Beginning Black History

Since it is the last week of Black History Month, I decided that we should do a lesson about black history.  The complexity therein for my family is that I don’t think that the kids are old enough for a complete lesson on black history.  I think that right now it is better for their self-esteem to be unaware that there are people in the world that might judge them based on something that they can’t change.  Especially since I think that the lesson will be a little bit more complicated for my kids since I am black and my husband is white, so our kids are mixed.  For that reason, today we are not going to learn about civil rights leaders, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to celebrate black history with my kids.  My intent today is to show the kids people who have done great things and continue to do great things in our world.  I don’t plan to mention that the people are Black, but I hope that the kids subconsciously start to realize that achieving greatness is not a function of what color your skin is.  Don’t worry, I obviously will talk to them about race soon, as my husband and I want to introduce it before they hear about it at school, but I think 3 and 22 months old is a little bit to early for them.

So on to learning the positive side of Black History!

I spend a lot of time thinking about whom my kids would like to hear about from the many choices of great role models out there.  I want to pick a diverse (in skill set) set of people versus all scientists or something.  I decide on 4:

1.     Barack Obama (44^th president of the United States) because he’s the president!

2.     Oprah (tv mogul) because Abigail loves tv and I think “Oprah” is just a name you have to know in pop-culture.

3.     Flo-Jo – Florence Griffith-Joyner (Olympian and current “fastest woman of all time” with the 100 and 200 meter world records) because Briana already loves hearing about runners and already knows a lot about Flo-Jo’s sister-in-law, Jackie Joyner Kersey.  Kersey is in a kid’s book about athletes that we have.  Also because she was known for fabulous nails and fashion so that too will appeal to my daughter with a self-proclaimed “passion for fashion”.  And of course, because I like big butts and I cannot lie…I keep my women like Flo-Jo.  Haha.  I couldn’t resist.

4.     George Washington Carver (inventor known for discovering many uses and recipes for peanuts and peanut oil) because we all love science and peanut butter.

First I make cards of our role models.  A little known fact about me is that somewhere, in some dumpster most likely, is a trading card with my face and info on it.  I participated many years ago in a campaign to show young girls how cool science and women scientists specifically can be.  Don’t laugh!  I volunteered.  I didn’t think it up.  One of the many things they did to us...um, for the kids, I mean…was to make a pack of trading cards with pictures of each of the women scientists in lab coats and our schools, degrees, jobs, patents, etc. were written on the cards like stats.  Hopefully some kid was idly looking through the strange deck, saw my picture and info on my card, and was motivated to become a scientist.  I wish I’d gotten my hands on a pack because I think when my kids are older they would think that was funny.  Maybe I’ll have to make some calls tonight. 

Here are the cards I made for our Black role models.  The nice thing is that the cards could serve as a little cheat sheets if you wanted to put more info on them, or if you are using people who were a little more obscure.

Card Fronts

Card Backs

I made a deck of cards for each of us, with the face on the front and the info about them glued to the back, and handed them out.  I tell the kids that February is Black History Month, and that’s a month when we celebrate people who have done great things for our country.  Here are some of the many people.  We’re going to talk about who they are and what they’ve done.  Luckily our neighbor kids just dropped off the Girl Scout cookies that we ordered so my kids are watching me intently waiting to see what they have to do to earn those cookies.  I don’t want them to be bribed to learn so I give them each a cookie before we continue.

Barack Obama

I get the card of Barack Obama out and ask if everyone can find the matching card to my card.  I figured that this would make the kids pay more attention to the picture on the card to find their own.  Then I ask if anyone knows who this is.  “A man!” Abby said triumphantly.  She followed up with “I did it!  I did it!”  Yes, Abigail it is a man.  What man is it?  Silence.  What if I told you that it was a picture of the President of the United States?  Now who is it?  “Obama!” screams Briana.  Yeah, Bree!  That’s right.  This is President Barack Obama.

He is the 44^th President.  Before he was President, he was a lawyer like Daddy, and a senator from Illinois where Tiana (Briana’s godmother) is from.  Who knows what the President does all day?  “Have a cookie”, guesses Abby.  Maybe so.  What else does he do?  The girls gave me lots of silly guesses and then I tell them, “He tries his best to make sure that everyone who lives in our country is safe, healthy, and happy.” Briana adds her dismay, “I’m not healthy.  I have a skinned knee and need to go to the doctor.”  Of all topics, Bree!  Not to mention that she skinned that knee about a while ago and is still upset about it.  We’ll talk politics and specifics some other time, and so I move us quickly on.

“What would you do all day if you were president?”  I ask.  Abby is consistent.  “Have a cookie.”  Bree follows up with, “I’d drink a lot of milk to have strong bones to protect all those people.”  Anything else?  “No.  Just drink a lot a lot of milk to be president.”  I point to Abby and say “Abby you could be President Abigail if you want to.”  Then I point to Briana and say “Bree you could be President Briana if you want to when you grow up.”  Abby smiles.  Briana says “Nah.  I like orange juice better than milk so I don’t want to be President.”

Oprah

Next I showed them the Oprah card and had everyone find their Oprah card.  I tell them that Oprah is the most famous tv talk show host in America.  What’s a talk show host?  Well, she helps people solve their problems and sometimes she just talks to other famous people for fun.  That seems like a pretty good job description to me.  Oprah even got to talk to Elmo once!  Oooh!  As an aside, I wanted to make a card for the man that voices Elmo because he’s black too, but I think the kids actually think Elmo is real and I didn’t want to destroy the magic of puppets just yet.  The best thing about Oprah is that she donates a lot of what she has to people who need it.  That is the nice thing to do.  Doing nice things for other people actually makes you pretty on the inside and the outside.

Flo-Jo

Then I got out the card of Flo-Jo.  Briana loves running.  LOVES!  Every day we spend at least 30 minutes running in a circle from the kitchen to the dining room to the princess room (which used to be a sitting room) down the hall and back to the kitchen with the ‘Dance, Baby, Dance’ cd playing on the cd player or ‘Be Our Guest’ playing on the princess vanity in the princess room.  Every day!  So she was thrilled to see Flo-Jo. 

Who do you think this is?  “A girl running”, answers Abby.  She’s really into the conversation today!  No one knew her name so I tell the kids that her name is Flo-Jo.  Florence Griffith-Joyner, is nicknamed Flo-Jo and she is the fastest woman ever to run the 100 and 200 meter races.  “No, Oscar is the fastest person ever.” Bree tells me.  Oscar is a boy in her class at school.  “I think Flo-Jo is even faster than Oscar.”  “Wow!  Really, because Oscar is Very fast?!”  Yep.  I tell them that she ran in the 80s and still no one has beaten her time.  Then I deliver the coup de grace.  Do you know what else?  Flo-Jo is also famous for her fashion!  She always kept her nails really long and painted them fancy colors.  She also designed the basketball uniforms for the Indiana Pacers in 1989.  “She’s just like me!  I like running and fashion and basketball!” shrieks an excited Bree as she jumps up.

Abby thought the name, Flo-Jo, was hilarious.  She kept saying, “I Abby Flo-Jo. Run Abby Flo-Jo! Run!”, and doubling over in laughter.  With that both girls started racing around screaming that they were Abby Flo-Jo or Briana Flo-Jo.

  

As it turns out, being Mommy Flo-Jo is dangerous and a detour into the living room resulted in running into the fireplace and a broken toe.  So dumb.  Only me!  I ignored the pain, but stopped running to take some pictures instead.  When the kids start to tire out from the running, I tell them that we have one more card.

George Washington Carver

Finally, I showed them the George Washington Carver card.  “It’s Uncle Nathan!” says Abby.  Um, for the record my brother looks nothing like George Washington Carver.  No mustache…much younger…nope, no resemblance.  Sorry, Uncle Nathan.  But in case you’re looking for a new look, Briana thinks that Uncle Nathan should grow “crazy mouth hair” (ie. a mustache) like George Washington Carver has. 

I tell the kids that this man is from a really long time ago.  His name is George Washington Carver and he was a scientist and inventor like Mommy.  He was also a botanist, which means he took good care of plants and flowers.  He learned a lot about sweet potatoes, peanuts, and peanut oil and eventually he figured out how to use those things to make new things.  He made medicine, make-up, paint, and even new foods out of peanuts.  He is considered the father of the peanut industry for all of his hard work.  What kind of food do we like to eat with peanuts?  “Peanuts!” says Bree.  Keep thinking.  “Peanut butter?” she guesses.  Right.  How do you think you make peanut butter? 

I got a bunch of peanuts and had the kids dump them into my food processor.

The girls added a tiny bit of oil and a whole lot of salt and a pinch each of sugar and I let Briana push the button to blend it up.  Yummy! Snack time.

I pour a little bit of the warm, freshly made peanut butter into a bowl for the kids to dip pretzel sticks into.  While the kids snack I ask them about each of the people in the cards.  Surprisingly they remember who everyone is and at least one thing that they’ve accomplished.  A great first start!

I hope everyone had a happy Black History Month!

<3 Pedigreed Housewife