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National Museum of African American History & Culture - Digital Tool Box (Musical Crossroads)

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National Museum of African American History & Culture - Digital Tool Box (Musical Crossroads)

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National Museum of African American History and Culture

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Exhibition Experience

The exhibition's title is indicative of its main goals. Through its content, Musical Crossroads is the space where history and culture intermingle, where music serves as the crossroads between the interpretation of musical styles and traditions and the stories of cultural survivals, individual accomplishments, and social progress.

The exhibition's narrative is not organized chronologically but through stories of musical genres and contextual themes that are integral sub-plots in the history of African American music. In this way the exhibition acknowledges that musical developments of all kinds are constantly evolving simultaneously over space and time.

Classical

Marian Anderson's Ensemble from the 1939 Concert at the Lincoln Memorial (modified in 1993)
By 1939 Marian Anderson (1897-1993) had performed for audiences worldwide. But in Washington, D.C., the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused to let her perform at their concert house, Constitution Hall. In response, Walter White, executive secretary of the NAACP, and Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes arranged for a public concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939. It was a watershed moment in civil rights history. Marian Anderson gave voice to the principles of freedom, justice, and equality.

Music on Stage and Screen

Neon Sign from Minton's Playhouse
Minton's Playhouse opened in 1938 on 118 th Street in Harlem and is known as the birthplace of bebop. During the club's famous Monday night jam sessions in the forties, musicians such as Thelonious Monk, Kenny Clarke, Charlie Christian, Roy Eldridge, Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie created a new style of jazz that featured fast tempos, technical virtuosity that explored complicated harmonic and rhythmic structures. Because of its complexity, bebop was a style more oriented toward listening and was well suited for Minton's club-like environment.

Sacred

Thomas Dorsey's Rehearsal Piano from Pilgrim Baptist Church
Thomas Dorsey (1899-1993), commonly referred to as the Father of Gospel music, used this piano and bench at Pilgrim Baptist Church where he served as music director for over 40 years.

Rock n Roll

Chuck Berry's Cadillac
Chuck Berry was known for owning a fleet of Cadillacs and would write songs that would often reference the vehicle. This Cadillac was driven on stage at the Fox Theater in St. Louis in the documentary, Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll! It was the same theater that turned him away as a child because he was black.

Hip-Hop

Public Enemy S1W Uniform
Rewriting the rules of hip-hop particularly in their ability to communicate statements of protest, activism and social revolution to their audience, Public Enemy is among the most influential, pioneering and controversial rap groups in the history of Hip-Hop music. The group voiced tenets of -black pride and racial awareness with a level of seriousness largely unseen in the Hip-Hop genre.

Neighborhood Record Store

The Neighborhood Record Store functions as a communal space where visitors are joined together by their interest in music and the exhibition's content. It will be the place where visitors can interact with each other, recall memories of their favorite songs and make new discoveries about their favorite artists and new genres of music. Included in the record store, will be record covers for individual browsing and a centrally- positioned digital touch table interactive station that links songs and artists to various genres, themes, regions and time periods. The space is rounded out with artifacts that highlight the evolution of recorded media, tour memorabilia and objects related to a select number of artists.

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The exhibition's title is indicative of its main goals. Through its content, Musical Crossroads is the space where history and culture intermingle, where music serves as the crossroads between the interpretation of musical styles and traditions and the stories of cultural survivals, individual accomplishments, and social progress.

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Black History Month Resources (from Learning for Justice)

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Black History Month Resources (from Learning for Justice)

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Skip to main content

Black history is central to our nation's story. On the one hand, we must understand the foundational role of racism and white supremacy in our nation's origin, and, on the other, we must celebrate the continuous threads of Black resilience, contribution and triumph at every phase. Young people deserve to learn this history in all its complexity, and in ways that are accurate, comprehensive and age appropriate. Uplift Black stories during Black History Month, of course, but more importantly, incorporate Black history all year long.

"If young people are to make the vision of a just and peaceful world a reality, we must give them the tools to build a strong, multiracial, inclusive democracy-and those tools include an honest and comprehensive history of the United States."

-from Teaching the Civil Rights Movement

Learning for Justice offers the following resources to help you learn about, teach and make Black history visible.

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Black history is central to our nation's story. On the one hand, we must understand the foundational role of racism and white supremacy in our nation's origin, and, on the other, we must celebrate the continuous threads of Black resilience, contribution and triumph at every phase.

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Stories are a deeply meaningful way that we learn about the world, and they can build empathy and understanding of ourselves and others. Through stories we can connect with a character and share another viewpoint about the world. But importantly, stories emphasize that we are not alone in our emotions and experiences.

At Learning for Justice, we love to read. Here are a few of our favorite book recommendations from our magazine book reviews that affirm identities, celebrate diversity and highlight justice. We are happy to share them with you and hope that you will enjoy and share them too.

Growing Readers
(Elementary School and Younger)

Daddy Why Am I Brown? A Healthy Conversation About Skin Color and Family celebrates the rich tapestry of human phenotypes, offering a thoughtful guide on discussing skin tones with kids. While skin color may offer clues about where a person's ancestors came from, we must get to know people to learn anything about their behaviors or background. Written by Bedford Palmer II, Ph.D., and illustrated by Winda Mulyasari, this book emphasizes the joys and rewards of taking the time to do that work. Pick up this book for an accessible conversation starter. A great guide for helping children understand the differences among race, skin color, ethnicity and culture.

Hair Love teaches self-love and exemplifies representation for Black people and Black culture. Matthew A. Cherry's book follows a little girl named Zuri as she works with her father to create a perfectly coifed hairstyle. In a time when Black youth are penalized for wearing their natural hair, this story shows an appreciation for the magic of grooming coarse or kinky hair, represented by Afros, locs, braids and a head wrap. The tenderness of Black fatherhood is also on display, offering plenty of heartwarming moments. A push against attempts to disparage those who dare to take pride in the way they look.

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. This lovely and lively book will delight young readers and introduce them to an artist with an important place in the history of U.S. popular culture.

"Grandma is the original warrior," writes Junauda Petrus in Can We Please Give the Police Department to the Grandmothers? Illustrated by Kristen Uroda, this richly woven tapestry of words honors the liberatory inroads our elders made while also imagining a world where care and support rule the day. Beautiful imagery accompanies this magical aural experience. This loving work will spark imaginations and offer a fabulous example of how to freedom dream.

When Julián spots three mermaids on the subway home, he is in awe. He knows that he is a mermaid too-but he's not sure what his abuela will think when he dresses up like one. A magical story written and illustrated by Jessica Love, Julián Is a Mermaid provides children the opportunity to see how important it is to express who you truly are-and how wonderful it is when the people you love encourage you to accept yourself. Warmth and love radiate from this colorful story of self-acceptance.

Keylonda Wheeler writes in the introduction to Nia Skye's Friend on Wheels that, "it's so important that disabled people are shown in everyday reading just living their lives." In this charming book-the first in a series titled The Inclusive Krewe-Wheeler accomplishes that goal by highlighting the friendship between two kindergarten-aged girls who learn from each other as they arrange playdates and engage in fun family activities. Steffi Stanley's delightful illustrations make this story pop. Wheeler's work models inclusiveness is the most wonderful way. Children will love this story!

Josie Dances, by Denise Lajimodiere, is a beautiful story of a young Ojibwe girl preparing for her powwow debut. This book, with wonderful illustrations by Angela Erdrich, explores the intersection of Indigenous culture, family, nature and traditions-offering an essential perspective to any library collection. With help from her family and the support of her community, Josie gathers what she needs to receive her spirit name and participate in her first powwow. An essential telling of Ojibwe culture that will have readers celebrating and honoring Josie's journey.

Written by Carole Lindstrom, an Anishinaabe/Métis author tribally enrolled with the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe, and illustrated by Michaela Goade, an enrolled member of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, We Are Water Protectors connects Indigenous traditions to present-day activism. Facing the threat of a pipeline-a manifestation of a tale of the snake that will threaten the land-a young water protector explains why water is sacred and vows to defend it. This story is a call to action insisting that Indigenous people are not only still here but still at the forefront of the fight for climate justice. A beautifully illustrated and profoundly told tale that centers the courageous work of Indigenous activists while reminding readers that we are all connected by the water they protect.

In Eugene the Unicorn: A Kid's Book To Help Start LGBTQ Inclusive Conversations, author and illustrator T. Wheeler demonstrates how to engage in age-appropriate discussions about difference, diversity and acceptance. The rhyming text will certainly engage little listeners as they learn that the thing we have in common is that we all have individual differences. In this charming book, Wheeler encourages self-acceptance, celebrates diversity, and writes, "No one can be a better you than you." Children will love the rhythm of this read-aloud book with its specific focus on inclusivity.

It Feels Good to Be Yourself: A Book About Gender Identity by Theresa Thorn and illustrated by trans artist Noah Grigni helps young readers understand gender expression and affirms the spectrum of gender identities. The book includes a glossary, a note to readers about pronouns and a list of additional resources that focus on gender identity. Enchanting illustrations will delight young readers as they learn that all people are valued just the way they are. This beautiful book is a great introduction to the many expressions of gender in the world.

My Maddy by Gayle E. Pitman, Ph.D., and illustrated by Violet Tobacco tells the story of a child and their nonbinary parent, Maddy. Age-appropriate examples of ordinary things that are neither one thing nor the other-for instance, hazel eyes, which are neither green nor brown but a combination of both-allows young readers to gain an understanding of gender expansiveness. Filled with colorful illustrations, this book also includes a substantial note to readers addressing questions that may arise from the reading. My Maddy is an engaging story for children and adults alike.

In Juna and Appa, a heartwarming book by Jane Park with illustrations by Felicia Hoshino, Juna helps her father, Appa, at their dry-cleaning shop. When a customer berates Appa for losing a fancy jacket, Juna uses her imagination to search for the jacket, running into different fathers in the animal kingdom. These animals help Juna remember the special relationship she has with Appa, including the sacrifices they make for each other. This book is Jane Park's beautiful love letter to the children who grow up working in their family's stores, just like she did.

In Eyes That Kiss in the Corners, written by Joanna Ho and illustrated by Dung Ho, we learn about a child from an East Asian family who recognizes that her eyes are different from the eyes of the other children around her-and those differences are just fine! Unlike her peers, the protagonist's eyes "kiss in the corners and glow like warm tea," just like the eyes of her mama, amah and sister. With a sweet departure from identity-affirming books rooted in struggle, this one simply celebrates, and that's a beautiful thing. No existential crisis here-just heart-warming self-love and family pride.

Missing Daddy by Mariame Kaba addresses the youngest victims of the prison industrial system-children with loved ones who are incarcerated. Alongside beautiful illustrations by bria royal, Kaba renders in detail the experience of children who may not fully understand their loved ones' extended absence. The story's description of ridicule at school, domestic stress when caretakers manage households alone and enforced separation from a beloved father may help young readers feel less alone as they manage the impact of long-term and long-distance incarceration on their families and themselves. Kaba's emotive work helps children, their caretakers and other interested parties acknowledge the painful impact of incarceration.

Feeling angry and lonely after being teased by bullies, Thuy walks home alone in the snow, making her footprints look like those of animals. When she gets home, Thuy and her two mothers imagine creatures who always have courage-just like Thuy. Written by Bao Phi and illustrated by Basia Tran, My Footprints is, for young learners, a good look at self-discovery and finding your courage and confidence. A sweet and inclusive story about imagination, finding power from within, and drawing strength and courage from family and cultural heritage.

Shinsuke Yoshitake's relatable story follows a girl whose brother tells her the future is doomed in There Must Be More Than That! Fearing the destruction of Earth, she is comforted by her grandmother, who assures her that there are always more possibilities than we are aware of at any given movement. Gentle, lighthearted and honest, this story is sure to captivate young readers and provide ample space to discuss the future that we want to be a part of and steps we should take to get there. This story subverts the notion of either-or thinking in a way that is accessible and engaging for young readers.

In Still Dreaming/Seguimos Soñando, author Claudia Guadalupe Martínez and illustrator Magdalena Mora lovingly capture one family's decision to stay together during the Mexican Repatriation, an undertaught period of history when Mexican Americans were expelled from the United States. This beautiful bilingual book will remind readers of the resilience and beauty of immigrant families who fight to stay together.

In Separate Is Never Equal, Duncan Tonatiuh tells the real story of the Mendez family's fight in the late 1940s to desegregate schools in California, which would then allow their children to attend quality schools rather than the ramshackle place where children of Mexican families were forced to attend. Using accessible language and art gallery-worthy illustrations, Tonatiuh shows young readers some of the ways that people fight for justice. This work makes it easier for young readers to understand a complex situation through the author's use of straightforward illustrations and language.

The 1619 Project: Born on the Water requires space and honest conversation-and it is well worth it. Written by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson and illustrated by Nikkolas Smith, the book features a young student who is assigned to trace her family's history and is distraught about not knowing those roots. Enter Grandma, who breaks it down one powerfully crafted poem at a time. She goes from ordinary people living, working and creating joy, to the Middle Passage to Black Lives Matter-and all the resistance, brilliance and life in between. This book affirms that Black history didn't start with slavery and that "we will survive because we have each other." A beautiful tool for being real about our history, which our young ones deserve.

In Ways To Grow Love (A Ryan Hart Story, 2), author Renée Watson perfectly captures the feeling of being in elementary school-of sweet childhood friendships, special moments with family, summer camp shenanigans and the seeming enormity of little things. It's in those little things that this book shines. Ryan Hart is an endearing and relatable heroine-and a passionate Black girl in whom readers will see themselves. Nina Mata's warm illustrations scattered throughout the book are a particular gift. Young readers will be captivated by the love, strength and everyday magic of Ryan Hart and her family.

Jo Jo Makoons: The Used-to-Be Best Friend is the first in a series written by Native author Dawn Quigley and illustrated by Tara Audibert that features Jo Jo Makoons Azure. Seven-year-old Jo Jo, a member of the Ojibwe Nation, is engaging, smart, funny and attends first grade on the reservation where she lives with her family. The book illustrates the importance of culturally relevant teaching practices, and young readers will certainly recognize themselves in the thoughts and feelings Jo Jo expresses as she moves throughout her busy days. Jo Jo and her best friends will make readers-young and old-eager for the next issue in this series.

Middle Grade Readers
(Upper Elementary and Middle School)

Readers of Healer of the Water Monster by Brian Young will find it easy to immerse themselves in Nathan's world as he unexpectedly befriends a Water Monster, a Navajo Holy Being, while staying with his grandmother and uncle on the Navajo Reservation. This book explores universal coming-of-age themes such as bravery and friendship while helping readers learn more about the contemporary Navajo Nation, including Navajo science, spirituality, language and culture, along with the challenges the Navajo people face. Brian Young's ability to center a Diné perspective of the world radiates throughout this powerful novel.

Cynthia Leitich Smith, a Muscogee Creek author, writes Sisters of the Neversea to provide readers with a refreshing counternarrative to the harmful stereotypes about Native people in J.M. Barrie's version of Peter Pan. Smith's version centers on Lily, a Muscogee Creek girl, and her white stepsister, Wendy, who travel to Neverland. Upon arrival, Lily and Wendy find that they will have to rely on each other, their inner strength and creative thinking to save themselves. Smith combines universal themes of family and identity with dashes of fairy dust, swashbuckling pirates, and unpredictable obstacles to create a mesmerizing adventure for young readers.

In a box of puzzles in the attic, Candice discovers a letter addressed to her grandmother. This letter answers one of her big questions-why her grandmother left town in shame-but new questions arise. Pooling their resources of deduction and book smarts, Candice and her neighbor Brandon resolve to find answers. In The Parker Inheritance, Varian Johnson's young protagonists embark on a mystery that will force their town to address its unjust past and the stain that segregation left behind. This clever puzzle stays with you as it presents a mystery to solve: What stories are still being hidden?

Written by sign language interpreter Lynne Kelly, Song for a Whale introduces Iris, a mechanically inclined girl who, as the only deaf student at her school, fixes radios because she understands feeling like no one is listening. When she learns about a whale who sings at a frequency that makes it difficult to communicate, she devises a plan to help him feel less alone. Her journey underscores the importance of empathetic communication, community and representation for readers young and old alike. For any young person who has felt lonely or unheard, this book will sing, and sign, to them.

Adults and children will find it easy to cheer for Maxine Chen, the spunky protagonist in E.L. Shen's debut work, The Comeback: A Figure Skating Novel. In addition to juggling the challenges of middle school and the pressures of competitive ice skating, Maxine has to attend classes with a student who bullies Maxine for her Chinese heritage. By following Maxine's journey, readers, too, can learn how pride in yourself is the ultimate comeback. This middle grade novel is relatable to anyone who has struggled to love themselves fully when faced with racism. Note: This book contains racist language and gestures, including a racial slur.

United States history lessons often move quickly from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement. But there is a fascinating history sandwiched between those two watershed moments. In Dark Sky Rising: Reconstruction and the Dawn of Jim Crow, Henry Louis Gates Jr. teamed with Tonya Bolden to flesh out the unfinished business of this period for young readers. In their exploration, they detail how freed Black people had agency in helping decide policies to ensure their full citizenship, which was later dismantled through discriminatory laws and violence. This book can help young people contextualize how U.S. policy has framed and supported white supremacy-and acknowledge our rights' fragility.

In 1930, 12-year-old Roberto Álvarez was attending Lemon Grove School, where he and other Mexican American kids learned alongside their Anglo-American classmates. When his community discovered the school board's plan to segregate Mexican American students into a far inferior "barn" school, they fought back, choosing Roberto as the plaintiff for their groundbreaking case. Christy Hale's Todos Iguales: Un Corrido de Lemon Grove/All Equal: A Ballad of Lemon Grove tells the true story of the first successful school desegregation case through vibrant illustrations, sheet music for a bilingual ballad, and supplementary photographs and quotes. A great example of the power of community action, and young students get to see children leading in the fight for their right to education.

Teen and Adult Readers
(High School and Beyond)

Felix Ever After is a captivating coming-of-age story from the perspective of Felix Love, a 17-year-old transgender boy who longs to fall in love. Through Kacen Callender's richly crafted setting and dialogue, you can practically taste what it's like to be 17 in New York City. In this triumph of a novel, the author offers a window into Felix's many intersecting identities-Black, queer, poor and young-in a refreshingly unapologetic and deeply human way. Felix Ever After is raw, funny, heartbreaking and almost impossible to put down.

Crystal Maldonado weaves a wonderfully sweet, emotional and funny story about love, friendship and family in Fat Chance, Charlie Vega. Charlie is a Brown girl who loves her fat body even when things around her-including her own comparisons to her charismatic best friend-suggest her physical self needs transformation. Charlie is beautiful, charming and delightful with a measure of self-doubt, all attributes that inform her journey as she winds her way through the twists and turns of adolescence. Beautifully and authentically captures nuanced relationships and what it feels like to navigate self-acceptance.

The beautiful cover art by Deaf artist Nancy Roark is just one reason The Silence Between Us stands out. This lovely YA novel follows Maya, a Deaf protagonist, as she navigates her last year of high school, a romantic relationship and more. For the first time in her life, Maya is attending a school for hearing students, and she struggles with classmates and teachers who don't understand or respect Deaf experience or culture. Written by Alison Gervais, who is Hard of Hearing, the dialogue mixes conversation, sign language and lip reading to tell Maya's story. Introduces a story too often underrepresented in YA literature.

Jacob Tobia's Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story follows the author throughout various stages in their education: elementary school, high school and college. Across the grade levels, Tobia illustrates the trauma caused by the strict enforcement of gender norms as well as the ways in which resistance and community take shape. Their memoir is an important read for providing genderqueer representation, which is still severely lacking in too many classroom and school libraries. A force of a book-equally educational as it is humorous, as personal as it is political.

Punching the Air, by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam, is an intricately crafted novel in verse that paints a portrait of a young Black boy's humanity. At 16, Amal Shahid fights to find hope, freedom and his truth through the arts in the most debilitating space-a juvenile detention center. Salaam, one of the Exonerated Five, writes with Zoboi to expose how systemic racism creates disdain for Blackness, repressing the genius and creativity of Black boys. This must-read, rhythmic masterpiece amplifies the often stifled gifts of Black boyhood while reminding us to extend grace and mercy to those who are failed by oppressive systems.

George M. Johnson, an award-winning Black nonbinary writer who identified as a boy in childhood, focuses on joy, adventure, misadventure, loyalty, betrayal, healing and love in their memoir, We Are Not Broken. A tribute to their beloved grandmother who creates an expansive space for her four young grandsons to be free, Johnson also offers possibilities that would enable Black boys-and the Black women who love and protect them-to live lives that are even more free. George M. Johnson superbly details their definition of Black Boy Joy. Note: This book contains the N-word, homophobic language and describes instances of sexual abuse.

In Solito: A Memoir, Javier Zamora describes his journey as a 9-year-old from El Salvador to "La USA" to reunite with his parents. The coyote promises the trip will take two weeks, but it stretches into two terrifying months. To survive, Zamora leans on his new family, who encircle him with care and love. Zamora's memoir humanizes the perspective of immigrants, particularly child migrants, who undertake dangerous treks into the U.S.

Obie Is Man Enough-a debut novel by acclaimed advocate Schuyler Bailar, the first trans man to compete on an NCAA Division I men's team-follows Obie Chang as he navigates middle school, swimming competitions and relationships post-transition. This endearingly honest account of Obie's life-and how his inherited cultures intertwine to inform his resilience-offers a timely own-voices text exploring what it means to be a trans athlete, to be a kid and to be a friend. A humanizing portrait that cuts through the callousness of national debates with a strong heart, like a swimmer through water. Note: This book presents the opportunity for discussions of restorative practices in schools.

Julian Aguon, an Indigenous lawyer and writer from Guam, beautifully blends poetry and memoir in The Properties of Perpetual Light. Writing in part about issues that he and other Indigenous peoples face, Aguon incorporates conversations around colonialism, climate change and family trauma. He also peppers in nods to other writers he admires, like Arundhati Roy, Audre Lorde and Naomi Klein, offering readers more words to live by. Aguon's words flow down the page with magic, beauty and power.

In Daniel Nayeri's Everything Sad Is Untrue (A True Story), narrator Khosrou presents himself as a middle-school avatar of Scheherazade-a figure of Persian legend who told stories to spare her life. For Khosrou, a refugee born in Iran and now living in Oklahoma, sparing his life means holding onto his culture and memories. Khosrou interweaves legends, family histories and often painful, present realities. These stories poignantly illustrate the importance of reclaiming hidden histories and the hurt experienced by young people whose truth is discarded-or worse, erased. A gorgeously written book that prizes imagination, reclaims truth and rightly demands love for students who feel far from home or forgotten.

Judith Heumann's memoir, Being Heumann, paints a detailed historical portrait of the birth of the 20th century disability rights movement. Writing with Kristen Joiner in witty and personal prose, Heumann describes how she and fellow disability activists established the groundbreaking Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, developed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and shifted the narrative of disability from a medical issue to a question of civil rights. If you're searching for an excellent primer on the disability justice movement or a firsthand account of the power of the collective voice, you'll want to pick up this book!

In The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person, Frederick Joseph shares stories from his own life to help white readers understand how race-related issues have affected him and continue to affect him as a Black man-and what readers can learn from those moments. With his infectious sense of humor and guiding hand, and with help from interviews with several artists and activists, Joseph assembles a necessary toolkit to help readers become stronger accomplices in the fight for racial justice. Joseph allows a glimpse into his experiences and helps white people to do better as a result-we should all be so lucky to have a friend like that.

The (Other) F Word: A Celebration of the Fat and Fierce combines personal essays, prose, poetry, fashion tips and more into a visual celebration of fat bodies. Edited by Angie Manfredi, this groundbreaking collection of diverse voices combines the talents of renowned fat YA and middle-grade authors with those of fat influencers and creatives. It offers fat teen readers a guidebook to becoming their best, most confident selves while providing readers of all sizes a road map for reconceiving our notions of body and acceptance. This beautiful book is a celebration of the fat and fierce and a love letter to fat bodies. This is a book I wish I'd had as a fat teenager, from a community of incredible fat people with a powerful message about fat acceptance and loving yourself.

This Book Is Anti-Racist, by Tiffany Jewell and illustrated by Aurélia Durand, is a much-needed guide for young people to understand and challenge the oppressive systems and interpersonal behavior that underpin our society. Filled with personal anecdotes and invaluable wisdom, this book provides space for young people to question dominant narratives about identity, race and racism and reflect on the intersections of their own identities. Throughout, Jewell embraces complexities inherent in discussions about racism, and she gives readers the necessary tools to be part of the diverse coalitions that will dismantle it. An individual commitment to anti-racist work begins with a catalyst-this book is poised to be that for so many youth.

Based on the serialized, Pulitzer Prize-winning comic strip by the same name, Welcome to the New World tells the true story of two branches of the Syrian Aldabaan family, who arrived in the United States on Election Day 2016. What began as a reporting assignment for New York Times journalist Jake Halpern-and eventually illustrator Michael Sloan-turned into a three-year collaboration with the Aldabaans. The resulting graphic novel explores universal themes: desiring safety and belonging, having hopes and dreams, and wanting what's best for one's family. Particularly through the experiences of high schoolers Naji and Amal, we also see the assumptions, stereotypes and lack of compassion that result when we fail to see each other as fellow human beings. A searing look into the ways American systems honor people's humanity-and how they don't.

"This is not a history book. I repeat, this is not a history book," begins the newest title from Jason Reynolds. Instead, Reynolds wants young people to see his text as a "present book" and a guide to have intimate and honest conversations about racism in America. In Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, Reynolds reimagines Ibram X. Kendi's 2016 National Book of the Year, Stamped From the Beginning, a work that explores the origins of racist ideas in America. Very much like its predecessor, Stamped explores the insidious ways racist ideas may take form in the lives and experiences of young people and examines how students can make anti-racism a reality in their spaces. A timely and necessary work that shows young people they are not too young to think deeply about how racist ideas influence the world around them-and gives them valuable resources to challenge those ideas.

One story is the perfect fit for a romantic comedy. Another one will have you on the edge of your seat, wondering if the main character will escape the grip of a terrifying ghost. All of the stories in Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens, edited by Marieke Nijkamp, feature teens with disabilities as authentic central characters. Fully embodying their disabilities and personhood, they are the heroes and love interests, and, like all teens, they're learning how to harness their power. Readers are long overdue for a text that moves disabled voices from the margins and into the center. Note: Strong language and content advisory.

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Stories are a deeply meaningful way that we learn about the world, and they can build empathy and understanding of ourselves and others. Through stories we can connect with a character and share another viewpoint about the world. But importantly, stories emphasize that we are not alone in our emotions and experiences.

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Our youngest students deserve a truthful, age-appropriate account of our past. These resources for elementary educators include a first-of-its-kind framework, along with student texts, teaching tools and professional development for anyone committed to teaching this hard history. Download the Framework

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The Zinn Education Project is my compass in a sea of corporate textbooks, packaged common core curriculum and standardized testing. My entire curriculum is based on lessons that can be found on the Zinn Education Project.

High School Social Studies Teacher, Portland, Ore.

Your support is needed to help more students learn people's history. 100% of Zinn Education Project funding comes from individuals like you. Donate today.

By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca

From voter ID laws to voter-roll purges, gerrymandering to poll closures to the deadly in-person voting conditions during a pandemic, the right to vote is under attack and the stakes are high. It is critical that students learn about the fight for voting rights, past and present.

Nov. 30, 1924: Shirley Chisholm Born...

Teaching About the Violence in Palestine and Israel...

I can UNDERSTAND pessimism, but I don't BELIEVE in it. It's not simply a matter of faith, but of historical EVIDENCE. Not overwhelming evidence, just enough to give HOPE, because for hope we don't need certainty, only POSSIBILITY.

-Howard Zinn

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Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

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The Zinn Education Project promotes and supports the teaching of people's history in middle and high school classrooms across the country. Based on the lens of history highlighted in Howard Zinn's best-selling book A People's History of the United States, the website offers free, downloadable lessons and articles organized by theme, time period, and reading level.

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We asked our 25 Teaching Tolerance Advisory Board members what advice they would offer to fellow educators about Black History Month. Each of these experienced educators offers a wealth of expertise, especially when it comes to bringing multicultural topics into the classroom.

For openers, don't limit the teaching of African-American history to February. Keep in mind that "black history is a part of U.S. history," says Razia Kosi, cultural proficiency specialist in Maryland. So incorporate it into the curriculum of math, science, social studies, P.E. and other subjects all year long.

Also, remember that "black history did not begin with slavery," says Cameron Calland-Jones, a Georgia teacher of first- and second-graders. "Look into the history of Africa and see how the cultural influences impact our American history."

Many of our teachers suggested providing diverse resources and including authors of color. Also be mindful that book illustrations represent diverse characters.

Here are a few activities that might provide inspiration:

Incorporate a black history "Fact of the Day" during morning announcements. Post facts or quotes from famous African Americans daily in classrooms.

Offer extra credit to high school math students for research on an African-American mathematician or scientist. With this information, students can complete a summary of the person's life or design a postage stamp.

Teach texts by black authors, like Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes or PUSH by Sapphire.

Use Howard Zinn's Voices of A People's History book and its companion performance series. This audio series includes celebrities reading pieces written by famous Americans like Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. DuBois. Students can watch several performances and create a similar format.

Have students explore the accomplishments of African-American inventors. Assign each student to a group and then have that group research one of the inventors.

Create a living history museum for the civil rights era. Students can read speeches and documents from key figures and later perform these pieces. The Museum of the African Diaspora offers many resources.

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We asked our 25 Teaching Tolerance Advisory Board members what advice they would offer to fellow educators about Black History Month. Each of these experienced educators offers a wealth of expertise, especially when it comes to bringing multicultural topics into the classroom.

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For Educators - Voices of a People's History

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Editor's Note: This blog was first published at www.Ready4Rigor.com on Feb. 5, 2013 and posted here with permission.
It happens every February. Yep, Black History Month. Some folks are asking if we should even have a Black History Month. That's neither here nor there, but there are some things to avoid if this annual commemoration is to have any significance. Here are five guidelines I think we should take special care to follow:

1. Don't create "culturally responsive" lessons by simply changing the names or circumstances in math word problems, as teachers at Beaver Ridge Elementary School in Georgia did.

Here's an example of what not to do:

(Remember: Colleagues don't let colleagues create offensive lessons.)

If the goal is to improve students' performance by helping them relate to the task, changing names and circumstances doesn't make a math problem easier to solve.
2. Don't simply focus on famous firsts or popular celebrities.
Instead, take a page out of The Algebra Project's playbook: Use regional culture as a familiar and friendly reference point in understanding mathematical concepts, not racial history.

To make the concept of a number line more accessible, for example, teachers lead urban students on a field trip on a subway. Students later reconstruct their journey, using a map that represents the number line and illustrates quantity, direction, positive and negative numbers, equivalence and other key concepts.

When I was in school, we always talked about Dr. Mae Jemison, the first black female astronaut in space, and tennis player Arthur Ashe. By the time my children were in school, the big emphasis was on sports figures like Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Michael Jordan. Nowadays, entertainers and rappers are in the black history spotlight. You can bet that we will be hearing the story of Beyoncé's early struggles. And, of course, President Barack Obama has replaced Colin Powell as the most prominent black man in American government.
3. Don't whitewash history (pun intended).
I know we all want to believe we are doing something more sophisticated in our classrooms. But, but by and large, we are still doing some version of what activist and educator Enid Lee calls "heroes and holidays."

Rather than focus on famous firsts, shake it up and use Black History Month as an opportunity to highlight the often-unacknowledged contributions that people of color make every day: bringing urban farming to inner-city food deserts, for example, or parents of color leading education-reform efforts in major cities like Detroit and Los Angeles. You need not look any further than advertising to see how innovative and creative aspects of black youth culture have been leveraged to sell everything from cars to laundry detergent.
4. Don't make the month an African-American "mashup."
Despite our country's movement toward becoming a multicultural, multiracial, multilingual society, we still tell a sanitized version of American history. Traditional historical narratives, written from a particular viewpoint, often eliminate, distort or minimize the circumstances and conditions experienced by people of color in this country.

So flip the script. Use BHM to simply ask: Whose story does our history book tell? What other versions of this American story do we need to include, reframe or magnify? Need some ideas for how to do that? Check out the resources offered by the Zinn Education Project. This initiative is named for historian and activist Howard Zinn, author of The People's History of the United States and A Young People's History of the United States. He dedicated his life to telling the American story often omitted from the mainstream narrative.
5. Don't think you can't talk about black history because you're a white educator.
Kids at our school bring in soul food and make kente mats out of construction paper. We arrange for guest speakers who are role models, and plan a mish-mash of traditionally Afrocentric activities. This is another reminder for us to move beyond the "heroes and holidays" approach to multicultural education and cultural responsiveness.

Rather than simply going for theadditive approach in which African-American themes and perspectives are sprinkled atop the existing curriculum, take this opportunity to restructure your curriculum a bit. Engage students in seeing concepts, issues, themes and problems from different points of view. Pick a focus and go deep with it.

Last week at a retreat, a colleague told me how she and another mutual friend lead a professional development session for a multiracial group of teachers in Michigan. She laughed that they were two white ladies talking with this group about race. Well, isn't it appropriate, I thought, that our white colleagues would be taking the lead in discussions about race? Remember, discussion of anything racialized is not the sacred territory of only people of color. Nor does a discussion about race in America require the presence of a person of color.

I know white educators who are very skilled at talking about race and equality inside the classroom, in the teacher's lounge and in the community. But they wait for permission or feel the need to apologize for stating the obvious: that we live in a racialized society. (Note: There's a difference between a racialized society and a racist society. That's a discussion for another day.)

You do not need to be a person of color to talk about race. But you do need to be comfortable in your own skin, build your knowledge about the topic and be in alliance with educators of color for support and feedback. Remember what happened at Beaver Ridge Elementary. Wonder who their alliances are?

There are a number of white educators to look to for both inspiration and information. I lean on them for insight and understanding, too.
Hammond is an educator and writer passionate about teaching and learning. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area. She's worked as a research analyst, high school and college writing instructor, a literacy consultant, and, for the past 13 years, as a professional developer.
Check out the work of Herb Kohl and his essay " I Won't Learn From You" in his book by the same name. Then there is Tim Wise, who takes racial awareness to a whole other level. I love the work of writing teacher Linda Christensen and the way she creates a classroom culture that makes it OK to racialize language arts topics. Her books- Reading, Writing and Rising Up: Teaching About Social Justice and the Power of the Written Word and Teaching for Joy and Justice: Re-Imagining the Language Arts Classroom-are both worth reading. Two other good resources are Everyday Anti-Racism: Getting Real About Race in School and Colormute: Race Talk Dilemmas in an American School, both by Mica Pollock.

Now a question for you: How has your teaching of black history changed over time?

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Five Things Not to Do During Black History Month

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Editor's Note: This blog was first published at www.Ready4Rigor.com on Feb. 5, 2013 and posted here with permission. It happens every February. Yep, Black History Month. Some folks are asking if we should even have a Black History Month. That's neither here nor there, but there are some things to avoid if this annual commemoration is to have any significance.

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Benin bronzes that were looted by British soldiers. flickr

The idea of "cultural appropriation" has recently entered mainstream debates about the ways in which African cultural creations are used, borrowed and imitated by others. In fashion, art, music and beyond, some people now argue that certain African cultural symbols and products are off-limits to non-Africans.

In March 2016, an African-American woman at San Francisco State University confronted a white student. She said he should cut his hair because dreadlocks belong to black culture. The incident went viral. Within a month, a YouTube video of the encounter had been watched more than 3.7 million times.

An online debate also erupted about whether it was appropriate for Canadian singer Justin Bieber to wear dreadlocks.

Debates about appropriation aren't always limited to cross-racial borrowing. An online discussion about African-American appropriation of African cultural symbols also went viral. It began with journalist Zipporah Gene asking black Americans to stop appropriating African clothing and tribal marks. She argued this indicated "ignorance and cultural insensitivity".

In these debates, the label of cultural appropriation is broadly applied to borrowing that is in some way inappropriate, unauthorised or undesirable. My argument is that borrowing may become appropriation when it reinforces historically exploitative relationships or deprives African countries of opportunities to control or benefit from their cultural material.

A history of extraction

During colonialism, colonial powers not only extracted natural resources but also cultural booty.

The contemporary cultural appropriation debate reflects a justified sensitivity about this historical legacy of extraction, evidence of which can be found in various museums outside of Africa.

The theft of the renowned Benin Bronzes is just one example of this cultural looting. These artefacts were seized by the British in 1897 during a punitive military expedition against the Kingdom of Benin. British soldiers invaded, looted, and ransacked Benin, setting buildings on fire and killing many people. They then deposed, shackled and exiled the Oba (king). This ultimately spelled the end of the independent Kingdom of Benin.

The punitive force looted an estimated 3,000 bronzes, ivory-works, carved tusks and oak chests. Benin's cultural heritage was then sold in the private European art market to offset the cost of the expedition. Today the Benin Bronzes can be found in museums and collections worldwide. And, in 1990, one single Benin head was sold for US$2.3 million by a London-based auction house.

In 2010, a looted Benin mask with an estimated value of £4.5 million was withdrawn from sale by Sotheby's auction house following protests concerning the sale. The mask was due to be sold by descendants of a participant in the punitive expedition.

In contrast, the descendant of one participant in the looting of Benin has returned looted artwork.

This colonial booty was taken without permission or compensation. Some people argue a similar dynamic exists in contemporary use of African cultural symbols, creations and products.

Cultural fluidity

Accusations of cultural appropriation raise important and complex questions about the nature of culture. The reality of human experience is that borrowing and cultural mixture are widespread. This is evident in language, religion, agriculture, folklore, food and other cultural elements.

The fairy tale Cinderella provides a good example. Versions of the story can be traced back to the Far East, Near East, Eastern Europe, Southern Europe and Northern Europe. By the mid-20th century, the Cinderella story could be found in India, North Africa, North America, the Western Sudan, Madagascar, Mauritius, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Cultural boundaries are fluid and shifting. Cultural systems may be significantly transformed by different forces and influences. This means that incomplete discussions of appropriation may fail to account for borrowing, diffusion, collaboration and other factors that lead to cultural material being shared.

Discussions of appropriation may also take insufficient account of the importance and benefits of borrowing. Borrowing has led to the international spread of denim, mathematics and even democracy.

When borrowing becomes appropriation

In some instances, a line is crossed and cultural borrowing can become exploitative. Crossing this line may turn acts of borrowing into cultural appropriation.

Context, particularly as it relates to power relationships, is a key factor in distinguishing borrowing from exploitative cultural appropriation.

For example, cultural borrowing from Africa must be considered in the context of historical power asymmetries between Africa and the rest of the world. This is particularly the case with European powers, which developed trading relationships and spheres of influence in Africa.

These later formed the basis for colonial territories. Relationships between African countries and the colonial powers were often extractive and included varied forms of cultural imperialism.

Examining past instances of borrowing can give guidance for future models. Continuing discussions and a lawsuit about the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight are noteworthy. This discussion draws attention to the Zulu musician Solomon Linda, who received little compensation for his song Mbube, recorded in 1939. Linda's song became The Lion Sleeps Tonight, a global pop classic that has generated substantial money for others.

When patterns of borrowing fail to acknowledge their sources and compensate them, they can be categorised as cultural appropriation. This is particularly the case when cultural flows reflect, reinforce or magnify inequalities. Even in instances where sources receive compensation, later compensation does not always redress past inequities.

The Linda family did eventually receive compensation after filing suit. When Linda died in 1962, his widow could not afford to purchase a gravestone. His daughter died of AIDS-related illness in 2001 because she was unable to afford antiretroviral medication.

How to block exploitative practices

Understanding the context of borrowing is important for preventing exploitative cultural appropriation. An understanding of both borrowing and appropriation should be incorporated into legal, business and other institutional frameworks.

In fields such as intellectual property law, greater recognition of the power structures underlying borrowing in different contexts is important.

This can be an important starting point for blocking future exploitative cultural flows. And it can help prevent extraction of more cultural booty.

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The idea of "cultural appropriation" has recently entered mainstream debates about the ways in which African cultural creations are used, borrowed and imitated by others. In fashion, art, music and beyond, some people now argue that certain African cultural symbols and products are off-limits to non-Africans.

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The splintering of communities through segregation and industrial construction.

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The City of Minneapolis offers free services to help property owners remove racial covenants from their properties' legal title.

Overview

The City of Minneapolis is pleased to offer the new Just Deeds Project. The initiative gives Minneapolis homeowners the chance to learn about and discharge the racial covenants recorded on their properties. It also allows homeowners to reclaim their homes as equitable spaces.

Racial covenants were documents recorded against a home's legal title which banned property owners from selling, renting, or allowing their home to be used by people of certain races. The discriminatory language was not always the same, but most covenants targeted Black people. Racial covenants were recorded on homes in Minneapolis by developers and homeowners starting in the 1910s. The use of racial covenants forced Black community members to live in racially segregated areas of the City. In these segregated areas, Black residents could not get mortgages, buy property, or build wealth.

Racial covenants were outlawed by 1968 and are no longer enforceable. Yet, Black people and other people of color in Minneapolis still experience the harm caused by these covenants. In 2010, Minneapolis' population included 69% white residents and 19% Black residents. However, in the neighborhoods where racial covenants had been common, the population was still 73-90% white. Similarly, the neighborhoods to which Black residents moved during the years when racial covenants were used had present-day populations of 43-62% Black residents. Racially segregated neighborhoods generally have fewer parks and trees, more environmental hazards, poor access to supermarkets and medical care, and underfunded schools. In 2019, Minneapolis' Black homeownership rate of 25% was the lowest of any metro area in the nation. The Indigenous homeownership rate was 49%, the Hispanic homeownership rate was 50%, and the Asian homeownership rate was 60%. Meanwhile, the non-Hispanic white homeownership rate was 77%.

From 2016 to 2020, the Mapping Prejudice team at the University of Minnesota used technology and volunteers to review thousands of documents looking for racial covenants. They found over 8,000 racial covenants recorded against properties in the City of Minneapolis alone.

In 2019, Minneapolis Senator Jeff Hayden and Minneapolis Representative Jim Davnie successfully championed legislation that enables Minnesota homeowners to formally respond to racially restrictive covenants on their home titles.

In 2020, the City of Golden Valley developed the idea for the Just Deeds Project and organized the Just Deeds Coalition - a group of community stakeholders committed to acknowledging and addressing systemic racism in housing in Minnesota.

Eligibility

The Minneapolis City Attorney's Office will continue this important work through its Just Deeds Project. Participation in the City's Just Deeds Project is free to eligible applicants. Properties must be in the City of Minneapolis and must be shown in red on the Just Deeds map below. All owners of the property must sign the application and take part in the Project. Applications will be reviewed and approved in the order they are received, subject to staff availability.

If we approve you for the Project, we will give you resources so you can learn about racial covenants and other discriminatory housing practices, the lasting harm of those practices, and the City's ongoing work to repair the harm. The City will assist you by getting a copy of your racial covenant, drafting a discharge form, and filing your form on your property's legal title. There is no cost for these services. Hennepin County has also waived document access and recording fees for Just Deed Project participants. As a result, the Project is free for eligible applicants.
Apply to participate in the City's Just Deeds Project by filing out the online application.

Just Deeds Application

Request accessible format

If you need help with this information, please email 311, or call 311 or 612-673-3000.

Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

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The City of Minneapolis offers free services to help property owners remove racial covenants from their properties' legal title. The City of Minneapolis is pleased to offer the new Just Deeds Project. The initiative gives Minneapolis homeowners the chance to learn about and discharge the racial covenants recorded on their properties.

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Few people know the story of Claudette Colvin: When she was 15, she refused to move to the back of the bus and give up her seat to a white person - nine months before Rosa Parks did the very same thing.

Most people know about Parks and the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott that began in 1955, but few know that there were a number of women who refused to give up their seats on the same bus system. Most of the women were quietly fined, and no one heard much more.

Colvin was the first to really challenge the law.

Now a 69-year-old retiree, Colvin lives in the Bronx. She remembers taking the bus home from high school on March 2, 1955, as clear as if it were yesterday.

The bus driver ordered her to get up and she refused, saying she'd paid her fare and it was her constitutional right. Two police officers put her in handcuffs and arrested her. Her school books went flying off her lap.

"All I remember is that I was not going to walk off the bus voluntarily," Colvin says.

It was Negro history month, and at her segregated school they had been studying black leaders like Harriet Tubman, the runaway slave who led more than 70 slaves to freedom through the network of safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. They were also studying about Sojourner Truth, a former slave who became an abolitionist and women's rights activist.

The class had also been talking about the injustices they were experiencing daily under the Jim Crow segregation laws, like not being able to eat at a lunch counter.

"We couldn't try on clothes," Colvin says. "You had to take a brown paper bag and draw a diagram of your foot ... and take it to the store. Can you imagine all of that in my mind? My head was just too full of black history, you know, the oppression that we went through. It felt like Sojourner Truth was on one side pushing me down, and Harriet Tubman was on the other side of me pushing me down. I couldn't get up."

Colvin also remembers the moment the jail door closed. It was just like a Western movie, she says.

"And then I got scared, and panic come over me, and I started crying. Then I started saying the Lord's Prayer," she says.
'Twice Toward Justice'
Now her story is the subject of a new book, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice.

Author Phil Hoose says that despite a few articles about her in the Birmingham press and in USA Today, and brief mentions in some books about the civil rights movement, most people don't know about the role Colvin played in the bus boycotts.

Hoose couldn't get over that there was this teenager, nine months before Rosa Parks, "in the same city, in the same bus system, with very tough consequences, hauled off the bus, handcuffed, jailed and nobody really knew about it."

He also believes Colvin is important because she challenged the law in court, one of four women plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, the court case that successfully overturned bus segregation laws in Montgomery and Alabama.

There are many reasons why Claudette Colvin has been pretty much forgotten. She hardly ever told her story when she moved to New York City. In her new community, hardly anyone was talking about integration; instead, most people were talking about black enterprises, black power and Malcolm X.

When asked why she is little known and why everyone thinks only of Rosa Parks, Colvin says the NAACP and all the other black organizations felt Parks would be a good icon because "she was an adult. They didn't think teenagers would be reliable."

She also says Parks had the right hair and the right look.

"Her skin texture was the kind that people associate with the middle class," says Colvin. "She fit that profile."

David Garrow, a historian and the author of Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, says people may think that Parks' action was spontaneous, but black civic leaders had been thinking about what to do about the Montgomery buses for years.

After Colvin's arrest, she found herself shunned by parts of her community. She experienced various difficulties and became pregnant. Civil rights leaders felt she was an inappropriate symbol for a test case.

Parks was the secretary of the NAACP. She was well-known and respected and, says Garrow, Parks had a "natural gravitas" and was an "inherently impressive person."

At the same time, Garrow believes attention to Colvin is a healthy corrective, because "the real reality of the movement was often young people and often more than 50 percent women." The images you most often see are men in suits.

Hoose says he believes Colvin understands the pragmatism that pushed Parks to the fore, but "on the other hand, she did it."

Hoose says the stories of Parks and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. are wonderful, but those are the stories of people in their 30s and 40s. Colvin was 15. Hoose feels his book will bring a fresh teen's perspective to the struggle to end segregation.

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Before Rosa Parks, There Was Claudette Colvin

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Most people know about Rosa Parks and the 1955 Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott. Nine months earlier, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat on the same bus system.

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Major movements and revolutions in history are marked by big events, but are always comprised of smaller events which are often overlooked. Claudette Colvin´s story is one of these significant but overlooked events.

Her story begins as a young girl growing up in segregated Montgomery, Alabama. She knew firsthand of the humiliation and violence that black people suffered if they did not toe the line of Jim Crow. Her friend was put to death for an innocent flirtatious gesture toward a white girl. Colvin, a studious child, was determined to get the best education possible, become a lawyer, and fight for civil rights.

On March 2, 1955, however, Colvin's life changed forever. The fifteen-year-old boarded a segregated city bus on her way home from school, her mind filled with what she'd been learning during Negro History Week. At one stop, several white passengers got on, and the bus driver ordered her and three others to move, though there were other seats available for the white passengers. Three got up, Colvin stayed. As she recalled, "I felt like Sojourner Truth was pushing down on one shoulder and Harriet Tubman was pushing down on the other - saying. 'Sit down girl!' I was glued to my seat."

She was taken off the bus by two police officers whose behavior made her fear that she might be raped. She was charged with violating segregation laws, misconduct, and resisting arrest. Her conviction and subsequent probation left Colvin feeling she would never get the education and professional life she so desired.

The African American community was outraged. The Reverand Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., came to Montgomery to fight her arrest, and leaders in the civil rights movement sought a way to end bus segregation. They looked at Claudette Colvin as a potential "face" of the movement. As Colvin's friend Reverend Johnson told her, "Everyone prays for freedom. We've all been praying and praying. But you're different - you want your answer the next morning. And I think you've just brought the revolution to Montgomery." However, she was deemed too young and her complexion too dark to be the right fit. Then she became pregnant (by a man whose name Colvin will not disclose), and that was that.

Nine months later Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus, and the boycott that was contemplated when Colvin was arrested, began. Parks was educated, older, lighter-skinned, and employed as a seamstress. Although her refusal to move was not directly planned, she was already part of the civil rights movement. She had been trained for civil disobedience by the NAACP.

Claudette Colvin's role was not over. She and the three other young women who were harassed on that bus in 1955, became the plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of segregated buses. Browder v. Gayle and went all the way to the Supreme Court. where the justices found that Montgomery's bus segregation was in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, a significant civil rights victory.

Rather than seeing her name on par with Rosa Parks´s for the strength and courage she demonstrated in defying segregation, Claudette Colvin has been largely forgotten. Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, by Philip Hoose, tells her story, as does a one-woman performance titled Rage is Not a 1-Day Thing! AndColvin herself now speaks out about her remarkable story.

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Claudette Colvin - Americans Who Tell The Truth

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Major movements and revolutions in history are marked by big events, but are always comprised of smaller events which are often overlooked. Claudette Colvin´s story is one of these significant but overlooked events. Her story begins as a young girl growing up in segregated Montgomery, Alabama.

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January 24, 2023 (Saint Paul) - "Jim Crow of the North," the award-winning documentary from Twin Cities PBS (TPT), is featured in the traveling Smithsonian exhibition "The Bias Inside Us," currently on temporary exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota.

"The Bias Inside Us"  is a community engagement project and exhibition. It was created with the goal to help people understand and counter their implicit biases and build capacity in communities through resources to convene dialogue that will increase empathy and create more inclusive schools, workplaces and communities.

The exhibit was created in Minnesota when Laura Zelle conceived of a traveling exhibit that would help people understand bias and tolerance. Daniel Bergin, Executive Producer at TPT, was an early advisor on the project. His experience as a filmmaker and storyteller gave him insight on how to create content that helps people build empathy and understanding across cultures and race. As the project developed, Joann Jones-Rizzi, Vice President of Science, Equity, and Education at the Science Museum of Minnesota, championed the project and connected Zelle with the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibit Service team.

The exhibit engages the work of Harvard professors, including Mahzarin Banaji, on unconscious bias. Media is a tool used in the exhibit to show the impact such bias can have. A segment from "Jim Crow of the North" on housing segregation was chosen for inclusion in the exhibit to help illustrate the legacy of unconscious bias.

"It was really cool to be an advisor on it throughout those years. It has been wonderful to see it emerge and evolve," Bergin explains. "That it came from Minnesota, and that it's traveling the region and the nation, is something that I think people should note and be proud of."

The exhibition will be traveling across the Upper Midwest and Southeast Regions of the United States this year, with plans to travel to the West and Northeast in coming years. At each stop, the exhibition is the centerpiece of local activities for four weeks, to allow for in-depth programming, as well as to allow surrounding communities to participate.

The original "Jim Crow of the North" has been followed up with "Jim Crow of the North Stories." This four-episode, digital-first docuseries began releasing episodes on TPT's YouTube channel and on January 16. "Jim Crow of the North Stories" picks up where the original documentary left off. The series continues looking at race, place and the past by exploring the lasting impact of racially restrictive covenants and people taking action to make change.

As Bergin notes, "T hat's the power of 'Jim Crow of the North.' In different forums in community settings and as an educational tool, it gives people a sense of history as it relates to things like unconscious bias and the impacts of intolerance and racism. Through that education, it can spur action for a different present and future."

"The Bias Inside Us" is on exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota through February 26.
About Twin Cities PBS
Twin Cities PBS (TPT)'s mission is to enrich lives and strengthen our community through the power of media. Established 64 years ago, TPT now operates as a public service media organization that harnesses a range of media tools to serve citizens in new ways - with multiple broadcast channels, online teaching resources, educational outreach and community engagement activities reaching more than 2 million people each month. Over its history, TPT has been recognized for its innovation and creativity with numerous awards, including Peabody awards and national and regional Emmy® Awards. Find more information at .

© Twin Cities Public Television - 2023. All rights reserved.

Read Next

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Jim Crow of the North Featured in Traveling Smithsonian Exhibition - Twin Cities PBS

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January 24, 2023 (Saint Paul) - "Jim Crow of the North," the award-winning documentary from Twin Cities PBS (TPT), is featured in the traveling Smithsonian exhibition "The Bias Inside Us," currently on temporary exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota. "The Bias Inside Us"  is a community engagement project and exhibition.

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Here are their stories.

This voting rights activist made her mark after she punched an Alabama sheriff in the face

Annie Lee Cooper * 1910-2010

Annie Lee Cooper did the unthinkable - she fought back - an act of resistance that turned her into an icon in the voting rights movement.

On January 25, 1965, Cooper was standing in line to register to vote when, according to historical records, Dallas County, Alabama, Sheriff James Clark ordered her to go home and hit her in the back of the neck with a baton. Cooper, a 224-pound woman, turned around and punched Clark in the face, knocking him to the ground.

At the time, Black Americans were mobilizing across the South for equal voting rights. Voter registration procedures such as poll taxes, literacy tests, limited office hours and long lines in states such as Alabama had made it nearly impossible for Black people to register to vote.

Cooper was arrested and charged with assault and attempted murder for punching the sheriff, according to the Selma Times Journal. She was released from jail just after 11 hours for fear that Clark would try to hurt her, newspapers reported.

A photo of deputies restraining Cooper to the ground was published by The New York Times and news of the incident quickly spread through the civil rights community which celebrated her as a hero.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. acknowledged Cooper during a historic speech while she was jailed.

"This is what happened today: Mrs. Cooper was down in that line, and they haven't told the press the truth about it," King said, according to the Selma Times Journal. "Mrs. Cooper wouldn't have turned around and hit Sheriff Clark just to be hitting. And of course, as you know, we teach a philosophy of not retaliating and not hitting back, but the truth of the situation is that Mrs. Cooper, if she did anything, was provoked by Sheriff Clark. At that moment, he was engaging in some very ugly business-as-usual action. This is what brought about that scene there."

Cooper died in 2010 at the age of 100, and in 2014, Oprah Winfrey played her in the Oscar-nominated film, Selma.

Her legacy is still alive, Selma leaders say.

Yusuf Salaam, a former Selma councilman and state representative, said he met Cooper in the 1990s when he represented her neighborhood on the city council. The two worked together on a committee to improve the relationship between residents and city leadership. Salaam described Cooper as affable, sharp and intelligent. He recalled visiting her house on many occasions when she would cook collard greens and sweet potato pies.

Salaam told CNN he believes Cooper galvanized the voting rights movement because she stood up against a White sheriff -- something many Black Americans were afraid to do in the Jim Crow South.

"It was risky, it was down-right life-threatening and dangerous," Salaam said. "But she gave the formula for success. If the people had maintained that fear they would have been paralyzed."

An earlier headline on this story had the wrong year of birth for Annie Lee Cooper. It was 1910.

Read more

This civil rights leader was one of the little-known pioneers of affirmative action

Arthur Fletcher * 1924-2005

Arthur Fletcher built his life's legacy fighting for equal opportunity for Black Americans.

A star football player, Fletcher led his first civil rights protest while in high school after hearing that Black students' photographs would be placed in the back of the yearbook.

He later became one of the first Black players for the Baltimore Colts, and in 1954, was named Kansas' deputy highway commissioner where he encouraged Black businesses to compete for government contracts.

In 1969, while serving as assistant secretary of labor under Republican President Richard Nixon, Fletcher developed the first plan for affirmative action, which is perhaps his most notable accomplishment. The proposal, known as the "Revised Philadelphia Plan," required businesses and labor unions seeking government contracts to enforce equal employment opportunities for minorities.

The plan initially received pushback from White construction workers who demonstrated in cities such as Chicago and Pittsburgh. However, the plan had positive results -- within a year of implementation, the number of Black people employed as skilled workers jumped from 2% to 22.7%, according to historical records.

In the years that followed, he became widely known as the "father of affirmative action."

Fletcher's life experiences inspired his fight for affirmative action, said David Hamilton Golland, author of "A Terrible Thing to Waste: Arthur Fletcher and the Conundrum of the Black Republican."

After college, Fletcher, who had studied sociology and political science at Washburn University and played football there, struggled to get a high school football coaching job in Kansas because he was Black, Golland said. He settled for building tires at Goodyear to make ends meet.

Fletcher believed the nation was doing itself a disservice by excluding qualified, talented people from certain jobs and industries because of their race, Golland said.

"For Fletcher, every time you denied someone a job or training opportunity because of the color of his or her skin you were putting the nation at risk because that person might grow up and discover a better way to fight wars," Golland said.

In 1972, Fletcher was appointed executive director of the United Negro College where he helped coin the slogan, "A mind is a terrible thing to waste."

Fletcher chaired the US Commission on Civil Rights from 1990 to 1993. He died of natural causes in 2005 at the age of 80.

Read more

This military officer was arrested for refusing to obey the Jim Crow system.

She is known as the founder of the reparations movement.

This attorney and feminist was a fierce advocate for abortion rights in the 20th century.

He was the first openly gay Black man elected mayor of a US city.

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These Black Americans broke racial barriers. These are their untold stories.

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Here are their stories. Annie Lee Cooper did the unthinkable - she fought back - an act of resistance that turned her into an icon in the voting rights movement.

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ASALH - The Founders of Black History Month - Association for the Study of African American Life and History (est. 1915)

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The Black Resistance theme publication and posters are available. Order early to support plans for Black History Month, Woman's History Month, and Juneteenth. Three hi-gloss posters on Black Resistance and one Juneteenth poster...

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National Museum of African American History & Culture

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A People’s Journey, A Nation’s Story | National Museum of African American History and Culture

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Teacher resources for African American History Month. The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society.

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A Space For Us All - Designed for middle and high school students, virtual event discussing contributions of African-Americans at NASA. Astronaut Victor Glover will speak.

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MN African American Heritage Museum and Gallery

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Watch the recordings of this web series from 2023

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Watch the recordings of this web series from 2023

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https://video.ibm.com/recorded/133115880

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Free Printable Science Posters To Celebrate Black History All Year Long

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Original works of art to inspire your science students. Brought to you by Ward's Science Check out Ward's World, a popular science resource hub full of free activities, articles, videos, and other classroom ideas. Plus, browse Ward's Science to shop for all the quality supplies you need to build engaging science coursework.

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Black History Month begins Friday! The resources in this edition of The Moment will equip you with relevant teaching tools and suggestions for how to give this critical history the time, attention and depth it deserves.

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Century College hosts Black History Month speaker

The Office of Diversity & Inclusion and Multicultural Center at Century College are pleased to host Lisa S. McNair in honor of Black History Month on Feb. 25 speaking on the Bombing in Birmingham-Healing and Reconciliation Through Historical Tragedy and Trauma.

MAPE's Equity and Justice Black Caucus hosts 3rd Annual Black History Celebration lunch series

Every workday in February, the group hosts a lunch hour program with speakers, discussions and films. Read more

MAPE's Diversity and Belonging Committee provides list of resources to enhance your Black History Month

As we all explore Black History Month 2022, we'd like to share a list of art, music, film, and books to enrich your Black History Month. Read, listen, laugh, and watch together, with friends, family, co-workers, or all of the above. Thanks to all (especially Meron Negussie) who contributed to this list. A beginning, not an end! Amazon / Netflix / Google are often the most "linkable" way to share these texts. If purchasing, please consider direct purchase / Black-owned or independent / non - hyper corporate media sources.

Books

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. Based on the real life Dozier School for Boys, a reform school in Florida, this 2019 novel focuses on a young man's experience at the school during the 1960s Jim Crow era. It's a gripping story, examining the horrific events that happened at this school that were driven by racism and a broken justice system, while also lifting up the inspiring perseverance of the survivors of the school.

Black Birds in the Sky | The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre by Brandy Colbert.

Worldly Things by Michael Kleber-Diggs

The Broken Earth series by N.K. Jemisin. This is the series that won Jemisin the first-ever three-peat of the Hugo Award, sci-fi and fantasy's most prestigious prize. You can watch an insightful 2020 interview between Jemisin and her cousin, W. Kamau Bell here.

Eric B. & Rakim - Microphone Fiend - Rakim is often described as "your favorite MC's favorite MC." He wrote the album Paid in Full when he was a high school senior. Microphone Fiend / Paid in Full are the album's most iconic tracks.

Nas - If I Ruled The World - This duet with Lauryn Hill is safe for all audiences, but it is Nas' debut Illmatic that is considered by many to be the greatest hip-hop album of all-time. It was inducted into the Library of Congress in 2020.

Video and Film

Rondo: Beyond the Pavement (documentary). High school student filmmakers and community mentors in St. Paul, Minnesota came together in 2018 to make a documentary about the rich history of the Rondo neighborhood in St. Paul. The documentary tells the story of the vibrant, largely African American community of Rondo and how it was torn apart by the creation of I-94 in the 1950s. The film features interviews with past and present residents of Rondo, exploring the ways in which the community has rebuilt and the obstacles still facing it today.

"One the movies that matters to us in our home is Hidden Figures. It is such a powerful movie that tells the truth of black women and their importance in the development in the space race."

What Happened, Miss Simone? also currently on Netflix.

When They See Us Four-part Netflix series by Ava DuVernay about the wrongful incarceration and ultimate exoneration of the "Central Park Five."

13th documentary by Ava DuVernay that looks at how the country's history of racial inequality drives the high rate of incarceration in America. (90 minutes)

How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly toward them TED Talk by Vernā Myers, encourages work vigorously to counter balance bias by connecting with and learning about and from the groups we fear. (19 minutes)

Kehinde Wiley (painter). Based in New York City, Kehinde is an incredible portrait painter whose work has been described as "heroic portraits which address the image and status of young African-American men in contemporary culture" (The Columbus Museum of Art). Kehinde does some really thought-provoking and visually stunning work that reimagines the Old Masters with Black Protagonists.

Augusta Savage (sculptor). Augusta was a sculptor and part of the Harlem Renaissance. Her moving work was praised for showcasing African American features in a caring and more humane way, rather than succumbing to the stereotypes often portrayed in other sculpture of the time. Nearly forgotten at the time of her death in 1962, Augusta is now being recognized for her talents as an artist, activist, and arts educator, and was recently profiled in the New York Times.

Also check out the Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery!

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Black History Month Resources | Minnesota Association of Professional Employees

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Century College hosts Black History Month speaker The Office of Diversity & Inclusion and Multicultural Center at Century College are pleased to host Lisa S. McNair in honor of Black History Month on Feb. 25 speaking on the Bombing in Birmingham-Healing and Reconciliation Through Historical Tragedy and Trauma.