Review: "Sí, Se Puede" by Julio Anta and Yasmin Florez Montanez

 

Sí, Se Puede by Julio Anta, illustrated by Yasmin Florez Montanez
Published October 2023 via Ten Speed Press
★★★

Earlier this year, I read Good Girls Don't Make History, a graphic history of the women's suffrage movement, so a look at another underrepresented part of American history seemed like a natural next step. Sí, Se Puede highlights the contributions of Latinos (the book briefly discusses the use of words like Latine and Latinx but defaults to Latino) in the US, ranging from soldiers in the Civil War to scientists to actors and singers. Some of the names you're sure to recognize, but others—unless you are particularly well versed in Latino-US history—will likely be new to you.

I'm particularly interested in the discussion of Sylvia Mendez, who was at the centre of a court case about segregation that predated Brown v. Board of Education by a decade but did not (to the best of my admittedly patchy memory) make it into my history textbooks. It feels particularly illustrative of how limited the view of history is in textbooks—the story in US textbooks is so often told from a white perspective, and with only a limited nod to minority experiences. I can imagine this book being a valuable classroom resource.

The book is structured as a walk through an immersive museum exhibit. From a storytelling perspective, I would have liked to get to know the museum visitors (and guide) we follow—they're introduced at the beginning, but beyond that introduction we only get the barest of glimpses of the life of the oldest woman, Yolanda, and a suggestion that a man in his 40s hasn't heard of feminism (...slightly concerning). The illustrations get their point across but are rather flat, and this is probably best read for history rather than a particular interest in graphic novels. (It is worth noting that I read an ARC six months before the publication date, so it is possible that the illustrations are not final.) There's some good food for thought, though, in discussions of how language, and the language used to convey identity, has changed, of the "myth of the monolith," and more.

Thanks to the authors and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.