African American Experience

Books celebrating your own cultural experience are an essential part of your Waldorf classroom according to Rudolph Steiner, founder of Waldorf education.

Alan Whitehead, Waldorf teacher of both students and teachers, in his book The People Pool says of Steiner, “He recommended on every hand the telling of ‘folk’ tales (‘marchen’)…‘Folk’ tale means, as the quoted passage makes clear, the story of one’s own people and place – the children’s own story. Remember what he said, ‘They were themselves a part of the story’. The folk story is something that is continually created anew, as the circumstances of the folk change. They serve a particular time and place of a given people of folk.” The stories below provide those stories.

Additionally, in teaching different blocks, Waldorf Teachers historically make an effort to find an authentic voice to invite to the classroom to tell stories that are not their own. But what if this isn’t possible? A book is the second best way to invite an authentic voice into your classroom!