These Hands

Joseph's grandpa could do almost anything with his hands. He could play the piano, throw a curveball, and tie a triple bowline knot in three seconds flat. But in the 1950s and 60s, he could not bake bread at the Wonder Bread factory. Factory bosses said white people would not want to eat bread touched by the hands of the African Americans who worked there. And so, Joseph learns how African American workers who swept the floors, worked the line, and loaded the trucks at the factory joined together to write petitions, carry signs, and raise their voices so that one day their hands could do anything.