In 1976, Americans celebrated the first African American History Month. Before that we credit Carter G. Woodson, a Harvard graduate trained in history, with conceiving and announcing the first Negro History Week in 1925. Woodson hoped to raise awareness of the many contributions of African Americans to our civilization. Today, Black History Month as it is also known, is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history.
As parents, we can join in the celebration by taking the time to share important events with our children and highlight achievements made in our own recent history. The first African American President was Barack Obama [2008-2016] and more recently, the first woman elected Vice President, Kamala Harris, became the first African American/Asian to hold that office. Another thing we can do is make sure that we include story books that reflect characters of color when we read to our children. There are so many wonderful children’s books written by African American authors and books that include African American characters. Here are some children’s books that have Black or Brown children as the main characters that you and your little ones will enjoy:
Eat Up Gemma! by Sarah Hayes
My Heart fills with Happiness by Monique Gray Smith
So Much! by Trish Cooke
Please, Baby, Please by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee
Full, Full, Full of Love by Ayesha Rodriguez
You can check with your local librarian for even more selections. I have also included our handout on Ten Things All Children Need. It offers beautiful stories with parenting principles we want all children to learn, and provides titles of books that help you share them with your child. These books have diverse families so you can show your child that there are all kinds of families.
Read more about African American History Month:
https://africanamericanhistorymonth.gov/about/
For more on Talking to Kids about Race, check our blog from June 10, 2020:
http://blogs.cornell.edu/ccesuffolkfhw/2020/06/10/talking-to-your-kids-about-race/
Ten Things All Children Need:
http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/nysacaa/PBP_Files/Ten_Things.pdf
For more books, check out the list at the end of this article: These Books Can Help You Explain Racism and Protest to Your Kids:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/02/parenting/kids-books-racism-protest.html
All Blogs are written by Professionals in the fields of Nutrition, Human Development and Diabetes.