As most of us know February is Black History Month or African American History Month. A month when schools, groups and communities are encouraged to celebrate and learn about the black Americans who have made an impact on our country. As a mom of two Ethiopian girls in a non-diverse area, I see this month as an opportunity to help to my kids’ classrooms become more colorful.
My great intentions have gone awry, or at least have are very late! I thought about writing this post at the first of February. We are now heading into March and I still haven’t written or done what I have planned.
For a history on Black History Month check out Wikipedia. Some feel there is no reason to have a Black History month, but I say that an opportunity to learn more about history and culture is always a good reason. I will go out on a limb and say that most graduates have very little knowledge of Black American History other than slavery, Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr. and President Barack Obama. Few may realize that the men who developed the modern blood transfusion and gas masks were black inventors. Black history contains more than the history of slavery, musicians and sports players.
I have in the past given African games like Mancala to the girls’ classes and books. This year with four in school I have just stuck to books. Some books have history in them, some are about Africa or people. Others are simply children’s stories featuring brown characters. Have you ever looked for a book or a greeting card with a black person on it? It is not always easy to find and if you are not looking for it directly, chances are most of your child’s library has very few if any minorities in them.
The kids also made Kente cloth this month out of paper bags. Meg and Mita are entering theirs in a contest. They turned out really well and were a lot of fun. Check out Family Fun to see how to make your own. I used pictures of the patterns to make note-cards on Shutterfly. Very cute!
This is just a few things I have done this month to re-inforce how wonderful a life full of diversity and color is!
[...] back in February, during Black History Month I posted on some books I gave to my girls’ classrooms. I also mentioned that like to make sure the [...]