I have to write something for my children, OUR children, so they can understand who they are,” she said. “There is nothing that our people can’t accomplish, but they must know where they came from to know where they are going. This is what I want our children to understand.”

Barbara Solomon’s books are available on Xulonpress.com and Amazon.com.