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momwise
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| Posted: Feb 09 2006 at 8:30am | IP Logged
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This topic came up on another thread but I thought it would be worth having a seperate thread. Here's a site where you can find out what happened in black history today, or on today's date I should say.
For instance, Charles Anderson was born on this day in 1907. Anderson pioneered the Tuskegee training program for WWII pilots.
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Gwen...wife for 30 years, mom of 7, grandma of 3.....
"If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life." JPII
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Rachel May
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| Posted: Feb 09 2006 at 2:46pm | IP Logged
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There were a bunch of great books mentioned on the Rabbit Trail thread, and I'm still investigating.
My kids have been memorizing pieces of I Have a Dream--mostly the end--and are doing much better than I expected since it's not in rhyme. 
Yesterday we discovered The Patchwork Path: A Quilt Map to Freedom at the library. The kids wanted to make a quilt for the new baby, so we read this book, and did a layout with precut flannel squares. They practiced matching a pattern and looking to see if it suited their eye, so I figured that covered Math and Art. 
The February Study on Winslow Homer is working well too since he spent time painting scenes from the civil war and of freed slaves.
I had never really studied black history (except that class in college where I met my husband) so I've been having a lot of fun with this. Thanks for the link, Gwen. I can't wait to see what else people come up with.
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Rachel
Thomas and Anthony (10), Maria (8), Charles (6), Cecilia (5), James (3), and Joseph (1)
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Rachel May
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| Posted: Feb 10 2006 at 1:59pm | IP Logged
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Today I heard this song on the radio.
I Am Not My Hair
I'm saving it for when the kids are bigger. An interesting part of Black History Month, to me, is an opportunity to discover our own roots and begin to understand our own identity. Until I was dating my husband, I always thought of myself as Mexican. Then as we talked about his Black identity, I began to wonder, "What makes me who I think I am?"
Anyway, I think this song speaks to any person's search for identity and reconciling that with how they look. We have one child who obviously looks more black than the others. I've even had people ask if my kids were all from the same father.  If she were a teen, I think I would enjoy the conversation it would spark, but I guess I'll just have to be patient.
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Rachel
Thomas and Anthony (10), Maria (8), Charles (6), Cecilia (5), James (3), and Joseph (1)
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Cay Gibson
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| Posted: Feb 10 2006 at 3:26pm | IP Logged
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Rachel,
Last year, my dc and I read several books for Black History month. This whole history study has got a wealth of picture books to dig into.
I'm sure you're familiar with author/artists Julius Lester and Jerry Pinkney? All their books are worth checking out. Did you know these two black artists got together and did a remake of the classic Little Black Sambo? If you find a copy of the book, make sure you read the author's note at the back of the book. They explain why they took a story that was so offensive to blacks and rewrote/reillustrated it, still keeping the story as it had been written. It's called Sam and the Tigers.
Patricia C. McKissack is another well-known author who does Black History month and the people proud.
Goin' Someplace Special by Patricia C. McKissack is a book I plan to buy in the near future. We checked it out at the library and it is a lovely story that addresses the issue of the Jim Crow laws and a little girl who knows there is one place she can go, and is welcomed, despite her skin color. You'll get goose bumps when you find out what place it is. It's someplace very special. You'll definitely have a new appreciation for this special place. 
Mirandy and Brother Wind another by Patricia C. McKissack is a great book to end the month with. You'll be treated to a discovery of where cake walks originated from. Fun! 
Papa's Mark by Gwendolyn Battle-Lavert is a definite must-read. It deals with the right of black people to vote.
The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles is wonderful.  And a tear-jerker. 
The Patchwork Quilt by Valerie Flournoy is very dear and meaningful.
The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson is a great story illustrating an innocent girlhood friendship that is oblivious to the issue of segregation demanded by the adults.
Oh, we read so many that month. I wish I could remember them all. And there are new books out in 2005 and books that we haven't read such as:
Rosa by Nikki Giovanni; and I saw this book as I was getting the links:
Abby Takes a Stand again by Patricia C. McKissack.
I'm anxious to see if our library has The Patchwork Path you mentioned. We haven't read it...yet.
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
mom to 5
Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks
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momwise
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| Posted: Feb 10 2006 at 4:21pm | IP Logged
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Rachel May wrote:
| An interesting part of Black History Month, to me, is an opportunity to discover our own roots and begin to understand our own identity |
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Oh my goodness, I just posted a whole response under my ds's name and had to delete it . We are also a bi-racial family and I love to study American history and family history whenever possible. My mil helps a great deal. She is part Cherokee and Choctaw and I'm part Irish and I actually found a book at the library about a theChoctaws helping the Irish Famine victims.
Rachel May wrote:
| I've even had people ask if my kids were all from the same father. If she were a teen, I think I would enjoy the conversation it would spark, but I guess I'll just have to be patient. |
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Homeschooling is such an advantage in this situation. I am so grateful to be able to pursue these topics in the context of a Catholic family (big C and little c ).
Thank you Cay, for the long booklist!
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Gwen...wife for 30 years, mom of 7, grandma of 3.....
"If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life." JPII
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Rachel May
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| Posted: Feb 10 2006 at 9:07pm | IP Logged
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Yes, thank you for all the book ideas, Cay!
I remember giving my baby sister Sam and the Tigers years ago, but at the time I had no clue who Julius Lester was. This month, however, we have been really enjoying
Tales of Uncle Remusby Julius Lester on audio and read by the author. I loved Brer Rabbit as a kid, but my husband always thought it was offensive. This version is updated and, according to one reviewer on Amazon, sanitized. However, my husband doesn't mind them, and the audio book relieves me of trying to read the accent.
Gwen, Now I have that song Indian Outlaw running through my head. 
Seriously though, have you found any good resources for interviewing relatives or have any good ideas on how to go about unlocking old stories? I asked my FIL to contribute a story or memory or thought about race/civil rights etc and got nothing but a bunch of artist suggestions. Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden. I know he has a great story about picking cotton all day as a kid and earning a nickel. And Bill's grandmother has lots of stories I think she's tell if I knew how ask. I'm so not a reporter.
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Rachel
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ALmom
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| Posted: Feb 10 2006 at 10:49pm | IP Logged
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Rachel,
I have some ideas about asking questions. We've been doing some of that with my FIL. My fil is not a conversationalist and tends to like to get other people talking and then listening so he doesn't volunteer any information without a very specific question. He also responds best when the dc are doing the asking.
Basically, take what you know of family history and do some research so you know some of the history that they lived - then ask very specific questions related to that. If there is a family album, going through it together will sometimes spark a surprising recollection.
With my fil, we started with what we knew, just from papers. Dh parents sent us important papers (immigration records of grandparents, birth certificates, etc.) Some of it was so hard to follow as there were name changes and all. So at first we just had to get family names straight - they were all so confusing as they changed between China immigration papers and the names we knew them by in the U.S. Try to do some research so you have a background from which to ask questions. For instance - I knew there were things like the Asian Exclusion Acts and it would have been difficult for an Asian to immigrate in the late 1800s and early 1900s. I might wonder aloud about how fil grandparents were able to get into this country. What jobs were open to him? (I wondered if he worked on the railroad at all since their port of entry was west coast). Did he experience specific instances of prejudice? Then when the dc also wondered, I'd encourage them to ask. He seemed to get going better when dc were the first inquirers and then I could chime in too.
We had military discharge papers and a list of his WWII decorations. I had some background knowledge that the military had been segregated when WWII broke out. Did he experience prejudice in the military (he commented that it was a great equalizer because no one cared about the color of his skin if he kept them alive).
We kind of keep a running idea of things the dc want to ask (sometimes prompted by me) and usually what he answers one time prompts more questions. He began to really open up and share a lot of WWII experiences - some things he had not even told his wife and she was hearing with us for the first time.
I also knew a bit about the history of China and the Japanese occupation and knew that he was living in China during the time the Japanese were expanding. I have tons of questions but try to be sensitive that this time may hold a lot of very painful memories for him (as does battle in WWII) so I won't press if his answers are somewhat general at first. I asked if he ever heard the fighting, involving Japanese or Communists? He basically said they heard the gunfire all the time - but didn't say anything else but talked about village life from there. Later he told us a bit more about being stopped by Japanese patrols on his way out of China.
He tells us a bit here and a bit there. After he is gone, we try to write down what we remember. If we did this while he was talking or if we taped him, he wouldn't say hardly anything. It also means that as we write stuff down, we realize we aren't totally clear on something. He told us how he got the oak leaf cluster to his Bronze Star, but didn't say anything about how he got the Bronze Star. Or we each have a story slightly differently. Then we clarify the details later.
Hope this helps.
Oh, you might appreciate how a friend of ours deals with the obnoxious questions. Her dh is black and she is from Germany. When someone wonders if the dc are really hers, she responds in German like she has no idea what they are asking.
Since I am so fair skinned, people generally ask me if dc are adopted but since they all look basically the same as far as caucasians can tell, no one has actually asked if they all have the same father. How absolutely obnoxious!
Janet
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momwise
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I think Janet probably has given the best advice you could get. If you have old pics get them out and ask about the people in them, if you don't have any, ask for some. I really got lucky with my mil, in that she is really interested in her genaeology and has been good about talking with a lot of elderly relatives, some of whom we haven't even met.
Like Janet says, if the past is painful, you won't get the older generation to talk about it much. My mil's father fled Miss. as a young man and came to CO and warned his family never to step foot in Miss. but he didn't tell why. ((BTW my mil went to Miss. a couple of years ago to visit one of her last remaining relatives and she returned unharmed .)
Another alternative, if you can't get the relatives to talk is to find other older people who were involved in historical events. For instance we have taken advantage of many opportunities to meet and talk with local Tuskegee airmen, whose numbers are dwindling rapidly, and were able to get some photos as well.
Another thought that just came to me: Several years ago our state historical museum held a "living black history day" where several famous local black residents of the past were portrayed in character and were telling stories and giving live demonstrations. It was soooo cool. I wonder if other museums do that? I always thought it would be an excellent idea for a black Catholic history day at the diocese or something like that.
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Gwen...wife for 30 years, mom of 7, grandma of 3.....
"If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life." JPII
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ALmom
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Momwise,
Dh and I just watched a public tv interview with Tuskeegee Airmen. It was very impressive what they accomplished in combat - and Tuskeegee is in AL after all. We are interested in WWII so that was our connection. It gives me another question to ask my fil - whether or not the equal treatment he got in the war continued after the war or not. For the Tuskeegee airmen, it did not. The experience of American's of Chinese ancestry might have been different. One thing interesting my fil shared was that it was really hard for Chinese at the outbreak of WWII (right after Pearl Harbor) because to Caucasians Chinese and Japanese looked alike and American of Chinese ancestry were always being mistaken for Japanese ancestry. Anyways, I was very saddened by how poorly one of the Tuskeegee airman was treated on his way home from risking his life for his country and evidently his experience was pretty typical of the Tuskeegee Airmen. But what a record they achieved - never losing a single bomber they escorted. Wow!
One thing I have noticed - as my dc show interest in their heritage and my fil gets older, he is more willing to share because he senses that he represents something more than just himself and the history of Chinese Americans as he experienced it might die with him if he doesn't share it. Every year that goes by, he tells us more. So just keep asking a few questions at a time and see where it leads. I think that he really appreciates that dc are identifying with their Chinese ancestry - actually much more than dh ever did. Perhaps he feared that the Chinese connection would be lost when dh and I married.
Do you sometimes feel like a bridge trying to understand many viewpoints - and in a unique position to be successful?
Glad your mil made it back alive and well - here in the deep south, we really are not as horrible as we are portrayed. I know my sil's mother's father was beheaded by the Japanese in WWII (from the Phillipines) and to this day her mother cannot tolerate anyone of Japanese ancestry in her home. My brother learned that the hard way when he brought a friend with him - said his mil was quite civil but let him know in no uncertain terms not to do that again. So really traumatic experiences do color how we see things.
Don't give up asking - and you can gingerly go back to sensitive subjects after more time has passed if you just allow them to answer vaguely until they are ready to say more - kind of a gut instinct thing.
Janet
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Rachel May
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Janet and Gwen,
Thank you for all the great help! You know we have bumped into a few Buffalo soldiers at military posts and it never occured to me to talk with them and the children about their experience. I'm excited to get working on the family history side of this rabbit trail.
Janet, your FIL's experience of being confused for a Japanese person reminded me of something. In Hawaii the Honolulu Theater for Youth commissioned a play called Nothing is the Same about the effect of the attack on Pearl Harbor on 4 children, about 12 yo, who lived near the North Shore of Oahu. The play was great, I definitely recommend it if it ever gets your way, but what I was reminded of was a part of the play where a boy proudly displays his "Korean American" sign. He had made it for when he shined boots on the military base. The Japanese-American character pretends to be the brother of a Philipino girl, and they think it is pretty funny!
Anyway, one thing that Anthony figured out right away when reading If A Bus Could Talk was the idea of "passing." In that books Rosa Parks husband is portrayed with blue eyes and blond hair, but in other books we have he looks more hispanic. Anyway, Anthony thought he was pretty sneaky to think that Mr. Parks could sit in the white part of the bus with no one knowing. I was amazed that it occured to him since I had never thought of it until I read the short story Passing by Nella Larsen my senior year of college.
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Rachel
Thomas and Anthony (10), Maria (8), Charles (6), Cecilia (5), James (3), and Joseph (1)
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momwise
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It was all by chance that we happened to be studying the pre-Civil War/Underground Railroad and Civil War periods right about now. Of course we would have studied the black history issues regardless of the month . Anyway, we have some of those parchment reproductions of I Have A Dream and Ain't I a Woman hanging in our schoolroom, along with a map of the Civil War Battlefields and the Lewis and CLark Expedition document. I went diggin around on the net to see if I could find more of them and I found this site that has the words to important historical documents including the Emancipation Proclamation . I didn't look around too much but I did see links to Lesson Plans using historical documents. Cool
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Gwen...wife for 30 years, mom of 7, grandma of 3.....
"If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life." JPII
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Rachel May
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My FIL suggested studying collagist Romare Bearden and lent us a video called Romare Bearden: Visual Jazz. We haven't watched it yet, but I did find this at the National Gallery of Art for Kids site. About halfway down on the left, below directions for the collage, there is a link to a file that gives the life of Romare Bearden.
We're going to watch the movie, look at a couple of books I'm requesting from the library, and make some collages. I think that will be the end of our big push because I'm worn out! Luckily, Bill's spring break is coming and then we can start a new rabbit trail. This one has been fun! I'm glad we have this thread to peek back at later.
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Rachel
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momwise
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Thanks for pointing out the guide about Bearden. I've played around with the Collage maker site before but never noticed that link. Have a look at the picture on page 3...notice anything in the backround? Hint: He needs a ladder to get to all of them.... ..A guy after my own heart.
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Gwen...wife for 30 years, mom of 7, grandma of 3.....
"If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life." JPII
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4Real Forums : Across Time and Place
Topic: Black history month
