Every parent has that moment when they ask themselves "Am I doing enough?", it is especially crucial when your child does not know his/ her history. My mother is a big advocate of knowing one's history and often times quizzes my children on what they should already know about our past and present heroes/ inventors/ where we come from etc.; I feel the lump in my throat when she asks, "Who is...?" I'm thinking to myself, "They better get this right!" LOL. Let's just say, this has always been an important subject in my home as a child and also as a parent. If you haven't had these conversations with your child(ren) about their history, don't worry it is never too late to start. Honestly, I plug in bits and pieces of information with my children in small conversations, while watching TV, in response to their actions etc. More importantly, I've realized, if they can ask to play the computer, then they can also remember who invented the computer, yup! Why is this important? It gives my children a sense of pride to know that someone who looks just like them was an inventor, anthropologist, doctor, influencer, leader - and they too, can be all of that and more! Understanding our past, remembering those who fight/fight for our rights is crucial to our future.
The more you know of your history, the more liberated you are. Maya Angelou
So how do I find the time/ how do I go about teaching my children about being black and proud?
Conversation. In the most simple of forms and fashions have a conversation with your children. If you yourself don't know something don't be afraid to learn together. Start discussing the continent of Africa and just gain knowledge and acknowledgement for life starting there. My children have been to Africa many times and are aware of it's beauty. They know where they come from and they also know the struggle of our people through the Atlantic Slave Trade, slavery and post slavery. From there we talk about how resilient we are based upon all we as a people have gone through. The conversations are limitless...so start talking.
Online Stories. On YouTube there is a channel called Sankofa Read Aloud, all of the stories are written by African American authors for African American children. This literally takes less than 5 minutes to set up on your phone, computer or in you car and just like that your child can hear stories related to their history. There are so many stories on this channel, it's enough to keep any child engaged. I typically play a story on the way to school, even if my children don't ask questions they are listening and taking in useful information (plus no ones arguing). This is especially good for children up to age 11, in my opinion.
Books. My daughter is in Middle School now (I knooowww...bring on the tears), with that being said she needs more resources geared to her age group. I recently visited our local library and found "Young Gifted and Black" written by Jamita Wilson when I say that the illustrations and short biographies are AMAZING...I mean amazing! She loves this book and reads a page a night. The author was genius to add short biographies about not only our past heroes but our present ones as well, she can recognize them in real time #winning!
I hope this helps you in starting the conversations at home, as we know we are our child's first teacher and we cannot depend solely on the system to parent and educate our own!
XOXO,
Normal Black Chic