Book Release: History Between These Folds

“I’ve read the essays in this book at least ten times each, not because I have to, but because I don’t think there is another book like it in the world. The really terrifying thing is that I need this book even more now than I needed it as an 11th grader.
If every American book published in 2017 were written to the eleventh graders at Carver High school in New Orleans, the world would be less violent. If every American book published in 2017 were written by eleventh graders in New Orleans, the world would be more loving.”
-NOVELIST AND ESSAYIST KIESE LAYMON

“Through this journey we learned we all have different voices, but we came together for one goal: to let people hear our stories and to tell the world about us.”
-FROM THE INTRODUCTION BY THE STUDENT EDITORIAL BOARD

History Between These Folds is a collection of essays written by 11th graders at George Washington Carver High School. The narratives take many forms to chronicle family, neighborhood, identity, and New Orleans, and reconfigure how we think about ourselves in relationship to broader sweeps of history.

To read an essay from the book, click here.