Kiera O’ Shea Vargas: The Importance of Seeing Yourself in Books and in Literature

by Kiera O’Shea Vargas

As an educator, lawyer, mother, and mentor Kiera Vargas, JD, MLIS, MS realizes that one of the key components to life is love. She uses this simple component as the main value of her Professional Development company, ePIFhany, where she conducts professional training for educators and administrators. She sheds light on racial issues in the school house, building relationships with students of color, literacy solutions for students of color, and addressing hidden, yet obtrusive educational philosophies in school systems across America. She writes and also gives presentations on the school-to-prison pipeline.

Kiera is currently teaching in the Language, Literacy, and Philosophy Department at Tennessee State University.

Email her at Ki@thisthingcalledlifebyki.com. Find out more about professional development opportunities with Kiera and her work at the end of this article.

I recall the first time I read Native Son by Richard Wright. I was in awe. I was in awe because I noticed how the background of the protagonist Bigger related to my life.  He was that Black male in my classroom. He was that Black male that was my cousin or even neighbor. He was that Black male that I saw almost daily where I grew up.   At this point, I was in college and I could not understand why I had never read this book in primary or high school. I mean, we read about Romeo and Juliet. We read about Siddhartha and we even read about those animals on that farm; but what about the pieces that embraced people that looked and sounded and behaved like me?

Why was I never a protagonist in a book - a Black girl who desired to be a dentist?  Why were there never mentions of a Black girl named Kiera or even Kenya in any pieces of literature that we read? 

Ann M. Martin’s Babysitter Club books were my favorite set of books at an early age, but the series made young girls that look like me feel inadequate.  A classmate and I would talk on the phone after we finished a book and the stories made us wish for their lives. It seemed as if our life or stories did not matter.  It made me push throughout school to be part of the mainstream because not one book until I read The Coldest Winter ever made me truly see myself, my friends, my community.  It definitely hurt not seeing those that look like me in text and I realized later, that like me, this was why many of my students did not like reading. 

I am so grateful to hold a Master of Library and Information Sciences (MLIS) because I get to be that teacher. Because of my MLIS I have another community of like-minded colleagues that can assist with the plight of educating our students. I have been afforded the opportunity to see the connection between diversifying literature and our reluctant readers and how the lack of the former is the reason why we have school issues - such as, the school-to- prison pipeline, achievement gap issues amongst our minority population, and even huge drop-out rates within education. I am able to advocate from various standpoints.

I get to be a teacher, librarian, and mentor that encourages our young children to read books.  I am introducing my students to Recitatif by Toni Morrison or showing them how to juxtapose today's society to that from 25 years ago after reading Leon Dash’s Rosa Lee. 

Eighteen years after reading a book by someone who looked like me, I see the benefits of reading books by Black authors. Diverse books are essential in classrooms and libraries. Books by Black authors showcase themes that relate to real-life issues for many of our students of color.  These books also help educators and librarians learn about different cultures, backgrounds, and perspectives. Such books and stories that center the experience of people of color are just as important in classrooms and history as those considered the standard canon such as Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. 

Kiera with some of her students engaged in a lesson.

To expose my students to these diverse stories, each year I challenge myself to find new books and authors that are telling stories. I continuously challenge myself to expose my students to diverse literature, which represents the world in which we live, the world in which they live.  Each year the students are expected to read varied material and learn how we all contribute to society. This helps students understand how literature ties into everyday life. It is imperative that we introduce students to new, innovative, and diverse material. The young student with the kinky coils who wears a shirt that reads  “I love my natural hair” deserves to see herself in the classroom materials. She deserves for her peers to learn about her history just as she is expected to learn about theirs.

As an educator of over fifteen years, I have learned that teaching is stepping out of your comfort zone, learning your students, and finding literature that they can read individually and collaboratively to shape their minds. This promotes self-efficacy, confidence, and the ability to think critically. I also teach our young Black males to believe in themselves via discussions, listening, and interacting with other Black males, but most importantly through literature.  I teach our young Black girls the same things. I want them to embrace who they are, where they come from, and I want them to believe that they are an important contribution to our world. 

See and purchase Kiera’s recently-published book, “This Thing Called Life.”

Find out more about her professional development workshops here and here.