Ezra Jack Keats crossed social boundaries to become the first American author and illustrator to give minorities a central place in young children's literature. (Photos courtesy of the Ezra Keats Foundation)
Exhibit Salutes Children's Author Who Introduced Minority Characters
In “The Snowy Day” by Ezra Jack Keats, Peter - one of the first minority characters in children's literature - plays in the snow. (All photos courtesy of the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation.)
In "The Snowy Day,” Peter comes home with a snowball and is surprised when it melts.
In “Goggles,” Peter and friends sit on the proverbial New York City stoop.
In his books, Keats shows the real neighborhoods of African-American children in New York.
At a time when most books featured white children in well-groomed neighborhoods, Keats showed a world where graffiti covered the walls in fume-polluted neighborhoods.
As Peter grows up, in “Letter to Amy,” he becomes interested in girls.
“Regards to Man in the Moon," written two years before Keats died, celebrates human imagination and New York City.