MLK Day

As I sit at my computer on Martin Luther King Jr. day, I think of all the great books I want my kids to read about this man and of other people in the civil rights movement.

I do struggle about WHEN my Ethiopian kids should read these books though. I read the American Girl series ADDY to my oldest bio daughter during the month of February when she was in Kindergarten. We also toured Monticello that year and took a tour of the slave quarters. I enrolled her in a camp at our local underground railroad museum and made sure when went to the Girl Scout Addy program last fall. I think that for her age (9) she has a decent grasp of American history when it comes to slavery and is starting to learn about the civil rights movement.

I did not take my two Ethiopian daughters to the Addy Program last fall though. My reasoning for this is that I want them to have a better grasp of English before we jump into the discussion of slavery. I’m fearful of what words they may pick out and what words they will not understand. A mother’s timing is often different than the world’s timing though. I know that (like other topics I’d rather save for later!)that I must educate my kiddos before someone else does it in a bad way. I have signed us up for a Girl Scout program in February called “The Taste of Color”. It is supposed to be a fun day of food and history, with a sense of celebration. I’m hoping this will get our conversation started.

This teaching of history is important to me in many ways. Learning from other people’s successes and failures help us in our everyday lives. I also want to make sure that all of my children know that Martin Luther King Jr. and many others made our transracial family possible. His hard work decades ago opened up the eyes of the country.

Here are a couple of books that I hope to share with my kiddos someday when they are ready:

Rosa by Nikki Giovanni and Bryan Collier

and

Martin Luther King, Jr. by Amy Pastan (DK Biography) (Hardcover)

I would love to hear from others on how they educated their children about African-American history and what books you have in your collection at home!

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