Jubilee Voices Publishing House
Unraveling our true past; teaching the truth about history and society.
Our vision is to help educate students through an Afro-centric lens so they can know about their culture and their history.
Our mission is to tell the truth about history by putting books and poetry with true history out into the world.
For many years, Jubilee students have been researching, writing, and publishing books that center under-told stories of struggle, resilience, and accomplishment, particularly within African American and global history. One of their earliest projects was a student written history textbook, Journey to the Core of the Twentieth Century, which explored stories often left out of traditional textbooks. In their preface, students wrote, “History is like the earth; it has many layers… This textbook will peel back the layers so you can see what is really inside.”
Through this work, students dug deeply into history, celebrated their legacies, and strengthened their voices as scholars and storytellers. They illustrated their books and worked to distribute their first volume widely throughout Philadelphia, especially in public schools, so more students could learn about the richness of their histories. A Jubilee graduate reflected on the project: “We weren’t given the knowledge, we were given the tools to go beneath the surface and find our history… This gave us strength and power that I will carry for the rest of my life.”
This tradition continued in 2011–2012, when fifth and sixth graders researched, wrote, and illustrated The Deep Past of Haiti, a book later used by author Lorene Cary in her classroom and praised by writer Edwidge Danticat as “a stunning gift from the children to the world.”
Over the years, students continued to research under-told stories, interview community members, document first-hand accounts, and bring history to life through writing, illustration, and poetry. In 2021–2022, students decided their growing collection of books should be shared more widely. They researched publishing, wrote a mission statement, applied for funding, and successfully launched Jubilee Voices Publishing House.
Today, Jubilee students have written eleven published books, with more in progress! The founders, now eighth and ninth graders, return each summer to lead the Jubilee Voices summer program, teaching rising fifth and sixth graders how to research, write, publish, and run a student-led publishing company. Through Jubilee Voices, students learn that their stories matter—and that they have the power to share them with the world.
