1) If you are an American, your world is most certainly influenced by black history.
2) "Celebrating" Black History Month doesn't have to take any extra time.
--Try listening to the news with a little more compassion.
--Think a kinder thought about that person you pass by.
--Suppress the urge to criticize or stereotype.
Now, if you have more interest or more time, here's some more info about Black History Month, which, by the way, DOES exist and occurs in February.
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| Receiving this picture from one of my students who was black was one of my proudest moments during student teaching in Washington, D.C. |
Last Sunday I came across some articles on FamilySearch about Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Black History Month. I've never done anything to celebrate either of these, outside of enjoying the day off work on MLK Jr Day, and I've never been much of an activist, but something stood out to me in the article:
"Martin Luther King Jr. Day is not a day dedicated to leisure, but to action and service. The Corporation for National and Community Service states that the holiday, observed on the third Monday in January, is 'a day on, not a day off.' It notes that the holiday is the 'only federal holiday designated as a national day of service to encourage all Americans to volunteer to improve their communities.'"
But we still didn't do anything special for Martin Luther King Jr. Day this year.
HOWEVER--I've felt the stir to do what I can for Black History Month this year. I think a little dose of humility and charity has helped me finally "get it" and understand why it is important. I hope to recognize and celebrate the achievements/contributions of people of African descent with the intention of becoming more culturally aware and sensitive. Here's some ideas to use or to inspire your own way of celebrating. And how nice that we have 29 days to celebrate this year. :)
1) Podcasts: I listened to the 3 in 30 Podcast Episode 113: How to Teach Your Kids about Racism & Bias. The guest on the episode is Jasmine Bradshaw. She has her own podcast and Instagram, First Name Basis, dedicated to inclusion and how to talk to your kids about race, religion, and culture. My kids are still pretty little but, after binge-listening to her 3-part series on race/racism, I have been able to pull strategies that I look forward to implementing in my family. I've also learned a lot for myself. My favorite takeaway is that it's not enough to not be racist. You need to be anti-racist. I highly recommend listening to the First Name Basis podcast. [As a side note, I took the implicit bias test mentioned in a couple of her episodes and showed a slight automatic preference for African American over European American, haha.]
Another recommended podcast is the Seeing White series on the Scene On Radio podcast. It's more lengthy and a little hard to digest sometimes (strong language warning at the beginning of episode 1), but really explains well the white privilege mindset in American society. Again, I get it now.
2) Books: Next we checked out some kids and adult books on black history and famous African-Americans. My kids can't put books down, so here's to hoping these engage them enough that they learn something from them. There are hundreds of books to choose from, but these came highly recommended:
*I'll say more on books later
3) I saw that the Ruby Bridges movie is on Disney+ (might also be available at the library if you don't have Disney+) so I put it on our calendar to watch that in February. Other family-friendly movies I like that feature black leads are Princess and the Frog, Remember the Titans, 1997 Cinderella (w/Brandy), and Cool Runnings. I also like To Kill a Mockingbird (for adults), and I haven't seen Akeelah and the Bee but it's a good recommendation.
4) I had to google if there was a museum of African-American history in my area--Sacramento. Yes, there is! Turns out the Sojourner Truth African Heritage Museum is not only FREE, but it also has an African Market Place on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays each month. You can bet I popped that on our calendar to explore.
5) One of the exhibits at the Crocker Art Museum in February is called African Roots. There is also a Black History Month Free Family Festival on Feb 16th.
6) One suggestion to celebrate Black History Month I saw repeatedly is to support black-owned businesses. You can google search "black-owned restaurants/stores in my area" to get a list. I was skeptical of the accuracy of this, but with names like "Sarom's Southern Kitchen," "South," and "Fixins Soul Kitchen," I'm pretty sure these are restaurants I can feel good about supporting next month.
7) Mancala tournament
8) Cook African or African-American food
9) Listen to blues/jazz/traditional African music
10) Read the "I Have a Dream" speech
11) Learn stepping (How to Do a Simple Step for Beginners)
12) Evan's school class did this cute activity for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. "The outside looked different. The inside looked the same. Martin Luther King Jr. wanted everyone to be treated equally."
And I love whoever gave this answer in my survey:
"Visited a Black Museum, honored the month at the temple, and donated to organizations supporting Black women's maternal care."
How sweet is that? And such good ideas!
The more I learn, the more confident I feel at navigating my diverse community and avoiding saying stupid things, though I'm still learning. I am glad Evan's school teacher is black and his schoolmates are incredibly diverse. I'm glad that 1/3 of my kids' cousins are black (Even though my boys laugh when I talk about black and white people. "BLACK people?! No, their skin is BROWN!" and "I'm not White! My skin is not white!")
*An additional note on books--the ones mentioned above are more directly about black history. But just overall, it's important to diversify your bookshelf (and toys, movies, etc.) to include a variety of colors of people. For example, on one of our shelves we have 21 biographies: 20 of them are white people. We could do better.
However, just looking through our kids books I pulled out several that are good for showing inclusion and diversity:
- Can I Play Too?, by Mo Willems
- Friends learn how to include someone with different abilities
- The Sandwich Swap, by Queen Rania Al Abdullah
- Two girls learn acceptance by trying new things
- Faces, by Shelley Rotner and Ken Kreisler
- The Jobs We Do, by Anna W. Bardaus
- Features a black, female construction worker and firefighter, and a black, male teacher, librarian, and doctor. Counters racial and gender stereotypical jobs.
I hope you pick one of these things, or many, or even come up with your own way to recognize black history. Looking forward to a happy Black History Month! A month of Love!
