WHITE WHYS by Brown, Carol - 1969

n.p.: n.p., 1969. Very good plus. Unique collaged artist's book likely created by a white teacher of Black children, in which the artist grapples with the limits of her own whiteness during the civil rights era. This handmade book by a white teacher ruminates about her relationship to and responsibility for her Black students through art, scrapbooking, and quotations of Black authors. Apparently created by one Carol Brown (her original color frontispiece photo of a small group of Black children is credited on the colophon), this in many ways is an attempt to "see the water" of whiteness: "He said it just in passing that we whites can consider the racial problem once, twice, and then put it down for a while but for blacks it is their life [...] they can't put it down and ignore it." And while there is some overly simplistic and utopian thinking ("people are people"), the book's punning title seems to recognize and acknowledge the collective implication and responsibility of white people to wrestle not just with personal but systemic racism. A remarkably frank engagement with race at the height of the Sixties. 10'' x 7''. Original boards with contemporary newspaper covering and collage titles, stab-sewn. Hand-illustrated in color, black-and-white, and collage throughout. [16] double leaves of hand-made paper, illustrated one side only; folded at fore-edge. Boards with some edgewear, front board mildly sunned; newspaper covering cracked at fore-edge of front board, sound at spine. Loss at lower portion of final leaf. Sound, with vibrant colors.