Description
You’ll experience the passionate speeches, marches, and movements of the Civil Rights era along with and the sacrifices of Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers, and many others. Along the way there are dozens of profiles of political trailblazers like Shirley Chisholm, the first black women elected to Congress in 1968; dominants athletes like Tiger Woods who, in 1995, was only the second African American to play in a Master’s Golf Tournament which he went on to win in 1997; popular musicians like Miles Davis, one the most influential artists of the twentieth century; and inspiring writers like Toni Morrison, the first African American to win the Nobel Prize in literature.
Filled with beautiful illustrations by Lynn Gaines that bring these figures and events to life, plus a removable historical timeline poster, A Child’s Introduction to African American History is a fascinating and comprehensive guide to this often overlooked yet immensely important part of American history.
In the Waldorf classroom I see this book as being one that can be used over many years. In second grade some of the stories can be told as part of the Heroes Block and can fulfill the need that second graders have of hearing stories about people they can look up to and emulate. In third grade stories that contain topics like farming, gardening, or housebuilding can gently introduce a bit of history and culture into those blocks. In fourth grade students can find out about events that happened near where they live.
In fifth grade students can learn about trailblazers and explorers. In sixth grade students can expand some of the stories involving music into their music curriculum. In Seventh grade students can find inspiration for their own writing with stories about writers.
In Eighth grade students can study American History from a healthy different point of view. This can enable your student(s) to move forward in life realizing that history has a lot to do with point-of-view and why it is important to realize and explore that concept.
In high school students can explore events that happened more recently in history and tackle some of the more challenging stories in the book.
