Article Share: How To Talk to Your Kids About the Contributions of African American Women

Here's an excerpt of the article by Carey Wallace:

Elementary age kids often hear stories of figures like Harriet Tubman, who led enslaved people to freedom on the Underground Railroad, or Rosa Parks, whose refusal to give up her seat sparked the Montgomery bus boycott. [Tiya] Miles encourages her own elementary age kids to get curious about the brainpower those women must have had, with questions like, What kinds of skills must Harriet Tubman have had to help all those people escape? What skills did Rosa Parks use to fight for civil rights?

The impetus for the article is the recent call to have Harriet Tubman replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill. While I agree that the focus on skills of historical figures is important, I also find this article problematic in its brevity.

Elementary age children need to hear about Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks ...and Coretta Scott King and Madam C.J. Walker and Michelle Obama and Bessie Coleman and Maya Angelou and Mae Jemison and Toni Morrison and and and and...

As educators of children of color our job is to ensure that they are filled with images of people who look like them in many different roles. We cannot stick to the historical figures that we learned ourselves. We cannot choose only the people who have been written about in children's books.

Instead, we must look for opportunities to infuse role models into all of our lessons. For example, when they learn about illustrators, talk to them about Faith Ringgold (pictured above). Each time you are going to introduce a new topic, whether it is bird watching, zoo keeping, schools, or restaurants, do a quick Google search with those keywords and "African American." If you are like me, you likely didn't learn about many African Americans in your own education. Even if you did, you might overlook someone by accident. Not knowing is not your fault; not finding out is. We are all busy, but this is urgent. If you have more time, start reading books that will contextualize these historical figures for you.

African American children are constantly inundated with white role models, culture, and images. Students are boxed in by the single story of African Americans -- as slaves, as activists, as musicians. None of these role models are lacking, but our students need more. Our job as educators is to help them develop a strong sense of self by providing them with so many examples of successful African Americans that they can see themselves as biologists, ornithologists, painters, journalists, senators, nurses, teachers, astronauts, entrepreneurs. We as educators need to find ways to help students dream their dreams and validate their dreams. Every day.