Embracing the Past, Empowering Our Future: Reflections on Just Us Books’ 35 Years

by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson
founders, Just Us Books

Thirty-five years ago, we sat at our dinner table contemplating starting our own children’s book publishing company. We had already self-published two books, the AFRO-BETS ABC Book and the AFRO-BETS 123 Book and our success with them in the marketplace prompted a serious discussion. Should we strike out and expand our venture to publish works by other Black book creators?

Wade and Cheryl Hudson present the AFRO-BETS Kids at the
Portsmouth, VA Public Library to an audience that includes their son Stephan in 1987. 

There was clearly a need. There were few books for children and young adults that featured Black characters and that drew from Black history, culture and experiences. And we knew there was a demand. We had had trouble finding for our two children, books that featured characters who looked like them and stories that reflected their experiences and heritage. We knew other Black parents and teachers faced the same difficulty. 

It wasn’t a long discussion. We decided to step out on faith just as our ancestors had done before us.  Just Us Books was born. We chose that name because, simply, it was just the two of us.

The Just Us Books staff poses for a photo in 1992

Much has changed over these 35 years. We entered an industry in the 80s when only a handful of Black book creators were widely recognized such as Virginia Hamilton, Tom Feelings, Mildred Taylor, Walter Dean Myers, Eloise Greenfield, George Ford and James Haskins. Black editors, art directors and marketing professionals were few and far between. There were very few in-person book tours by children’s book authors or illustrators and making a national best-sellers list like the New York Times was a far-off dream. 

Over time, however, we have seen more Black and other book creators of color enter the industry. There has been an uptick in the number of BIPOC people in publishing positions. Black and book creators of color have won major industry awards and the bestseller lists are no longer nearly all white. We would like to think that Just Us Books has played a role in helping to achieve this progress.

Dr. Loretta Long reads her book Courtney's Birthday Party at a school visit

But so many challenges still remain. Books by Black creators are still a small percentage of the total number published every year. There is still a disparity in advances and royalties paid to Black and BIPOC authors and illustrators versus what’s paid to those who are white. Nearly 80 percent of the publishing companies staff are white. Most books by BIPOC authors and illustrators are not marketed as vigorously as those of white authors and illustrators. The myth that books by Black creators don’t sell is still a major barrier.  And most recently, book banning, and the closing of school libraries have added to the list of challenges as efforts to undo the progress that has been made intensify.   

We face these issues as we have done in the past. With resolve. Advocating and agitating for inclusion, diversity and equity ─ and doing the important work of sharing good stories that reflect a full range of experiences that center Black children, children of color and others who are marginalized. That same determination still drives us even as we must prepare to pass the baton to the next generations. We will do so assured that the struggle to create an industry and a world that is more just and equitable will continue.

Just Us Books’ 35 years have been quite a journey. As with any business endeavor, there have been periods of exciting milestones, disappointments, economic challenges, and many peaks and valleys. We have seen far too many other publishing ventures close their doors. Thankfully, as the Langston Hughes declared in his 1957 poem, we’re “Still Here.”

A parent reads the AFRO-BETS A B C Book to their child,
 decades after the title's initial publication

We are so grateful to the many Just Us Books authors, illustrators, publishing industry professionals and dedicated Just Us Books staff members who have partnered with us on this journey. We appreciate all the parents, teachers, administrators, librarians, booksellers, young readers, and other supporters who have been such an important part of this history too. In so many ways, we are all like family. There would be no Just Us Books, and certainly no 35 years, without you.  

Wade and Cheryl Hudson celebrate the publication of
We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices with contributors and 
author and illustrator friends at the Celebrating Our Voices event
held at North Carolina Central University.

And so, we’re still here and we continue, embracing the journey ahead. Creating good books that make a difference in the lives of children everywhere.

Just Us Books founders Cheryl Willis Hudson and Wade Hudson