USPS honors Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American congresswoman, with a stamp.
Now that my daughter is getting older it looks like she is about to indulge in some fun school projects. Well ok…they seem fun to me because I’m a nerd. Honey! Don’t let it be an area or subject where I really fit in; then I’ll be SUPER NERD! My poor child. She’s going to have to fight me from bogarting her work. However, for now she prefers that I stick by her side as WE get through her homework together…unless it’s something she feels totally confident in. Then she gets a lil sass in her voice with a sing-song tone; “Mommiiiiiiiiiie. I SAID I got it!!!!” I don’t mind. As long as she comprehends the work and is learning from it.
So the super nerd came over me yesterday as her teacher briefly gave me the run down that included in the homework package is the long term assignment for black history month. In case you don’t know or may have forgotten, my minor in undergrad was African-American Studies. If any areas or subjects in school my child SHOULD excel in it would be English, anything dealing with communications and history as it pertains to black folks! Plus…HELLO! I write for black publications! I’m certainly not going to tolerate laziness in these areas, especially with all the books I have around here.
Admittedly I didn’t go over the black history project thoroughly until today. In short; from a list of historical black figures provided by the teacher, my child is charged with picking one name from the list and set up some kind of flow chart report report. Cool. What’s not cool…the list itself. Before I continue let me say, the teacher did gather some great legends for the list as they all made selfless moves in history and lived extraordinary lives. Also, so far I’ve been enjoying this particular teacher. She’s a breath of fresh air and my daughter seems to love her and is learning a lot from her. There may have been a few minor hic cups that made me sigh, shake my head and write her a note or politely make mention the issue when I saw her in person. She graciously obliges to make sure hic cups are cleared.
However, after looking at that list of black history figures, I cocked my head to the side – wait, my yorkie was standing near and in reaction to me, he cocked his head to the side too – and I stared at the names. Actually my eyes couldn’t leave the first name on the list.
“Benjamin Baker.”
Ummmmmmmmmmmmm. Who the hell is Benjamin Baker? According to Wikipedia Baker is an English engineer that came around the Victorian era. While processing this tragic typo, I’m pretty sure her teacher meant Benjamin Banneker…yanno black scientist born in Maryland that was instrumental in surveying and laying out Washington, D.C. Once I got over THAT hurdle, I noticed two other things. Frederick Douglass’ last name was only spelled with one “s” and the list only included one female; Harriet Tubman.
Deep…deep….DEEP…. DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP…..sigh.
Ok I get that this is a bunch of first graders and this is like their 101 to black history but dammit… where is Gwendolyn Brooks? Angela Davis? Assata Shakur? Sojourner Truth? Ella Baker? Phillis Wheatley? Shirley Chisholm (whom the USPS just honored in putting her face on a stamp)? For the love of black history and the love of my fellow black women…who dropped the ball with this list?
Actually, I’ve been waiting for something like this to occur. I’m so ready to dive deep with my daughter and guide her in an exploration of black history. When I give it thought, I still cringe when I know that children of this generation don’t even know who Dr. Charles Drew is. I usually bring up this question if I’m doing a career day with elementary students. One of my past articles features a sister of Dr. Drew, Nora Gregory, whose husband once served as the assistant superintendent for DCPS and whom the Francis Gregory Library is named for and whose son, Frederick, was the first African-American pilot for NASA. I bring up the Gregory and Drew families anytime I discuss my article on Mrs. Gregory with children. What broke my heart last year was a particular teacher shooting down a kid’s confidence when I asked about Dr. Charles Drew.
“Boy put your hand down. You don’t know.”
I cut my eyes at the teacher and told them to give the boy a chance. He just may know. Of course he guessed he was a medical doctor, but wasn’t sure. I have to make note here this did NOT take place at a DCPS school. Thank GOD!!!!
With a public school system still saturated with beautiful brown children and implanted in historically rich in black history city, I swear DCPS needs an overall to include black studies and even reintroduce (if they’ve removed the subject) studies that teach the students specifically about D.C. history. A few weeks ago, my mom hipped me to something I didn’t know. During her time as a teacher, a group of her fellow teaching friends, with specifically Joyce Collette (a beloved family friend who taught with my mom and godfather at Francis Jr. High) as the lead, spent years researching the history of D.C. and put together VOLUMES of D.C. history books that I’m sure intertwined with our black history. I believe the books were mainly used on the high school level.
When I think about this I swear a storm brews inside of me. This Common Core curriculum currently in place makes me feel all kinds of ways. Based on how my daughter is learning and her progress from Pre-School to now (1st grade), it all seems like basic stuff teachers were teaching anyway from when I and my friend friends were that age. Some of it seems like creative teaching, but after speaking with a few teachers I learned that Common Core doesn’t allow room for teachers to really flex their creative teaching muscle, to give those extra lessons that will enhance their students’ lessons. This may explain why children don’t know even the basics of black history other than Martin Luther King Jr. holding marches and giving rousing speeches in the name of civil rights. Today is all about teaching to the test, so much so, that our kids our missing out on the glorious lessons on the double or hidden meanings behind the songs slaves sung while working or the behind the scenes efforts of our women during the civil rights era and the understanding of how Rosa Parks sitting on the back of that bus was part strategy.
More than likely I’ll scribble a little note to my daughter’s teacher and even mention it when I see her face tomorrow. My daughter is going rogue. We’re going off that list and diving into a replenishing pool of black history and maybe tap into some local black history to sit beside the other choices on the list that included;
Mahoganie: Musings East of the Anacostia River 
Posted on February 4, 2014
0