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Judy Fay's video on highlighting stories and resources from this book that is available to you.

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The Talk: Conversations About Race, Love and Truth

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The Talk: Conversations About Race, Love and Truth

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In this inspiring collection, literary all-stars such as Renée Watson, Grace Lin, Nikki Grimes, Duncan Tonatiuh, Meg Medina, Adam Gidwitz and many more engage young people in frank conversations about race, identity, and self-esteem. Featuring text and images filled with love, acceptance, truth, peace, and an assurance that there can be hope for a better tomorrow.

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I have a copy of this film in my office if you would like to borrow it.

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Learning for Justice provides free resources to educators-teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners-who work with children from kindergarten through high school.

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How to Be an Antiracist comes a new full-sized picture book that empowers parents and children to uproot racism in our society and in ourselves, now with added discussion prompts to help readers recognize and reflect on bias in their daily lives.

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Two poets, one white and one black, explore race and childhood in this must-have collection tailored to provoke thought and conversation.

How can Irene and Charles work together on their fifth grade poetry project? They don't know each other . . . and they're not sure they want to.

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Originally performed for ESPN's The Undefeated, this poem is a love letter to black life in the United States. It highlights the unspeakable trauma of slavery, the faith and fire of the civil rights movement, and the grit, passion, and perseverance of some of the world's greatest heroes.

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Letter by letter, The ABCs of Black History celebrates a story that spans continents and centuries, triumph and heartbreak, creativity and joy.

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Jacqueline Woodson and Rafael López's highly anticipated companion to their #1 New York Times bestseller The Day You Begin illuminates the power in each of us to face challenges with confidence.

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National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson and two-time Pura Belpré Illustrator Award winner Rafael López have teamed up to create a poignant, yet heartening book about finding courage to connect, even when you feel scared and alone.

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The 1619 Project’s lyrical picture book in verse, adapted for audio, chronicles the consequences of slavery and the history of Black resistance in the United States, thoughtfully rendered by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones and Newbery honor-winning author Renée Watson.

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Tracing the history of African Americans in Tulsa's Greenwood district, this book chronicles the devastation that occurred in 1921 when a White mob attacked the Black community. News of what happened was largely suppressed, and no official investigation into the Tulsa Race Massacre occurred for 75 years.

Sensitively introducing young audiences to this tragedy, Unspeakable concludes with a call for a better future.

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A Place Inside of Me: A Poem to Heal the Heart

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A Place Inside of Me: A Poem to Heal the Heart

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In this powerful, affirming poem by award-winning author Zetta Elliott, a Black child explores his shifting emotions throughout the year.

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New York Times bestselling author Jerry Craft returns with a companion book to New Kid, winner of the 2020 Newbery Medal, the Coretta Scott King Author Award, and the Kirkus Prize. This time, it’s Jordan’s friend Drew who takes center stage in another laugh-out-loud funny, powerful, and important story about being one of the few kids of color in a prestigious private school.

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She Was the First! The Trailblazing Life of Shirley Chisholm

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She Was the First! The Trailblazing Life of Shirley Chisholm

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A timely, inspiring picture book biography of the dynamic twentieth-century educator, activist, and politician Shirley Chisholm.

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Winner of the Newbery Medal, Coretta Scott King Author Award, and Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature!

Perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier and Gene Luen Yang, New Kid is a timely, honest graphic novel about starting over at a new school where diversity is low and the struggle to fit in is real, from award-winning author-illustrator Jerry Craft.

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The story follows two families—one White and one Black—as they discuss a police shooting of a Black man in their community. The story aims to answer children's questions about such traumatic events and to help children identify and counter racial injustice in their own lives. Includes extensive information for parents and families with guidelines for discussing race and racism with children, including sample dialogues.

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Jacqueline Woodson's first middle-grade novel since National Book Award winner Brown Girl Dreaming celebrates the healing that can occur when a group of students share their stories.

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A 2016 Coretta Scott King Author Honor book, and recipient of the Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature.

In this New York Times bestselling novel, two teens—one black, one white—grapple with the repercussions of a single violent act that leaves their school, their community, and, ultimately, the country bitterly divided by racial tension.

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Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

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Bethany C. Morrow's A Song Below Water is the story for today's readers -- a captivating modern fantasy about Black sirens, friendship, and self-discovery set against the challenges of today's racism and sexism.

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Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights Movement. Each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child’s soul as she searches for her place in the world. Her love of stories inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the gifted writer she was to become.

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The Outskirts of Hope: A Memoir of the 1960s Deep South

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The Outskirts of Hope: A Memoir of the 1960s Deep South

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In 1967, when Jo Ivester was ten years old, her father transplanted his young family from a suburb of Boston to a small, all Black town in the heart of the Mississippi cotton fields where he became the medical director of a clinic that served the poor population for miles around. But ultimately it was not Ivester’s father but her mother who made the most enduring mark on the town through teaching her students to stand up for their rights.

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28 Days: Moments in Black History that Changed the World

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28 Days: Moments in Black History that Changed the World

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Each day features a different influential figure in African American history, from Crispus Attucks, the first man shot in the Boston Massacre, sparking the Revolutionary War, to Madame C. J. Walker, who after years of adversity became the wealthiest black woman in the country, as well as one of the wealthiest black Americans, to Barack Obama, the country's first African-American president. This is a completely unique look at the importance and influence of African Americans on the history of this country.

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The Little Rock School Desegregation Crisis in American History

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The Little Rock School Desegregation Crisis in American History

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The is a story about 15-year-old Elizabeth Eckford, one of the nine students of "The Little Rock Nine" that changed history.

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The year 2020 has been a rough one, especially for Black Americans. The global coronavirus pandemic's disproportional impact, combined with multiple police murders of unarmed Black people, cast a brighter light on systemic racism in the United States. In many instances, the killings were caught on phones and the images repeatedly replayed on social media and the news.

Somewhere around the end of May to early June, corporations sent out public statements en masse in support of Black Lives Matter. Ironically, in the wake of the COVID-19 shutdowns, a couple of months prior, job listings for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) roles had fallen by 60%, but increased by 50% as Black Lives Matter protests spread. Corporations started to hold DEI dialogues inside their organizations to complement their external messaging-perhaps because 69% of Americans believe that corporate messaging about racism is more about pressure from the outside than a genuine commitment against it.

The belief that organizational dialogues on race are the way to go is widespread. When the Josh Bersin Pulse of HR Survey asked over 800 professionals about what their company could do to increase racial justice, the number-one response was to "encourage and engage in dialogue about systemic racism that holds back minorities and women." Indeed, the DEI firm Vaya Consulting experienced a 1,500% increase in demand for their services in June 2020, compared to June 2019.

But how often do organizations engaging in race dialogues consider the potential harm such dialogues can cause for racial and ethnic minority employees? "First, do no harm" is an ethical principal in the medical field that guides doctors and nurses to pause and consider the potential harm of treatment before proceeding. This same principle could guide the corporate community, encouraging them to approach DEI initiatives, like race dialogues, in full awareness of the potential impact on minority employees. The cautionary principle of "first, do no harm" doesn't mean that organizations should stop such dialogues, but instead invites a pause for organizational education, introspection, and commitment. Current research and experts in the DEI space support organizations taking a more informed and sustainable approach.

The trauma of racial dialogues

Trauma is "an emotional response to a terrible event like an accident, rape, or natural disasters," says the American Psychological Association. "Immediately after the event, shock and denial are typical. Longer-term reactions include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, strained relationships, and even physical symptoms like headaches or nausea."

Trauma acts as a type of chronic stressor, that when left untreated can produce poor mental and physical health. People who undergo trauma often experience feelings such as negative beliefs about themselves, fear, anger, shame, and hypervigilance. Trauma when recounted can cause the individual to relive the traumatic event, re-experiencing the trauma all over again.

Race dialogues in corporate spaces are ostensibly organized to help improve the conditions for racial and ethnic minority employees, but they may be harming the very groups they aim to help.

"Race dialogues in corporate spaces are ostensibly organized to help improve the conditions for racial and ethnic minority employees, but they may be harming the very groups they aim to help. "

―Shanna B. Tiayon

"What makes race dialogues potentially traumatic is the reality of what we have inherited from this country's roots in genocide, chattel slavery, and stolen land," says Nicole Sanchez, the founder and CEO of Vaya Consulting. "Our experiences have direct, modern relationships to that history and continue to be enacted in brutal ways." On an individual level, racism is not a historical artifact, but instead a current reality.

What might that reality look like at a corporate race dialogue? A hallmark of race dialogues involves sharing experiences with race and racism. For racial and ethnic minorities, sharing lived experiences with racism can cause them to recount and relive painful experiences, resulting in emotional distress.

Research suggests that anger rumination-deep and recurrent thinking about experiences that induce anger-may partially explain this outcome. A research study of 170 Black, Hispanic, and Asian participants found that anger rumination explained the link between perceived discrimination and signs of emotional distress like depressive symptoms, hostility, anger, and aggression in participants.

Rumination can happen involuntarily, or it can happen in response to a trigger that reminds the individual of the experience-a trigger like discussing race in the workplace. In fact, recalling personal experiences with racism may arouse post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, which have been linked to experiences with racism for Black and Latino people.

In addition to being distressing, discussing experiences with racism can be emotionally exhausting for minorities. Participating in these types of conversations is another form of emotional labor performed by racial and ethnic minorities in corporate spaces.

Emotional labor is the management of personal feelings and behaviors to align with institutional expectations, even when dealing with emotionally charged situations. It's an unpaid and overlooked form of labor that is performed in service to others. In the context of race dialogues in corporations, for minority employees this can translate into sharing some of your most painful experiences for the corporate good, while being careful to manage your emotions so as not to make things awkward for colleagues after the conversation.

Dr. Thema Bryant-Davis, a psychologist at Pepperdine University and author of Thriving in the Wake of Trauma: A Multicultural Guide, explains further:

Not only do we have to educate others on our wounds, but then people want to regulate your emotions, that you shouldn't be upset as you explain things that are upsetting. Like, this is outrageous, but if I look outraged then that is deemed unacceptable, that I am the problem. People are more concerned about Black people's anger than the things that we're angry about. That is exhausting and problematic.

Race dialogues are also fertile ground for the display of microaggressions toward minority employees. Dr. Derald Wing Sue, a Columbia University psychologist, defines microaggressions as "brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color."

According to Sue, there are three main types of microaggressions: microassaults, microinsults, and microinvalidations. Of the three, microinvalidations-communications that negate the experiences of racial and ethnic minorities-are the most likely during race dialogues. In his research, Sue found that when racial and ethnic minorities shared their experiences with racism, often they were "invalidated, dismissed[, and] deluded." He continues:

If it was an African American man or woman, they would be accused of being the angry Black man or woman. They would be told "that wasn't my intention," all in an attempt to deny the experiential reality of people of color. That's a form of microaggression that invalidates and attacks the racial identity of individuals of color.

Finally, race talks can also reify the very power imbalance between whites and non-whites that perpetuates racism.

For example, stereotypes of Black women as strong and angry can result in a dismissal of their emotional response, says Sue. However, stereotypes of white women-as, for example, being vulnerable and in need of protection-can evoke immediate consolation of their emotional response, shifting the focus of the dialogue to their emotional needs. It's also the case that the burden of proof is placed on minorities to convince whites that their experiences were race-related and not class, gender, or something else more in line with a post-racial conception of the U.S.

Power imbalance can also show up in the aftermath of race talks. "You're being asked to be vulnerable and share, and [you] hope that things might be different and then it's not," says Dr. Michael Baran, a senior partner at inQUEST, a Chicago-based DEI consulting firm, and coauthor of Subtle Acts of Exclusion: How to Understand, Identify, and Stop Microaggression. Too frequently, minorities participate in race dialogues at a great risk to their mental health and job status, with no follow-up action from the organization to improve workplace conditions for them.

How to make dialogues healthier

So, what should organizations do? Is there a way to talk about race at work that attends to the well-being of employees of color?

Baran argues that organizations should "demonstrate your commitment to action as you intentionally [and] thoughtfully figure out what it is you have to do; transformative work instead of performative work. You have to figure out what that means for your organization."

In other words, rather than calling on employees of color to recount traumatic experiences with racism, creating situations where they must personally carry the burden of change, organizations should focus on the organization itself. Instead of beginning with dialogues and trainings, organizations can examine the larger structural issues that shape minority experiences in the workplace. To do this, Sue suggests "conduct[ing] a cultural audit of the programs, policies, and practices embedded in the institutions that are biased and macro in nature. Microaggressions impact individuals but macro aggressions, the programs, policies, and practices, affect whole classes of people. They determine who will rise in a corporation and who isn't going to rise."

On an individual level, organizations can look for signs of trauma in their minority employees, like depression or anger. "Seeing all of what is happening is depressing, its demoralizing, it decreases your energy," says Bryant-Davis. "It's hard to enjoy yourself as you're seeing the plight, as you're seeing the terror." Anger shows up "when there is a goal that is frustrated or denied." Corporations can train managers and human resources professionals to be able to pick up on signs of distress and offer appropriate support to employees. (This is a skill that can be useful in many contexts, with many kinds of employees, especially in the midst of the pandemic.)

Finally, all the experts interviewed for this article agree that if an organization must move forward with a race dialogue, it should seek the services of a skilled DEI facilitator to conduct such talks. A facilitator who understands the potential for trauma, who can pick up on microaggressions during the dialogue, and who has done the self-work to recognize their own internal biases so that they don't transpose them onto the dialogue.

The "do no harm" principle requires that organizations aren't swept into the momentum to just do something, but instead take the time to be thoughtful and committed to building anti-racist organizations. Dialogue is likely to be a part of this initiative, but organizations must do so with the full understanding of what they are asking their racial and ethnic minority employees to give-and be equally committed to giving back.

Greater Good wants to know: Do you think this article will influence your opinions or behavior?

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How to Avoid Doing Harm When You Discuss Race at Work

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The year 2020 has been a rough one, especially for Black Americans. The global coronavirus pandemic's disproportional impact, combined with multiple police murders of unarmed Black people, cast a brighter light on systemic racism in the United States. In many instances, the killings were caught on phones and the images repeatedly replayed on social media and the news.

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The National Museum of African American History and Culture’s Talking About Race guide may be helpful in preparing to navigate discussions about race and racism.

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National Museum of African American History and Culture

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Talking about race, although hard, is necessary. We are here to provide tools and guidance to empower your journey and inspire conversation.

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Creating the Space to Talk about Race in Your School

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Creating the Space to Talk about Race in Your School

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This comprehensive NEA resource guide includes tools & resources for talking about race, conducting racial equity assessments, strategic planning, ideas for capacity building and action, FAQs, and a directory of web pages, documents and allied organizations focused on racial justice in education.

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This lesson leads students to analyze the nature of hate and explore legislation that addresses hate crimes.

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Vocabulary

hate |hāt|
( noun) A strong feeling of dislike.
( verb) To strongly dislike.

crime |krīm|
( noun)An act or behavior that breaks a law. A crime is usually punished by a fine or prison time.

law |lô|
( noun) A rule that helps keep order within a society.

legislation |ˌlejəˈslā sh ən|
( noun) A law or laws passed by a government body.

Procedure

Reading/Language Arts/ELL
1. The word "hate" is a strong one. But we often use it in a casual way. Think about the times you have used it to describe your reaction to something.

2. Now, make a list of the things you "hate." ( Examples might include things like broccoli, homework, rainy days or getting up early.) Does your list include any people? What's the difference between hating a thing and hating a person?

3. As a class, discuss the definition of the word "hate." ( The word refers to a feeling of strong dislike - a feeling that demands action.) What can happen when somebody acts on their feelings of hate? Discuss how those actions might impact your classroom, your school and your community.

4. Partner with another student or a small group of students. Take turns rephrasing your "I hate..." sentences so that they include more specific information. For instance: Instead of saying "I hate broccoli," consider saying, "Broccoli doesn't taste good to me" or "I like carrots better than broccoli." If your list includes people, consider saying, "I wish my sister shared her toys" rather than "I hate my sister." Why do you think these sentences are better choices? Share some examples of your new sentences with the rest of the class.

5. As a class, agree that you will keep checking your use of the word "hate." Every time you hear it or read it, stop and think about it. If possible, discuss it with a classmate or friend. How would you rephrase the sentence?

Social Studies
1. As a class, brainstorm examples of rules that you live by every day - at home, school and in your community. Discuss some reasons for these rules or laws. ( Examples might be traffic laws intended to keep drivers safe, school rules that help keep students and teachers focused on learning, or laws in your community that protect its citizens from others who might harm them.)

2. At the national level, Congress has the power to make laws. Congress represents the legislative branch of the U.S. government. Divide the class into three groups. Within your group, use the Internet to access the federal Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids.

3. Each group will have responsibility for researching and sharing information about one of the following:

Within each group, take notes on the information needed for your group's presentation.

4. Present your information to the entire class. After all groups have presented, review the process from the time a bill is introduced to the time it is signed by the president.

5. President Barack Obama signed a law that would help protect Americans against hate crimes. (Note: You may want to explain a bit about this law.) A hate crime is an attack against somebody because of their differences, such as skin color, religion or disability. The law is called the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Together, brainstorm ways this law might affect the everyday lives of people in your community. Using it as an example, evaluate the reasons that we have laws. Why are they important?
POLITICAL CARTOON
Reprinted with permission. Teachers may purchase individual cartoons for lesson plans at PoliticalCartoons.com.

In this editorial cartoon, artist Daryl Cagle depicts a group of students expressing "hate" for an undisclosed group of people. In pairs or small groups, discuss:

What message is he trying to convey about the nature of hate? In this case, what word would you use to describe the group? (Examples: ignorant, unaware or uneducated.) How might their conversation be different if they had accurate information or a better understanding about "them?" Act out the conversation you imagine, or redraw the cartoon to reflect it.

This cartoon was originally drawn on September 13, 2001. Based on this information, who might have been the "them" to which Cagle refers? If you are unsure, ask older students or family members what they recall about that time. What reaction to this group of people does Cagle's cartoon describe? As a class, discuss whether these attitudes have changed since the cartoon was first drawn. If so, how? What might have caused those attitudes to change?

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hate |hāt| ( noun) A strong feeling of dislike. ( verb) To strongly dislike. crime |krīm| ( noun)An act or behavior that breaks a law. A crime is usually punished by a fine or prison time. law |lô| ( noun) A rule that helps keep order within a society.

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In this lesson, students will work from core readings and then apply creative and critical thinking skills to design a monument for one of these later movements. Design a monument and students think about what message they want the monument to convey.

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Vocabulary

memorial [ mə ˈmôrēəl ] ( noun) something, esp. a structure, established to remind people of a person or event

monument [ ˈmänyəmənt ] ( noun) a statue, building, or other structure erected to commemorate a famous or notable person or event

martyr [ ˈmärtər ] ( noun) a person who loses his life for a cause

civil rights [ ˈsivəl rītz ] ( plural noun) the rights of citizens to political and social freedom and equality

social justice [ ˈsō sh əl ˈjəstis ] ( noun) movement toward a society based on principles of human rights and equality

social change [ ˈsō sh əl ch ānj ] ( noun) acts of advocacy that advance causes that are subjectively seen as more desirable for a society

symbol [ ˈsimbəl ] ( noun) a thing that represents or stands for something else, esp. a material object representing something abstract; a shape or sign used to represent something such as an organization, e.g., a red cross or a Star of David.

Procedure

1. Find a reading partner. Read "The March Continues" excerpt. Work together to discuss difficult vocabulary or confusing parts.

2. Fill out the Describing Wheel. Focus on the impact of the Civil Rights Memorial. Who does it honor? Why should they be honored? Why was a memorial needed?

3. Share some of your describing words with the class. Explain why you selected them.

4. Discuss the words presented to the class. Write a couple of sentences. In them, explain why you think the Civil Rights Memorial was created.

5. Count off from one to five. Form a group with classmates who have the same number.

6. As a group, review the information in your timeline. Discuss ideas for creating a monument or memorial. What events or people should be remembered?

7. Think about the Civil Rights Memorial as you discuss your monument. Consider:

What message(s) do you want your memorial or monument to convey?

What should it look like? Should it be big or small? What colors, materials, textures and shapes might be best?

Should there be words on your memorial or monument? Should there be symbols? If so, what words and symbols would you include?

Where should your memorial or monument be placed? Why?

8. Create a sketch of your memorial or monument. Take turns sharing your drawings with the class. Explain why you came up with your design.

9. Write for three minutes on one or both sides of a note card. Think about what you have learned while designing your monument. Then think about this quote from J. Richard Cohen, the head of the Southern Poverty Law Center. "It's up to each of us to ensure that the march for justice continues." How does creating a monument help the march for justice? What other things can people do?

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memorial [ mə ˈmôrēəl ] ( noun) something, esp.

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People sometimes look the other way when they see an act of discrimination because they do not know how to stop it. This lesson provides students with real-world examples to help them identify peaceful ways to respond.

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People sometimes look the other way when they see an act of discrimination because they do not know how to stop it. This lesson provides students with real-world examples to help them identify peaceful ways to respond.

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People sometimes look the other way when they see an act of discrimination because they do not know how to stop it. This lesson provides students with real-world examples to help them identify peaceful ways to respond.

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People sometimes look the other way when they see an act of discrimination because they do not know how to stop it. This lesson provides students with real-world examples to help them identify peaceful ways to respond.

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In this lesson, students will investigate “defenders of justice” who fought against racism and changed American attitudes. Their work made possible, years later, something that many doubted would ever happen: the election of an African American as President of the United States.

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In this lesson, students will investigate “defenders of justice” who fought against racism and changed American attitudes. Their work made possible, years later, something that many doubted would ever happen: the election of an African American as President of the United States.

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Activity ideas to help educate your students on the history and significance of the Little Rock, Arkansas fight to integrate their school and the Little Rock Nine.

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Primary Documents (Grades 4-7)

President Eisenhower waited nearly a month before sending federal troops to protect the Little Rock Nine. The President's handwritten notes (PDF) hint that public relations concerns contributed to the delay: " Troops - not to enforce integration but to prevent violent opposition." Once the troops arrived, parents of the Little Rock Nine sent the President a telegraph thanking him for the federal government's intervention. The parents' telegraph uses descriptive, persuasive phrases and words, urging the President to fully embrace school integration as a matter of national character.

Introduce students to telegraph-based writing, e.g., the use of "stop" in place of periods and the fact that people paid by the word for telegraphs, so language choice was important. Then ask students to underline passages in the telegraph where the parents employ persuasive, descriptive language, e.g., "We believe that freedom and equality with which all men are endowed at birth can be maintained only through freedom and equality of opportunity for self development growth and purposeful citizenship."

As a follow-up, ask students to adapt words and phrases from the parents' telegraph in original letters or emails to policymakers, public officials and/or people who affect their lives intimately, e.g., siblings, parents and guardians.

From Film to Poetry (Grades 5-10)

As a class, watch this ten-minute YouTube clip about Central High. Ask students to reflect on what they've seen using poetic form.

Art Projects for Self and Community (Grades 6-12)

The story of Daisy Bates, listed above, references the fact that her mother was murdered by white men. What it doesn't say is this: After the murder, and as a young girl, Bates struggled with a dislike for Whites. Her father helped her turn those feelings around, advising her that "hate can destroy you. Don't hate white people just because they are white. If you hate, make it count for something. Hate the humiliations we are living under in the South. Hate the discrimination that eats away at the soul of every black man and woman." Bates later said her father's intervention inspired her to "do what I could to help my race."

A deep personal pain and a father's intervention catapulted Bates into a life of activism. Ask students to reflect on moments in their own lives that do, or could, inspire them to take action. Encourage students to create pieces of art - pencil drawings, watercolor paintings or sculptures - representing the episodes symbolically. Invite student volunteers to share the "hidden meanings" of their artwork with the class. Encourage students to respond to each other's creations verbally or in writing.

What's (Not) in the Textbook? (Grades 7-12)

What does your textbook say about the Little Rock Nine and the events at Central High? What's missing? Break students into six small groups and ask each group to investigate one of the following aspects of the landmark event: the federal government's role, the state government's role, the roles of Little Rock's residents, the roles of white students at Central High, the role of the media, and the roles of the Little Rock Nine and groups like the NAACP that supported them. Combine students' findings into a textbook supplement and distribute it to other classrooms.

An excellent resource for student research is Crisis in Little Rock, available online for free from Facing History and Ourselves.

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President Eisenhower waited nearly a month before sending federal troops to protect the Little Rock Nine. The President's handwritten notes (PDF) hint that public relations concerns contributed to the delay: " Troops - not to enforce integration but to prevent violent opposition."

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3 Tips to Facilitate Conversations about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion | Tea Time with Jess

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Each year in my elementary art classroom, students learn about a diverse group of black men and women in honor of Black History Month (this activity, though, is relevant throughout the year).

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We create trading cards to honor people who inspire us with their accomplishments.

Before we begin the project, we discuss what kinds of accomplishments are commendable. This helps students understand the difference between a celebrity and someone who has made a meaningful contribution to our country. The students select someone from a collection of over 100 men and women. These people have done great things in the fields of science, literature, sports, music, government, art, civil rights, entertainment, community service and more.

In advance of this unit, I created folders for each honoree, which includes a brief, kid-friendly biography and a black-andwhite photograph or line drawing of the person. The students use the photos or drawings to create their own fullcolor portrait on the front of a blank index card. They use the biographical information to add pertinent facts, such as the person's name, date of birth or death and their accomplishments. The back of the card is decorated with images and symbols that relate to those accomplishments.

When the students have finished their cards, they answer two questions: What did you like about making your trading cards? And why did you pick this person? My favorite comment- among many-came from a third-grader: "I liked learning about what these amazing people did to help America, whether they helped stop slavery or whether they were inventors."

My students look forward to this art project and usually make more cards than required. They are building a collection to treasure for years to come. It's been such a hit that I plan to expand this project beyond Black History Month. It will include people from all races and ethnicities who have contributed to our nation in some way.

Helen Goren Shafton
Park View Elementary & West field Elementary
Glen Ellyn, Ill.

Student Trading Cards Samples:

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We create trading cards to honor people who inspire us with their accomplishments. Before we begin the project, we discuss what kinds of accomplishments are commendable. This helps students understand the difference between a celebrity and someone who has made a meaningful contribution to our country.

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In this lesson, students explore race and self-identity by creating self-portraits. The lesson aims to help students develop detailed observational skills and use these skills in relation to themselves and others. It also begins constructing a vocabulary that is crucial in helping build community and discuss some of the more challenging aspects of race and racial identity formation.

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Vocabulary

color [kuhl-er] ( noun) the appearance of something, including how bright it is and what shade it is

skin [skin] ( noun) the outer covering of a human or animal body

skin color [skin kuhl-er] ( noun) the coloring of a person's face and skin

race [reys] ( noun) one of the major groups into which human beings can be divided. As a social construction, it relates to the grouping of people based on physical characteristics, such as skin color, often for the purpose of creating the perception of a superior race. ( Note: There are many ways to define the term "race." We provide a working definition, but one of the goals for this series is for students to come to individual and collective understandings of the term that make sense to them and their personal, developmental, and communal needs.)

self-portrait [self-pawr-trit] ( noun) a picture a person makes of himself or herself

beauty [BYOO-tee] ( noun) the part of a person-or thing-that makes us like how he or she looks
(Note: There are many different ways to define the term "beauty." We provide a working definition, but one of the goals of this lesson and series of lessons is for students to come to their own understanding of the term and concept.)

Suggested Procedure

1. Have students talk about these questions in small, diverse groups: What does it mean to look closely? Why is looking closely important in school? Why is it important in life outside of school? Encourage each group to share one or two key points. (Note: With older students, you may have them write about the questions instead.)

2. Help students understand that one reason that we look closely at ourselves is to start understanding who we are as physical people, which is often the first thing we notice about ourselves and each other. One thing we often notice-also one of the first things other people notice about us-but sometimes don't talk about is the color of our own skin and each other's skin. With your class, discuss these questions: What is color? What is skin? What is skin color? Why is it important? Why isn't it important? Why might some people find it challenging to talk about these topics?

3. One important reason for looking closely is to find beauty in ourselves and in others. As a shared-class writing activity, make a list of other words or ideas students associate with the word "beauty." (Note: With older students, have them write their own lists in journals.) Encourage students to consider these following questions: What does beauty mean to you? Are there different ways to be beautiful? Do you think beauty is important? Why or why not? (Note: During your conversation about skin color, the concept of race might come up. Help students speak openly about their understanding concerning race. It is important to assess where your students are in their conceptual understandings and to provide a safe and open forum for talking about race and how it relates to skin color. You might have children talk with partners or as a class about what they think race might mean or how they have heard this word used. Lesson 2 in the series will explore race more explicitly.)

4. Artists look closely at themselves when they paint self-portraits. Explain that a self-portrait is a picture you create of yourself. Pass out a mirror to each student or each group of students. Show students how they can use mirrors to pay attention to what they look like: the shapes of their faces, the different shades of skin, and the different features they have. While still looking in the mirror, have them use a pencil to draw an outline of their face on painting paper. They can mix the paints together in many ways to show the different colors present on their faces. (Note: Lesson 5 in the series will include more explicit and targeted explanations of mixing colors. This is to give students a starting point; then they'll have something to look back on at the end of the series to see how their vision of themselves may have changed.) Help students consider this question: How did looking closely at yourself influence the way you see and think about yourself? (Note: If students have performed similar activities in the past or are very experienced with self-portraits, encourage them to notice something about themselves this time that they have never focused on before.)

5. When students finished painting the portraits, leave them to dry. As a class, talk about what it means to critique others' art, and develop students' comments into guidelines for the critiques. For example: When students workshop one another's artwork, they should focus on giving specific compliments and maybe one thoughtful suggestion. Chart the guidelines your class comes up with for a helpful workshop. Some starting points for conversation could be colors used, attention paid to detail, or favorite parts of the portrait.

6. Take time to visit each group and to look at students' self-portraits so you may give helpful feedback. Share anything you noticed about your students, their portraits, and their critiques during this activity. (Note: Try to focus the conversation around the theme of skin color or, if it has come up, race. If students are struggling to stay with these themes, you may want to start a separate conversation about why skin color can be difficult to talk about and what might make it a more comfortable topic.)

7. Either in groups or in journals, have students reflect on why or how this activity was helpful or important. Direct students to discuss and/or write down any further questions the activity brought up for then.

Extension Activities

Do Something

Have students research and explore the community's demographics. Ask: What challenges does our community face as a result of its diversity or lack of diversity? Have students report their findings and recommend approaches to meeting the community's needs, including ways to facilitate awareness and understanding of important or sensitive issues. Some ways students could report their findings include: write a report, create a bulletin board, plan a campaign or host a town hall meeting.

ELL Extension

A self-portrait involves learning about different parts of your face and even your body. Working with art materials also means learning words for different colors. Depending on the level of the students' English, explore the distinction of colors.This means not only "red," "orange," "yellow," but also terms such as "shade," "light," "dark," and "darken." As you work on your portrait, make labels on sticky notes for any new nouns, verbs, or adjectives you learn. Keep them beside your portrait. Once the portraits have dried, put your sticky notes in appropriate places on your portrait. Challenge yourself to see if the same words might also find homes on some of your classmates' portraits! Practice using these words in sentences as you critique your classmates' work.

This activity addresses the following standards using the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts: CCSS SL.1, SL.2, SL.4, SL.6, W.10, L.1, L.3, L.6.

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In this lesson, students explore race and self-identity by creating self-portraits. The lesson aims to help students develop detailed observational skills and use these skills in relation to themselves and others. It also begins constructing a vocabulary that is crucial in helping build community and discuss some of the more challenging aspects of race and racial identity formation.

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This activity asks students to read and compare the language of two oral histories, asking them to think about prejudice, stigma and fundamental rights and freedoms.

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This activity asks students to read and compare the language of two oral histories, asking them to think about prejudice, stigma and fundamental rights and freedoms.

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I have this film and teacher's guide. Just let me know if you want to borrow it.

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Vocabulary

Gender identity [jen dər aɪˈdentəti] (noun) an individual's deeply held sense of being male, female or another gender. Separate from biological sex.

Gender expression [jen dər ɪkˈspreʃn] (noun) the way we show our gender to the world around us.

Suggested Procedure

Share with students that the civil rights movement in Birmingham, Alabama, was powered by a combination of girls and boys as well as women and men. Write or project the following questions on the board. Have students think about answers to these questions as they view the video. (Download complete answers (PDF) here.)

1. What roles did you see boys and girls taking?

2. Were their roles different or similar? How so?

3. Who is leading whom at what time? Why?

4. How is each gender represented?

5. How do these gender roles in the film compare to who leads at your own school?

6. Who in your school or community are the leaders? Are they males or females?

7. What do you think is meant by "strong women" and "gentle men"?

Tell students that now, as then, people are affected by the images around them. Ask: What would it be like if our community had a "Whites Only" sign up for water fountains or restrooms? How would that shape (or misshape) your identity? Discuss with students the idea that the power to resist rests in being able to see things differently than the way things are presented.

Point out that non-violence requires strong women and gentle men to accomplish its goals. Tell students that in the next part of this lesson, they will review popular magazines to look at how they portray girls and boys differently.

Found Poem

In this part of the lesson, you will guide students in creating "found poems" that address the gender roles and expectations affecting their lives. Explain that a "found poem" is made up of words or phrases from something someone reads. It uses someone else's words, but in a new way. Students can, of course, find words anywhere: newspapers, magazines, works of literature, documents, oral histories and narratives. Students can also use spoken words that they hear in the hallways or at lunch.

Found Poems Model

Tell the class that everyone will be writing a found poem on poster board. Encourage students to arrange their poster boards as shown in the model PDF. This poster uses the text of a composed poem (adapted from another poem by Nancy R. Smith) as inspiration for the 'found poem' that has been pasted above it.

Read the poem aloud, or ask a student to do so.

Next, guide students through the following steps to create their own found poem:

1. Flip through a magazine or piece of literature. Look for words that catch your eye.

2. Cut out (or photocopy and cut out, if you're using a book) 10 main key words or phrases that describe how you see each gender represented or addressed.

3. Arrange these words or phrases in a pleasing and meaningful way to make a poem. Write, type or use the pieces you've cut or ripped out of the magazines. Glue them to poster board. If you'd like, illustrate it with drawings or pictures.

Note: After students create one for both genders, ask: "What do you notice when you compare and contrast font size and color? Why do you think magazine people chose these for each gender?"

4. Write or find a response to how you see genders represented differently in the media and explain your poem to the class.

Follow-up Discussion

Do these ads represent gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students? Why or why not?

Can gender be fluid?

Can all genders have all attributes?

Alignment to Common Core State Standards/ College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards CCSS SL.1, SL.2, SL.4, SL.6, R.6, R.9, W.7, W.8, W.10

Extension Activity

Do Something

Ask: Where can you strategically put your poem for others to see it? Who is your audience? Why is it important that they see it? Have students place their poems around the school and community in places where they think it will be most effective.

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The nonviolent Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s included a good mixture of young people, both boys and girls. They worked bravely in the face of a fierce unwillingness by other citizens to granting basic rights to all people.

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The Real Monopoly: America's Racial Wealth Divide

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The Real Monopoly: America's Racial Wealth Divide

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Vocabulary

assets [ as-ets ] (noun) something with economic value that a person owns

injustice [ in-juhs-tis ] (noun) unfair treatment of others that violates their rights

liabilities [ lahy-uh-bihl-ih-tees ] (noun) costs you have to pay, such as rent and tax

simulation [ sim-you-lay-shin ] (noun) a model, a way of showing how something works by imitating it

wealth gap [ welth gap ] (noun) the unequal distribution of assets within a society

Suggested Procedure

Before you begin, read aloud the supplemental rules:

Rules for Hats: You are allowed to play Monopoly by the regular rules.

Rules for Horses: You are allowed to play by the regular rules. However, at any point during the first five turns, the Hats can demand all your property and all but $200 of your cash. The Hat may make this demand once. After that, you may continue to play by the regular rules of Monopoly.

Rules for Cars: You start the game with $200. For the first five turns you are allowed to have no more than $200 at a time. Any additional money must be given to the Hats. You are not allowed to buy any property for the first five turns. In the sixth and seventh turn, you are allowed to buy property, but only on the properties between the "Go" square and the "Jail" square. After the seventh turn, you may play by the normal rules of Monopoly.

1. Tell your students they're about to do something fun - play the board game Monopoly. Many students will already be familiar with the game, while others may have only a passing knowledge, or may have never heard of it. Note that this board game was created in the early 20th century as a simple simulation of the business world. Stress that, like all games, Monopoly is just a model of what happens in the real world. It may not always be true to real life.

2. Say, "I'm going to explain Monopoly's rules and some of the real-world economic principles that the game represents." Present how the game works ("You move around the board using dice. Every time you land on a property you can buy it - if it is not yet owned by anyone else. Once you own a property, you can build on it") and explain key terms: " Rent is what you pay when you use someone else's property. Income is money you are paid (such as the $200 you get for passing "Go" or the money you collect in rent). Liabilities are costs you have to pay - for example, rent and tax. Real property consists of land and buildings on that land. Wealth is a measure of your assets minus your liabilities."

3. Divide your class into Monopoly "teams." Create three teams for each Monopoly board in the classroom. Each team should select one person - ideally someone new to the game - as its "player." The rest of the team will be "advisers" to the player. (It's best if you have enough Monopoly sets to have only three or four students on each team.)

4. Have students begin a game, with each team's advisers looking on and suggesting strategies. Allow teams to play for at least six, but no more than10, turns. Then ask teammates to work together to compile an accounting report that includes: (a) Estimated income (per turn), (b) accumulated wealth (money on hand when the game stops) and (c) a listing of real property. Depending on your class schedule, you may need to set aside one full class period for the Monopoly game and the accounting of assets.

5. Begin the next class session by reminding students that Monopoly is just a model of the economic world, and that reality is always more complex. Tell students that they are going to break into the same groups they competed in during the previous session, for another, new game of Monopoly. This time, however, you will introduce new rules that reflect a more complex reality.

6. Each team should choose one of three tokens to represent it: the Top Hat, the Car, or the Shoe. Once all teams have chosen their tokens, pass out copies of these "supplemental rules" for Monopoly. After all groups have played ten turns of this game of Monopoly, ask each team to do an accounting of its wealth. Remind students again that the game is just a rough representation of reality. However, this new model is meant to reflect the reality behind the race-based gap in wealth in the United States.

Like the Shoes, Native Americans had their property confiscated by European colonizers. Like the Cars, most African Americans were not allowed to own property until after the Civil War - and even then, Jim Crow laws or biased business practices prevented them from buying property in many communities. Of course, the reality is much more complicated than the model. You should make clear to your students that a number of other race-based economic policies had been practiced in the U.S. were just as devastating but were not reflected in our rigged Monopoly game.

7. Give students, as a class, time to discuss how they felt playing the "rigged" game of monopoly. Ask: "Everyone was playing by the same set of rules in the last two turns of the game - did those turns seem fair? Why or why not?"

8. As homework, ask your students to write a short essay in response to the following proposition:"A good Monopoly player can be competitive even in a bad situation." Encourage students to think about how their status in the game (Top Hat, Shoe or Car) affects their answer.

Extension Activity

As an extension activity, invite students to create their own game to reflect the economic realities of life in America today. Give your students the goal of creating a game that would explain the basics of economics to students in younger grades. For an example of how to proceed, take a look at this lesson plan from the Utah Education Network.

Do Something

Ask students to investigate inequities in their community and consider ways to address them. Suggest they start by discussing inequities they are already aware of, doing online research for news about inequities in their community, and/or talking to family members and other members of the community to ask what they feel are inequities. Find out if anyone in the community is already working to address these inequities and how they are doing so. If possible, invite that person to your class to talk about his or her efforts and suggest ways that students can participate. Have students decide on how they would like to participate, and get started.

Alignment to Common Core State Standards/ College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards CCSS SL.1, W.1

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The Real Monopoly: America's Racial Wealth Divide

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Fifty-plus years after the end of legal segregation, individual African Americans have achieved amazing successes - including Barack Obama's election as president. However, the black community as a whole remains under great stress. African Americans are overrepresented in prisons, underrepresented in college, and make less money, on average, than white counterparts in similar positions.

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This shortest month of the year is typically filled with history reports, pageants, guest speakers, cultural fairs and the like. Seldom a day goes by that we don't hear the names of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Madame C.J. Walker, George Washington Carver, and so on.

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Materials

Procedures

Prior to the lesson, create a simple chart using the computer or simply a ruler and pen. The chart should have five columns and four rows. (If time permits, students could create their own charts.)

Write these words across the top: Name, Problem, Strategy, and Impact. Write these words down the side: Past, Present, and Future. Your chart should look like this:

Make enough copies of the chart for each student to have one.

To begin the lesson, ask students to call out the names of individuals typically celebrated during Black History Month; write those names on the board.

Drawing from your own list of unsung heroes, ask students if they've ever heard of the individuals you've selected; add their names to your list. (Extraordinary African Americans not often mentioned might include: scientist, Roger Arliner Young; inventor, Sarah Boone; athlete, James "Cool Papa" Bell; activist, Julian Bond.)

Reflecting on the list, ask students to discuss why these individuals are heroes. What obstacles did they face? How did they overcome them? What contributions have they made to our society?

Furthering the conversation, ask students to provide examples of intolerance they may have experienced in their own lives (shoving on the playground, name calling, stealing, harassment, etc.) and how they dealt with the issue (or perhaps avoided it).

Perhaps some of your students are active in the school or in their community. Allow individuals to share ways in which they try to make a difference.

Distribute the charts to students. Next to the box marked, "Past" (in the "Name" column), have students write in the name of an African American leader from the past. Next to the box marked, "Present," have students write in the name of a current African American leader. Next to the box marked, "Future," have students write their own names.

Next, students should fill in the box labeled, "Problem," with a problem that the individual in the corresponding box may have encountered. They should continue on by filling in the "Strategy" used to solve that problem and the "Impact" it has had on others.

Some students might have a hard time placing themselves among the leaders they selected for the past and present. Guide them in understanding how the strategy chosen to respond to even the smallest act of injustice can set a pattern for life and future encounters.

Have students share their charts with classmates and place them on display in the class.

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Peaceful Lessons from Peaceful Leaders: Tri-Leadership

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This shortest month of the year is typically filled with history reports, pageants, guest speakers, cultural fairs and the like. Seldom a day goes by that we don't hear the names of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Madame C.J. Walker, George Washington Carver, and so on.

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I have a copy of this film and teachers' guide in my office if you would like to borrow it.

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Learning for Justice provides free resources to educators-teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners-who work with children from kindergarten through high school.

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I have a copy of this film and teachers' guide in my office if you would like to borrow it.

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A Time for Justice - A Civil Rights Timeline

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This timeline accompanies the film “America’s Civil Rights Movement: A Time for Justice.”

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Teenagers Discuss Microaggression and Racism

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Teenagers Discuss Microaggression and Racism

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Teenagers Discuss Microaggressions and Racism #HatchKids

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From debut author Janae Marks comes a captivating story full of heart, as one courageous girl questions assumptions, searches for the truth, and does what she believes is right—even in the face of great opposition.

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From debut author Lisa Moore Ramée comes this funny and big-hearted debut middle grade novel about friendship, family, and standing up for what’s right, perfect for fans of Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give and the novels of Renée Watson and Jason Reynolds.

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The award-winning, genre-defying novel by the New York Times best-selling author of The Death of Vivek Oji that explores themes of identity and justice and asks: How do you share the truth when the world around you is in denial?

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Friendships, race, privilege, identity - this compelling and thoughtful story explores the issues young women face.

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A Finalist for the National Book Award

When Ada leaves home for her freshman year at a Historically Black College, it’s the first time she’s ever been so far from her family - and the first time that she’s been able to make her own choices and to seek her place in this new world.

As she stumbles deeper into the world of dance and explores her sexuality, she also begins to wrestle with her past - her mother’s struggle with addiction, her Nigerian father’s attempts to make a home for her. Ultimately, Ada discovers she needs to brush off the destiny others have chosen for her and claim full ownership of her body and her future.

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Filled with mystery and an intriguingly rich magic system, Tracy Deonn’s YA contemporary fantasy Legendborn offers the dark allure of City of Bones with a modern-day twist on a classic legend and a lot of Southern Black Girl Magic.

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Liz Lighty has always believed she’s too black, too poor, too awkward to shine in her small, rich, prom-obsessed Midwestern town. But it’s okay - Liz has a plan that will get her out of Campbell, Indiana, forever: attend the uber-elite Pennington College, play in their world-famous orchestra, and become a doctor.

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Using All American Boys to Confront Racism and Police Brutality

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Using All American Boys to Confront Racism and Police Brutality

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Racism is a systemic issue, meaning it is much larger than one person, although people certainly uphold and perpetuate it both knowingly and unknowingly. ¹ It is woven into the fabric of daily life so tightly that it can be difficult to untangle. Racism works alongside white privilege, a system of unearned benefits, such as obtaining financial breaks and loans, being reflected consistently in classroom curriculum, and being assumed as the "norm." Assumptions about people with light skin include their being honest, responsible, and safe. Thus, white privilege also simultaneously works through the oppression of people of color, about which the opposite assumptions are made-they are often portrayed (especially through the media) as unsafe, powerless, and less deserving of resources such as health care.

In this article, we focus on the novel All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely (2015) to help students work through the implications of racism and the manifestation of racism in police brutality. Reading about youth who are similar in age will potentially help students discern how they are affected by racial relations in their own lives and to consider (and hopefully act on) the methods through which they can enact change to combat the negative effects of racial inequity.

All American Boys

All American Boys is a novel that reflects an incident of police brutality through the perspectives of two adolescent males, one Black, Rashad, and one white, Quinn. Told in alternating points of view, the story catalogs how Rashad is wrongly assaulted by a police officer, Paul, who mistakenly assumes that Rashad is stealing from a local convenience store. Paul's attack is ruthless and leaves Rashad with a broken nose, fractured ribs, and internal bleeding from torn blood vessels around his lungs.

Quinn, a classmate of Rashad's, accidentally stumbles upon the scene and watches from the shadows, horrified and astonished that Paul, a person he looked up to as an older brother, could commit such violence. As the novel progresses, Rashad is treated in the hospital for his wounds and is encouraged by his brother, Spoony, to confront the racist act of which he is a survivor. Raised by his former-police-officer traditional father, who is "all about discipline and believed that if you work hard, good things happen to you no matter what," ² Rashad learns more about his family and struggles to come to terms with institutional racism and its impact.

As the story progresses, Quinn learns to recognize his white privilege and to speak out for others. His best friend, Guzzo, is Paul's brother, who has served as a father figure to Quinn after Quinn's own father was killed in Afghanistan while serving in the US military. Being raised by a single mother, Quinn wrestles with defying close friends and family members to do what is right, recognizing that if he does not act against such forms of racism, the system will continue to thrive. In the end, all characters participate in a march to protest police brutality and perform a die-in, or lying on the ground, to protest. They then read a list of real names to honor those who have suffered from such assault. The novel's conclusion, however, does not include any indication of what becomes of Paul, and thus readers are left in somewhat of a state of uncertainty regarding systemic racism and justice.

All American Boys is an especially valuable text because it simultaneously tackles white privilege and racial oppression, rather than focusing only on one issue or the other. It provides students multiple perspectives from which to examine the social problem and does so in ways that are thoughtful and prompt dialogue. Thus, we chose this book to delve into police brutality because of the way it represents the themes from readers' potential viewpoints and because it challenges and informs its audience.

Teaching Strategies

Before Reading

The context in which a teacher works will certainly influence the approach they should take with this novel. Often, students of color will be familiar with systemic discrimination and racism, having experienced it in their own lives. White students who may be less familiar with structural privilege will need an introduction to the concept. All students, however, could benefit from unpacking key terms. Thus, we suggest that teachers begin with basic vocabulary with which to discuss the topic of the book and the social problem it addresses, including terms such as privilege, oppression, microaggressions, discrimination, prejudice, race, and socialization. It will be key to note that:

Oppression is different from prejudice and discrimination in that prejudice and discrimination describe dynamics that occur on the individual level and in which all individuals participate. In contrast, oppression occurs when one group's prejudice is backed by historical, social and institutional power. ³

Students must understand that discrimination can happen against any one person by another, but oppression includes an element of power and works on a larger scale. In order to facilitate understandings, teachers could ask students to give examples from their own experiences or from events in society to demonstrate their understanding of each of the above terms (once definitions have been provided).

Other concepts for discussion include the use of white, people of color, Black, and African American. Students could read a few informational texts to more deeply consider these topics, such as The Observer article "Should We Say Black or African American?" ⁴ and Ta-Nehisi Coates's essay "What We Mean When We Say 'Race Is a Social Construct.' " ⁵ Discussion questions based on these two could include: Why should people self-identify their race or ethnicity, rather than having someone label them? What does it mean to say race is socially constructed? How is race important in our society?

Once students have a basis for engaging in conversation around these issues, teachers can move them into considering white privilege as a system. They might ask students to construct a list, similar to scholar Peggy McIntosh's, ⁶ of the benefits and unearned advantages that white individuals experience in our society.* McIntosh ⁷ catalogs the everyday benefits she experiences, such as being able to find bandages that match her flesh or not being assumed to represent her entire race if she makes a mistake. Reading her list and updating it would be helpful, and students could complete this activity regardless of their own racial identity to denote the aspects of white privilege that permeate today's world. They could be encouraged to consider television, movies, and music, such as Macklemore, Ryan Lewis, and Jamila Woods's song, "White Privilege II," as well as everyday activities such as shopping and resources available in hotels and grocery stores. Teachers could assign these categories to groups of students so that they are looking collectively at our culture with a critical eye rather than only at their individual selves.

Beyond these sorts of individual privileges, however, it is key to help students discern the systemic nature of racial oppression. Professor Barbara Applebaum ⁸ warns against merely stopping at "white privilege pedagogy" because "students often walk away from reading McIntosh's article thinking that all there is to being anti-racist is 'taking off the knapsack' without acknowledging that privilege is often ascribed even when one is not aware of it and even when one refuses it." ⁹ Instead, she advocates for utilizing "white complicity pedagogy," ¹⁰ which focuses on the ways that the dominant group maintains their status and encourages individuals to discern their part in upholding the status quo.

In order to illustrate this for students, teachers can ask students to practice skills of critical literacy and to examine instances in which ignorance or complicity exists, both historic and current, and ask them to imagine how people could act differently in that situation. For instance, they might examine the case of Silent Sam, the statue of a confederate soldier at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that was torn down by protestors and set off a firestorm of debate. Teachers might ask students, upon learning about Silent Sam and the issues surrounding his existence on campus: Who were the protestors? Who were the bystanders? Who had privilege in this situation, and how could they have used those privileges productively, for the safety and betterment of students of color on this campus?

Helping students understand that racism is everyone's issue is vital. As Jill, Paul and Guzzo's cousin, tells Quinn in the novel, "But everyone's seen it, Quinn. It's all our problem. But what is that problem?" ¹¹ Facilitating students' ability to name the problem and address it are key classroom goals for the study of this text. Learning for Justice has some great resources for helping teachers prepare to talk with students about race and for engaging in those difficult conversations, such as a self-evaluation for teachers to assess their own comfort levels talking about race and strategies for facilitating related discussions with youths.

During Reading

As students read the novel, they will likely identify with one or the other of the protagonists-Quinn or Rashad. Teachers could select one point in the book, such as after the incident of brutality or when tensions rise on the basketball team, and ask students to compose a diary entry, tweet, or Facebook post, as if they were one of the two characters. Or, they could write a letter to the protagonist with which they most identify (Quinn or Rashad) and explain the connections they experience. These text-to-self connections ¹² are key for honoring all students' voices in the classroom and highlighting the different ways that they will relate to the text. They might choose to share these with the class as a way of explaining their own relationship with race in their context.

Students could also be encouraged to empathize with the difficult decisions each of the protagonists makes in the story as they develop their understandings of race and society. At first, Rashad does not wish to become the face of a movement. He says, "I gotta admit, there was a part of me that, even though I felt abused, wanted to tell him [Spoony] to let it go. To just let me heal, let me leave the hospital, let me go to court, let me do whatever stupid community service they wanted me to do, and let me go back to normal." ¹³ Teachers can ask students to consider: Why would Rashad not want to be on the news? Why would he admit to doing something he didn't do and perform community service? Why might Rashad not want to be the face of a protest? What do you think eventually makes him embrace the role he does?

At the same time, Quinn struggles to understand his white privilege and worries about his responsibility in reporting what he has seen during the incident. He realizes, "If I wanted to, I could walk away and not think about Rashad, in a way that ... any of the guys at school who were not white could not.... My shield was that I was white.... It wasn't only that I could walk away-I already had walked away." ¹⁴ Realizing, as mentioned above with the danger of the knapsack metaphor from McIntosh's work, that he cannot take off his skin color but instead that he has unearned advantages because of it, Quinn begins to embrace his responsibility. He avows, "And if I don't do something ... if I just stay silent, it's just like saying it's not my problem." ¹⁵ Teachers can ask students here: Why is it difficult for Quinn to speak up and report what he saw to the police? What does Quinn sacrifice by making a report? Why does Quinn try to justify what happened to Rashad to his friends on the basketball team?

Students could create digital stories about a time they had to speak up or take action to do what was right, or they could research key figures in history and share those stories with classmates. They could also note the similarities and differences between these individuals and Quinn or Rashad. Digital stories require research, writing, storyboarding, and a host of other technical elements that promote students' various literacies16 and are engaging ways to share information.

Another aspect around which to cultivate students' critical literacies is through media representations related to race. In the novel, Rashad's brother Spoony releases a photo of Rashad in his ROTC uniform for the media, saying he wanted "to make sure we controlled as much of the narrative as possible," because if he had not he was certain the news reporters would have "dug all through the Internet for some picture of you looking crazy." ¹⁷ In order to scaffold students' critical media literacies, ¹⁸ they could begin by examining movie posters that tell stories of youths, examining how the images differ based on the youths portrayed-inner-city youths of color are often portrayed in dark colors with images that instill fear, while white youths are depicted in bright colors and ways that promote a "party" storyline. ¹⁹

Teachers can then utilize resources provided by the Critical Media Project, ²⁰ which provide an overview of stereotypes in the media and contain clips with discussion questions. One that relates well to the discussion of All American Boys is the Pepsi advertisement ²¹ that gained negative attention for its casual treatment of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Teachers can then prompt students to consider the depiction of the protest in the advertisement, which they could then relate back to the march in the novel.

Finally, students could conduct character analyses of the major figures in the book. Many of the characters are dynamic in nature, such as Rashad's father, who shifts from a mentality of blaming Rashad to having a more sympathetic attitude toward Rashad's innocence. Most of the characters therefore undergo major transformations and exemplify internal growth. Students can trace this development through illustrations of each character's journey and/or symbolic images to represent the entities that become most important to each character. These will lead to how race is a defining aspect of each character's identity and development. For example, Quinn's whiteness is something he comes to recognize, question, and battle, and students could choose to represent that metaphorically in their artistic responses.

After Reading

The conclusion of the book does not offer a tidy culmination of its events. For some students, especially those who desire a happy ending, this can be difficult to process. Teachers could suggest that students compose and act out scenes they imagine would happen after where the book leaves off, either in the near or distant future. Students could write scripts and perform them for their classmates to illustrate the world they want to live in or to show where they hope the characters would be in the time to come.

The realistic nature of the ending, however, which portrays resistance but not necessarily justice for Rashad, shows the complex nature of the topics tackled in the book, and this ending is worth having students consider deeply. Students could therefore research the history of resistance, especially in movements such as the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the #BlackLivesMatter movement, and discuss the forms of resistance taken and the achievements for change such movements have secured.

As many critique classroom curricula for romanticizing the civil rights movements, it's important that students understand the historic oppression in which today's events are rooted rather than highlighting a few key figures and only praising them as heroes. Educator and author Jamilah Pitts ²² offers guiding questions for this research, such as, "What distinguishes a rebellion from a riot? Whose murders are labeled genocide? What racial groups and tactics of resistance are praised over others?"

Once students have researched these histories, they can then draw connections to contemporary instances of police brutality and racism. In groups, they can investigate one case of police brutality and examine court documents, news articles, and firsthand narratives to construct their understanding of the instance and then share it with the class. As a whole class, they can trace patterns across these cases to again discern how the issue is systemic and broad reaching.

In order to further emphasize the institutionalized nature of racism, students could research national and local policies for training police, especially as related to implicit bias. They would first need to unpack the concept of implicit bias, which "refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner" and "are activated involuntarily and without an individual's awareness or intentional control." ²³ Students can examine an Implicit Association Test themselves that assesses the test taker's own biases, and they could explore the Project Implicit website.

In the novel, Quinn states, "I don't think most people think they're racist," to which Jill later responds, "I think it's all racism." ²⁴ The notion of implicit bias will help students discern that while individuals may not consider themselves racist because they do not commit individual acts of discrimination openly or knowingly, social conditioning leads many to harbor negative associations with people of different races. This can be connected to Rashad's dad in the book, who mistakenly assumes a Black adolescent male is culpable in a fight with a white male. These biases are deeply embedded in our culture and can infiltrate the psyche of all members.

Ideas for Social Action

From the research conducted after reading, students can then move into action. Students might decide to organize their own resistance movements, protesting police brutality at large, or they could choose a more local (even school) issue dealing with racism about which to raise awareness and work to remedy. For instance, students might wish to address microaggressions, or "brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color." ²⁵ These include comments such as, " 'You [a Black person] are not like the rest of them. You're different,' 'If only there were more of them [Black people] like you [a Black person],' and 'I don't think of you [a Black person] as Black.' " ²⁶

In order to act for change surrounding microaggressions, students might design a poster campaign, sharing examples of microaggressions through social media and visibly throughout the halls of their school to encourage their peers to stop using damaging language. They could research common microaggressions and provide evidence of how these are psychologically destructive to the groups they target.

Students might also design a survey to implement at their school to determine what areas of racial inequity are most prevalent and need to be addressed, and they could analyze the results and present their findings to school administrators, board members, and district representatives and provide recommendations for addressing the concerns they collected.

From their research on resistance, students might also write and perform their own protest songs or poems at an open-mic night hosted at the school. This would require research on popular songs and poems of resistance from the past and the movements they supported, such as Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready," Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come," or Gil Scott Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised." Students might attempt to emulate these and relate them to their present concerns. They might also wish to examine current songs such as Childish Gambino's "This Is America," which rocked the popular music scene in 2018 for its graphic presentation of injustice in the country. Students could consider why such songs receive national attention and how they reflect those affected as well as the public conversation about topics such as racism and police brutality.

Since police brutality is an issue that affects the entire community, students could organize a community meeting to discuss the issue and generate solutions. They might consider a public reading group in which parents, stakeholders, and community members are invited to read and discuss the book with the students. ²⁷ Engaging intergenerational dialogue about racism could deepen understandings as well as develop empathy among all participants.

Students might also wish to broaden their study of police brutality and race to examine how other minoritized groups, such as Latinx and Native American populations, are similarly targeted. They could research specific instances, such as police assault at Standing Rock or even at the US border with Mexico, extending their understandings of how racialized groups are mistreated and are often the recipients of violence.

Finally, from their work on police training and implicit bias, students could create a document compiling suggestions for officer preparation and continued education. They might include articles, documentaries, and personal narratives they located and think are relevant. The key here is that their recommendations are research based but are balanced with their own creative ideas for what could make a more just world for all. Enacting and offering solutions to police brutality will help students see that this is a social problem that can and should be addressed.

Ashley S. Boyd is an associate professor of English education at Washington State University, and Janine J. Darragh is an associate professor of literacy and English as a second language at the University of Idaho. This article is excerpted with permission from their book, Reading for Action: Engaging Youth in Social Justice Through Young Adult Literature (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019).

*For a collection of Peggy McIntosh's work, see nationalseedproject.org/about-us/white-privilege. ( return to article)
†One Learning for Justice resource we find especially helpful is the "Let's Talk" guide: bit.ly/30UNvMi. ( return to article)
‡For more on implicit bias, see "Understanding Implicit Bias" in the Winter 2015-2016 issue of American Educator: aft.org/ae/winter2015-2016/staats. ( return to article)

Endnotes

1. Ö. Sensoy and R. DiAngelo, Is Everyone Really Equal? An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education (New York: Teachers College Press, Routledge, 2012).
2. J. Reynolds and B. Kiely, All American Boys (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2015), 51.
3. Sensoy and DiAngelo, Is Everyone Really Equal?, 39.
4. M. Mendez, "Should We Say Black or African-American?," The Observer, October 14, 2016.
5. T.-N. Coates, "What We Mean When We Say 'Race Is a Social Construct,' " The Atlantic, May 15, 2013.
6. P. McIntosh, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack," National SEED Project, Wellesley Centers for Women, nationalseedproject.org/Key-SEED-Texts/white-privilege-unpacking-the-invisible-knapsack.
7. McIntosh, "White Privilege."
8. B. Applebaum, Being White, Being Good: White Complicity, White Moral Responsibility, and Social Justice Pedagogy (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2010), 29.
9. Applebaum, Being White, 31
10. Applebaum, Being White, 179.
11. Reynolds and Kiely, All American Boys, 182.
12. L. Rosenblatt, Literature as Exploration (New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1938).
13. Reynolds and Kiely, All American Boys, 59.
14. Reynolds and Kiely, All American Boys, 180.
15. Reynolds and Kiely, All American Boys, 184.
16. B. Robin, "Digital Storytelling: A Powerful Technology Tool for the 21st Century Classroom," Theory Into Practice 47 (2008): 220-228.
17. Reynolds and Kiely, All American Boys, 94.
18. E. Morrell et al., Critical Media Pedagogy: Teaching for Achievement in City Schools (New York: Teachers College Press, 2013).
19. J. Trier, " 'Sordid Fantasies': Reading Popular 'Inner-City' School Films as Racialized Texts with Pre-Service Teachers," Race Ethnicity and Education 8, no. 2 (2005): 171-189.
20. Critical Media Project, "Topic Overview: Race and Ethnicity," March 2018,
criticalmediaproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Race-and-Ethnicity-Topic-Overview.pdf.
21. Critical Media Project, "Pepsi Protest Ad (Kendall Jenner)," 2018, criticalmediaproject.org/2088-2.
22. J. Pitts, "Bringing Black Lives Matter into the Classroom, Part II," Teaching Tolerance 56 (2017).
23. Kirwan Institute, "Understanding Implicit Bias," Ohio State University, 2015,
kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/research/understanding-implicit-bias.
24. Reynolds and Kiely, All American Boys, 184.
25. D. Sue et al., "Racial Microaggressions in Everyday Life," American Psychologist 62, no. 4 (2007): 271.
26. D. Solórzano, M. Ceja, and T. Yosso, "Critical Race Theory, Racial Microaggressions, and Campus Racial Climate: The Experiences of African American College Students," Journal of Negro Education 69, no. 1/2 (2000): 60-61.
27. A. Boyd and J. Darragh, "Complicating Censorship: Reading All American Boys with Parents of Young Adults," English Education 51, no. 3 (2019): 229-260.

[illustrated by Adriana Bellet]

American Educator, Spring 2021

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Racism is a systemic issue, meaning it is much larger than one person, although people certainly uphold and perpetuate it both knowingly and unknowingly. 1 It is woven into the fabric of daily life so tightly that it can be difficult to untangle.

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Black History Month 2023: Facts, Origins & More | HISTORY

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February is dedicated as Black History Month, honoring the triumphs and struggles of African Americans throughout U.S. history.

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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The Danger of a Single Story | TED

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A curated list of texts to guide students to explore Black history and practice a variety of writing moves at the same time.

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A curated list of texts to guide students to explore Black history and practice a variety of writing moves at the same time.

A number of people and events in Black history are commonly taught in schools-Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Frederick Douglass-but there are many more lesser-known but critically important aspects that demand our attention as educators. While Black history should be taught year-round, Black History Month provides us with a unique opportunity to elevate the stories and voices of Black people who have shaped American history.

As a literacy consultant who understands that elementary teachers have time for only one read-aloud a day at most, I suggest selecting books that can serve a myriad of purposes. In February, that means reading books-like those that follow-that teach Black history and can also serve as mentor texts to inspire students to try new craft moves in their informational writing.
Courtesy of Roaring Book Press 28 Days: Moments in Black History That Changed the World, by Charles R. Smith, illustrated by Shane W. Evans
Smith highlights both well- and lesser-known events, laws, and people in Black history. There's a 29th day-for leap years-dedicated to helping readers understand that they too have the power to shape history. Every entry has a distinct structure, including a eulogy for Madam C.J. Walker and a poem for Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe.

Mentor text possibilities:
A Day for Rememberin': Inspired by the True Events of the First Memorial Day, by Leah Henderson, illustrated by Floyd Cooper

How do you teach someone about a big topic in a meaningful way? We instruct students to narrow their focus. Smith makes Black history accessible by covering important events and people briefly. Ask students to select main and subordinate ideas using tools like boxes and bullets to facilitate this work.

The graphic style of 28 Days is worth emphasizing. Students will be inspired to tinker with using different fonts, point sizes, and colors after closely studying this text.

This story follows 10-year-old Eli on what is regarded as the first Memorial Day, in 1865. Readers can feel the significance of the day as a dressed-up Eli misses school to join his parents in paying their respects to the Union soldiers who gave their lives in the Civil War.

Mentor text possibilities:
Northbound: A Train Ride Out of Segregation, by Michael S. Bandy and Eric Stein, illustrated by James Ransome

It's important for students to learn that leads and endings aren't just the first and last sentences-they can span several pages. By studying leads and endings in picture books, students come to understand that authors have more than one strategy to open or close a text. For instance, I'd categorize the lead in A Day for Rememberin' as a Meeting the Characters lead, which provides readers with an introduction to main and secondary characters.

Students can study the font treatment, which helps writers communicate their words more effectively-giving them the opportunity to highlight words or phrases. This book shows students how they can utilize italics. Henderson uses italics to emphasize significant words and to embed lyrics in the text, helping readers hear them as songs.

After watching trains pass by his family's farm for years, young Michael Bandy is taking his first train trip. He befriends a White boy on the train during an interval when the "Colored Only" signs come down, only to be ushered back to his segregated car later.

Mentor text possibilities:

The heart of a story is often revealed bit by bit. Here, Bandy and Stein employ a variety of techniques-action, internal thinking, dialogue, setting details, character details-modeling for young writers how to stretch out the most important parts of their own text.

If you're teaching students how to write narrative nonfiction, it's possible they'll craft stories that require additional information to be understood. Including back or end matter helps readers better understand the historical context of a book that would feel out of place in the narrative. The authors' note in Northbound discusses the Interstate Commerce Act, which impacted the way segregation was enforced on trains.

Courtesy of Candlewick Press Seeds of Freedom: The Peaceful Integration of Huntsville, Alabama, by Hester Bass, illustrated by E.B. Lewis
Seeds of Freedom illustrates how the Black citizens of Huntsville sought justice through peace in their remarkable fight to integrate their city. Through planning and actions like lunch counter sit-ins, the seeds of freedom were sown. Readers witness the fight for the integration of Huntsville's schools-the first all-White public schools in Alabama to admit Black children.

Mentor text possibilities:
Opal Lee and What It Means to Be Free: The True Story of the Grandmother of Juneteenth, by Alice Faye Duncan, illustrated by Keturah A. Bobo

This book takes place over the course of 21 months. Showcasing the way Bass uses headings can teach students how dated headings can frame their writing, marking changes in time and place.

The author employs words like segregation and integrate as well as helping young readers understand their meaning along the way. One way to offset definitions within a sentence is to use dashes. By showing students examples of how to define words in text, you'll help them embed content-specific language into their writing.

Activist Opal Lee-who marched from Texas to Washington, D.C., at 89 years old to bring attention to Juneteenth-believed it was crucial to remember the past in order to have a better future. Readers learn about the origins of Juneteenth as well as what life was like for Black Americans in the years that followed.

Mentor text possibilities:
A Ride to Remember: A Civil Rights Story, by Sharon Langley and Amy Nathan, illustrated by Floyd Cooper

Writers create a mood by making conscious decisions about punctuation. Duncan, for example, creates voice in her text by skillful use of commas, ellipses, and hyphenated compound adjectives. By teaching students these moves, we can help them make purposeful choices so their writing sounds the way they intend.

Some of the back matter in Opal Lee is traditional, like a Juneteenth timeline and a source list. But there's also a recipe for the red punch lemonade that's featured in the story. As a result, students can explore the back matter and think of a variety of additional things they could include after the last page of their main text.

A Ride to Remember transports readers to Maryland's Gwynn Oak Amusement Park in the early 1960s. This first-person narrative details the joyous day that Sharon Langley became the first Black child to ride the carousel-coincidentally, on the day Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.

Mentor text possibilities:
The Teachers March!: How Selma's Teachers Changed History, by Sandra Neil Wallace, illustrated by Charly Palmer

Authors often employ multiple strategies to open a text. Within the first two page spreads, this book combines a character snapshot with an invitation to imagine the beauty and equality of a carousel ride. Showing students leads that use multiple strategies will encourage them to take writerly risks.

A Ride to Remember contains multiple sentences that model a variety of comma uses. Since students are at different points of comma understanding, try leading a variety of strategy lessons that meet them where they are.

The Teachers March! describes the genesis and organization of a teachers-only march in Selma, Alabama. Rev. F.D. Reese knew that teachers were pillars of the community and believed that if he could get Black teachers in Selma to march-in an effort to obtain the right to vote-then change would follow.

Mentor text possibilities:

One of the ways that Wallace keeps readers engaged throughout the text is by inserting questions, which make the reader stop and think about the information they're learning-something students can learn to do in their own work.

Quotation marks are often used around a word or a phrase to set it off or emphasize it. Students can tinker with using quotation marks for more than dialogue by using them to stress selected words or phrases in their writing.

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7 Books About Black History to Use as Mentor Texts

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A curated list of texts to guide students to explore Black history and practice a variety of writing moves at the same time. A number of people and events in Black history are commonly taught in schools-Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Frederick Douglass-but there are many more lesser-known but critically important aspects that demand our attention as educators.

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**Free Copies are Available. Contact Kerri Helgeson at District Office

Teaching for Black Lives grows directly out of the movement for Black lives. We recognize that anti-Black racism constructs Black people, and Blackness generally, as not counting as human life. Throughout this book, we provide resources and demonstrate how teachers connect curriculum to young people's lives and root their concerns and daily experiences in what is taught and how classrooms are set up. We also highlight the hope and beauty of student activism and collective action.

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These 3 project ideas are for students after a Reconstruction, Civil Rights Movement, or contemporary African-American history unit. They ask students to develop a plan for Reconstruction that...

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Talk with your students about Aretha Franklin: They all know the Queen of Soul

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These 3 project ideas are for students after a Reconstruction, Civil Rights Movement, or contemporary African-American history unit. They ask students to develop a plan for Reconstruction that...

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Above the Rim: How Elgin Baylor Changed Basketball

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Above the Rim: How Elgin Baylor Changed Basketball

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Hall-of-famer Elgin Baylor was one of basketball’s all-time-greatest players—an innovative athlete, team player, and quiet force for change. One of the first professional African-American players, he inspired others on and off the court. But when traveling for away games, many hotels and restaurants turned Elgin away because he was black. One night, Elgin had enough and staged a one-man protest that captured the attention of the press, the public, and the NBA.

Above the Rim is a poetic, exquisitely illustrated telling of the life of an underrecognized athlete and a celebration of standing up for what is right.

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Instant New York Times bestseller!

A lyrical, heart-lifting love letter to Black and brown children everywhere: reminding them how much they matter, that they have always mattered, and they always will, from powerhouse rising star author Tami Charles and esteemed, award-winning illustrator Bryan Collier.

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Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks

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Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks

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Gwendolyn Brooks (1917–2000) is known for her poems about “real life.” She wrote about love, loneliness, family, and poverty—showing readers how just about anything could become a beautiful poem. Exquisite follows Gwendolyn from early girlhood into her adult life, showcasing her desire to write poetry from a very young age. This picture-book biography explores the intersections of race, gender, and the ubiquitous poverty of the Great Depression—all with a lyrical touch worthy of the subject. Gwendolyn Brooks was the first Black person to win the Pulitzer Prize, receiving the award for poetry in 1950. And in 1958, she was named the poet laureate of Illinois. A bold artist who from a very young age dared to dream, Brooks will inspire young readers to create poetry from their own lives.

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The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read

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The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read

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In 1848, Mary Walker was born into slavery. At age 15, she was freed, and by age 20, she was married and had her first child. By age 68, she had worked numerous jobs, including cooking, cleaning, babysitting, and selling sandwiches to raise money for her church. At 114, she was the last remaining member of her family. And at 116, she learned to read. From Rita Lorraine Hubbard and rising star Oge More comes the inspirational story of Mary Walker, a woman whose long life spanned from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement, and who--with perseverance and dedication--proved that you're never too old to learn.

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The Power of Her Pen: The Story of Groundbreaking Journalist Ethel Payne

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The Power of Her Pen: The Story of Groundbreaking Journalist Ethel Payne

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Ethel Payne always had an ear for stories. Seeking truth, justice, and equality, Ethel followed stories from her school newspaper in Chicago to Japan during World War II. It even led her to the White House briefing room, where she broke barriers as the only black female journalist. Ethel wasn’t afraid to ask the tough questions of presidents, elected officials, or anyone else in charge, earning her the title, “First Lady of the Black Press.”

Fearless and determined, Ethel Payne shined a light on the darkest moments in history, and her ear for stories sought answers to the questions that mattered most in the fight for Civil Rights.

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Frustrated by a day full of teachers and classmates mispronouncing her beautiful name, a little girl tells her mother she never wants to come back to school. In response, the girl's mother teaches her about the musicality of African, Asian, Black-American, Latinx, and Middle Eastern names on their lyrical walk home through the city. Empowered by this newfound understanding, the young girl is ready to return the next day to share her knowledge with her class. Your Name is a Song is a celebration to remind all of us about the beauty, history, and magic behind names.

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Black History Month ends today. In many classrooms, after this month comes to a close, the instruction about the contributions of Black people to U.S. history, society and culture falls off. In others, students will stay deeply engaged in the study of Black history and experiences. I invite you to consider the following questions about what happens in your classroom:

How often do your students learn about the contributions of Black individuals to U.S. society?

Are your students able to explain to someone else the contributions that Black individuals have made in the United States?

How many books or other texts by Black writers do your students read during the academic year?

How many books or other texts do your students read during the academic year that highlight Black experiences?

If your students' readings have Black characters, do these characters have positions of power?

This is by no means an exhaustive list of questions, but I hope it will inspire you to reflect on how often-and with which resources-you teach about Black history and Black experiences in your classroom.

Sadly, it still needs to be restated every year: Limiting sustained, in-depth engagement to Black History Month is problematic. It creates gaps in the curriculum and instruction, and ensures that students-especially Black students-will continue to receive harmful messages about the value of African Americans as a result of those gaps. Every day, not just the days in February, should be an opportunity for students to learn about Black history, experiences and people. Here are four ways to do it.

Add-and keep adding-books by and about Black individuals to your classroom and school library.

Students are often not exposed to stories of Black experiences in the United States. In fact, the Cooperative Children's Book Center reviewed 3,400 children's books in 2015 and found that only 261 books were about African Americans. All students benefit from being surrounded by curricular "windows" and "mirrors." And it is especially crucial for Black students to see their lives reflected in what they read, as Black people are so often portrayed negatively in the media.

To help expand your classroom and school library- and your students' minds-check out this list of books featuring people of color compiled by CaneRow. You can also use Teaching Tolerance's Reading Diversity tool to assess a particular reading's diversity.

Incorporate Black history and Black experiences into all of your units.

Actively-and regularly-consider the opportunities where you could use books or other writings by Black authors and the life stories of Black individuals to teach enduring understandings. TT resources that you may find helpful include the reports and guides in the Teaching the Movement initiative and the blogs, lessons and other materials in the " Teaching About Race, Racism and Police Violence" web package. You can also find free, anti-bias readings in TT's text library, such as "Ain't I a Woman" by Sojourner Truth, "Harlem" by Langston Hughes or the prologue from The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

Engage students in critical conversations about how Black people are portrayed in the media.

Students are inundated with media that portray African Americans, especially males, as thugs and criminals. Guide your students through discussion about this phenomenon and brainstorm ways they could combat this messaging. Perhaps they could engage in making their own public service announcements or campaigns. (Check out " Listen Up! PSA for Change," a 6-12 "Do Something" student task.) Critical conversations about the media can shift mindsets, disprove inaccurate stereotypes and begin to dismantle implicit racial bias. Moreover, consider inviting Black role models to further complicate the models of blackness portrayed in the media. (For more information about facilitating difficult discussions about race and racism, see TT's guide )

Challenge yourself to read books by Black writers and other writers of color.

When you deliberately seek out readings by writers of color for yourself, you are modeling diverse reading for students. This reading habit will also expand your knowledge and worldview. It won't be easy, as noted here, but you could begin with this list of recommended books by writers of color.

By integrating Black voices and experiences into the curriculum and instruction-and into your own self-education-you can help Black students value their identities and help all students to humanize Black people, who are so often stripped of their humanity and dignity in our classrooms, on our streets and on our television sets.
Simmons is a lifelong activist, educator and student of life from the Bronx, New York. She currently serves as the director of implementation at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.

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Black History Month ends today. In many classrooms, after this month comes to a close, the instruction about the contributions of Black people to U.S. history, society and culture falls off. In others, students will stay deeply engaged in the study of Black history and experiences.

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Vocabulary

adversity [ad-vur-sih-tee] (noun) a state of continued difficulties

figurative [fig-yer-uh-tiv] (adjective) not literal; represented by a figure of speech

imagery [im-ij-ree] (noun) words that create images in people's minds

literal [lit-er-uhl] (adjective) the actual meaning of a word

Suggested Procedure

1. Tell students that authors often use imagery to create comparisons between literal and figurative elements, add depth and understanding to a literary piece, and evoke a more meaningful experience for the reader. Give the class a brief introduction to Maya Angelou (see Lesson Overview, above), then explain that examining her masterful use of imagery throughout the poem "Still I Rise" can help them understand and interpret the poem's theme and message. Before reading the poem, define or review definitions for the following elements of imagery: personification, metaphor, simile, onomatopoeia and hyperbole. Definitions can be found here.

2. Have students read "Still I Rise" in its entirety. (Note: Either print the poem out or give the class access online.) Students working with the printed text can use a highlighter to identify examples of imagery in the poem.

3. Divide the class into small groups. Have each group select one of the poem's stanzas to analyze. Using the Images of "Still I Rise" activity sheet, ask students to list each example of imagery in the stanza, the type of imagery used, and what they believe the element of imagery represents in the poem's theme. For example, the sun-an element of nature that continues to rise despite any other circumstances-in stanza three might represent African Americans' resilience in the face of racism and discrimination or Maya Angelou's resiliency despite a difficult childhood. Tell students that when they are finished, they will present their group's interpretation of their stanza to the rest of the class. Encourage other groups to add to the interpretation. Once all groups have presented, ask students to combine with another group and draw conclusions about how the imagery in the poem contributes to the poem's overall message.

4. Explain to students that although we know the author of "Still I Rise" is Maya Angelou, the speaker, audience and topic of the poem are less clear. Tell them, "Readers are free to develop their own interpretations. Your interpretation may be dependent on your own cultural identity, experiences and knowledge, and it may be different than the interpretation of your classmates." Explain that poems are often best interpreted by first reading them aloud. Ask students to pair up with a partner and take turns reading the poem aloud while a partner listens. Have them discuss the following questions: "What emotions do you hear in your partner's interpretation? Did you read the poem in a similar manner or differently?"

Ask students to annotate the poem with their partner using the following questions:

Who do you think the speaker/narrator of the poem is? Is it a person? A cultural group? Highlight or underline words or phrases that help you identify the speaker/narrator.

How does the speaker/narrator seem to feel about herself? Draw a face that represents that emotion (e.g., a smiley face, sad face or angry face) next to a word phrase that exhibits it. Have you ever felt that way about yourself? If so, share with your partner what makes you feel that way.

To whom do you think the poem is directed? Highlight or underline words and phrases that support your answers and share them with your partner.

What message is the writer trying to give to the person or group to which she is writing? Have you ever had to give a similar message to someone? If so, when?

What do you believe the poem's overall theme is? Examples include hopelessness, strength, resiliency, spirit and anger. Write the theme you have identified at the top of the poem. Then draw an arrow to a word or phrase from the poem that supports that theme.

Do you see this poem in a historical context? If so, explain that context to your partner.

Finally, consider and share with your partner how your own knowledge, experiences and cultural identity influence the way you interpret the poem. Have you interpreted it differently than your partner?

5. After students have annotated the text, conduct a class discussion. Divide into two groups. Set up the room with two concentric circles of chairs-one large circle of chairs and a second, larger circle of chairs outside of it. One group will sit in the inner circle and one group will sit in the outer circle. Have each student bring a copy of the poem. Ask a question of those students in the inner circle only. Those in the outer circle will observe the discussion and be prepared to summarize what they have heard. Tell students to take a few minutes to think about their answer and that they may refer to notes from the previous activity. Go around the circle or use a talking piece, letting each person answer the question. After everyone has had a chance to answer, tell students that they can respond to what has been said. If a student disagrees with someone's answer, this is his or her chance to explain. Suggest that students might want to connect to something in their own experience or raise a related question.

Have the inner circle group answer the first two questions and then ask the outer circle group to summarize what they heard. Then ask groups to switch and the outer circle group should become the inner circle group and answer the third and fourth questions. Follow this procedure for these four questions:

In what way(s) do you personally connect with this poem?

To what "gifts that my ancestors gave" is the author referring? What gifts were you given from ancestors or people in your cultural group who came before you?

Which groups, either in society or at your school, are "shot with words," "cut with eyes" or "killed with hatefulness?" How is this received? What can be done to change it?

You are part of many different groups, such as your family, your cultural group, your religious group and your gender group. Share an example of how you have faced adversity as part of one of these groups and if/how you have risen up against it.

Extension Activity

Invite students to learn more about Angelou's difficult early life and her subsequent accomplishments. You can share this information: "Maya Angelou is one of the most influential voices of our time. However, she had a turbulent childhood. After her parents' divorce, she was sent to live with her grandmother in racially divided Stamps, Arkansas, where she experienced the brutality of racial discrimination. She also absorbed the unshakable faith and values of traditional African-American family, community and culture. After being sent back to live with her mother, she was raped at the age of eight by her mother's friend. She confided the abuse to her brother, leading to the rapist's arrest. Upon getting out of jail, the rapist was killed, many believe by Maya's uncles. She believed her voice killed him since she told her brother of the crime. Subsequently she went mute for nearly six years. She was then sent back to live with her grandmother where a teacher helped her regain her voice, her confidence, and her pride. She went on to become an author, actress, journalist, civil rights worker, and teacher, using her voice for positive change."

Ask students to think about the following questions: "From where does your voice come: your family, your culture, your beliefs, your friends, your experiences? For what would you like to use your voice, now and in the future?" Then invite students to write a letter, poem, blog, song or journal entry that answers those questions.

Do Something

Work with your school counselor and other stakeholders to champion and create a "Still I Rise" club or group at your school dedicated to helping students find their voices and overcome adversity. The club could simply be a place for students to find resources or it could be a more complex, peer-to-peer support network. (Note: Some schools may only authorize clubs that are connected to a national organization, e.g., Amnesty International.)

Alignment to Common Core State Standards/ College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards CCSS R.2, R.3, R.4, R.5, R.6, W.4, SL.1, SL.2, SL.3, SL.4, L.4, L.5, L.6

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This lesson focuses on questions of identity as students read and analyze Angelou's inspirational poem "Still I Rise" and apply its message to their own lives. Students learn how Maya Angelou overcame hardship and discrimination to find her own voice and to influence others to believe in themselves and use their voices for positive change.

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Unspoken: A Story from the Underground Railroad

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Unspoken: A Story from the Underground Railroad

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A young girl's courage is tested in this haunting, wordless story.When a farm girl discovers a runaway slave hiding in the barn, she is at once startled and frightened. But the stranger's fearful eyes weigh upon her conscience, and she must make a difficult choice.Will she have the courage to help him?Unspoken gifts of humanity unite the girl and the runaway as they each face a journey: one following the North Star, the other following her heart. Henry Cole's unusual and original rendering of the Underground Railroad speaks directly to our deepest sense of compassion.

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Rap a Tap Tap: Here’s Bojangles—Think of That! by Leo and Diane Dillon, includes the authors’ rich illustrations combined with wonderful rhymes that are sure to capture the imaginations of young readers. This 2002 publication provides a compelling introduction to the artistry of Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, a tap-dancing legend who broke racial boundaries in the U.S. entertainment industry—on the vaudeville stage, on Broadway, on radio and in Hollywood—throughout the early 20th century.

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History Comics: Rosa Parks & Claudette Colvin: Civil Rights Heroes

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History Comics: Rosa Parks & Claudette Colvin: Civil Rights Heroes

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Gr 4-6 –“In history books, we tend to focus on the moment, not the work that came before or continued after,” Baptiste writes in the afterword to this book, whose contents go a long way toward remedying that. Nine months before Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white person, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin did the same thing. Colvin’s court case didn’t change the law, and she also was aware that she wasn’t the “right” person to represent the cause of desegregation, narrating that in the eyes of movement leaders, she was “too young, too dark, and too poor,” and a few months later, pregnant as well. She was, however, surrounded by allies, including well-organized chapters of the NAACP and the Women’s Political Caucus, who supported her before and during her court case and were also ready to move into action when Parks took her stand. Grant’s cute, rounded art belies both the seriousness and the complexity of this book, which sheds light on some of the lesser-known voices in the movement and the disagreements that occurred along the way.

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Gr 8 Up –After his father disappears on an archaeological dig, Toba and his mother move from their home in Nigeria to a sleepy town in Washington State. Toba and his friends discover a video game in the basement of their school, and Toba is unnerved when his father appears in the game. Then, men in black suits start chasing him, and everything goes off the rails. Turns out Toba’s father released the spirit of an ancient Nigerian antagonist, Ewon, who is now determined to take over the whole town using mind-control rays. This story moves fast, as Toba and his friends must dodge Ewon and his minions, rescue their parents, and destroy the mechanism that is controlling them. Kambadais’s uncomplicated art has eerie colors and just enough detail to get the point across, and the dynamic panel arrangements create a sense of speed and urgency. This story will appeal to fans of sci-fi and Afrofuturism as well as fans of R.L. Stine’s “Goosebumps.”

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Gr 1-3 –Mimi favors frilly clothes and lots of sparkles, and her magical stuffed animal Penelope is adorable, too. Cuteness has its drawbacks, though, as Mimi realizes when people assume she’s as delicate as she is cute: her mother cautions her not to get dirty and her friend’s father won’t let her help carry boxes of comics. With Penelope’s help, Mimi tries on different personas—superhero, super-smart teacher, and cool girl—before realizing that she just needs to be herself and speak up when people respond only to her looks. Grant’s dynamic artwork has a manga-influenced feel. Mimi and Penelope are delightful lead characters, and Grant makes an important point while keeping the reader giggling. A second volume, Mimi and the Boo-Hoo Blahs, is out this month.

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Gr 4-7 –Garvey loves chess and science fiction, much to the dismay of his father, who wants to play football with his son the way he did with his own father. Garvey feels like he’s letting his father down, but he can’t do anything about it. Nor can he help the fact that the kids in school tease him about his weight. But he has a good team on his side, including his sister Angie, who got the athletic ability in the family, and his friend Joe. Things start to improve when Joe persuades him to join the school chorus. Garvey makes a new friend, Manny, who has albinism and who helps him learn to ignore the teasing. And in a nice twist, music turns out to be that one special thing Garvey can share with his father. Grimes wrote the original version of Garvey’s Choice in a type of Japanese non-rhyming verse called tanka. Although she slightly modified the text for this graphic novel, the effect still comes through: The story is broken into bite-size pieces, each page or spread depicting a single moment. Taylor’s art has a minimum of detail but plenty of emotional impact.

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Gr 3-7 –This candy-colored, action-packed story mixes superheroes and school drama to good effect. In a city where superheroes and ordinary folk live side-by-side, the fact that Leon wears a superhero costume to school doesn’t draw second glances, but he doesn’t really have powers. Clementine, a power-mad hall monitor who is also a shapeshifter, taunts and bullies him, even inviting him to her birthday party just to humiliate him. When a smartphone app turns all their fellow students into zombies, though, Leon and Clementine must team up to save the day. The fast-moving plot is filled with action and humor, and Nicholas’s exaggerated, colorful art gives the book the feel of an animated cartoon.

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Gr 5-9 –Don’t be fooled by the playful cover: This isn’t some cute chibi version of Shuri, it’s a real comic story, collecting a 10-issue series that, while kid-friendly, isn’t specifically written or drawn for kids. And that’s a good thing. It starts with Shuri’s brother T’Challa taking a trip to outer space, where he promptly disappears into a black hole. A group of women call on Shuri to take his place as the Black Panther. She declines, but when her search for her brother takes some hazardous turns, she reconsiders. This episodic story reads like a collection of comic books, with several distinct plots, various artists for different sections, and guest appearances by Groot, Rocket Raccoon, Miles Morales, Ms. Marvel, and others. It’s a great read, just not your typical graphic novel. Shuri’s insistence on data and hard science over tradition and intuition adds an interesting bit of food for thought. The art has a straightforward, almost old-fashioned comics style, with heavy lines and bright colors. A good pick for Black Panther fans, the book is also accessible to first-time Marvel readers.

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Now Let Me Fly: A Portrait of Eugune Bullard

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Now Let Me Fly: A Portrait of Eugune Bullard

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Gr 10 Up –This biography of Eugene Bullard, the first African American fighter pilot, doesn’t soft-pedal the violence of the Jim Crow South or of World War I. It tells a fascinating story of an extraordinary man. Raised in rural Georgia, Bullard ran away at 13, joined a family from Ireland who were camped out near his home, then worked in different jobs until he could finally reach his goal of traveling to Europe. He worked as a music hall entertainer and boxer and joined the French army when World War I broke out. After being injured, he learned to fly on a bet and flew combat missions with the French Air Service. Bullard was smart and resourceful, and the many twists and turns of his life make for riveting reading. Revel’s casual artwork, with deft lines and just a single color, is perfect for this story, clearly delineating each character and their emotions and quickly setting the scene for Bullard’s many adventures.