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Children’s books are often the primary way young students are exposed to the history of American slavery. But many books about slavery sugarcoat oppression. Professor Ebony Elizabeth Thomas examines what we should consider when it comes to how children’s books portray African Americans and Indigenous people, their cultures and the effects of enslavement. She also explains why it’s crucial to create “a balance of narratives” when selecting books about marginalized and underrepresented communities.

Educators! Get a professional development certificate for listening to this episode—issued by Learning for Justice. Listen for the special code word, then visit learningforjustice.org/podcastpd.

And you can find a complete transcript on our website, along with resources to help you teach the hard history explored in this episode. Resources like these... 

Resources and Readings

• Teaching Tolerance, "Lies My Bookshelf Told Me"
• Teaching Tolerance, "Hercules’ Daughter"
• Rethinking Schools, Teaching for Black Lives

Ebony Elizabeth Thomas

• University of Pennsylvania, Literacy, Culture, and International Education
• Twitter, @Ebonyteach
• The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games

References:

• Virginia Hamilton, The House of Dies Drear
• Walter Dean Myers, The Legend of Tariq
• John Steptoe, Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters
• Tonya Bolden, Searching for Sarah Rector
• PBS Africans in America, Benjamin Banneker
• National Archives, "To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Banneker, 1791"
• Chinua Achebe (Wikipedia)
• Imani Perry, May We Forever Stand:A History of the Black National Anthem
• James Weldon Johnson (Wikipedia)
• Teaching Tolerance, Black History Month: Teaching Beyond Slavery
• N. K. Jemisin, How Long 'til Black Future Month?
• Rudine S Bishop, Free Within Ourselves: The Development of African American Children's Literature
• Glenda Armand, Love Twelve Miles Long
• Ashley Bryan, Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams
• Teaching Tolerance, Meet Frederick Douglass
• Detroit History, Frederick Douglass and John Brown Meeting Place
• Manumission (Wikipedia)
• Amma Asante film, Belle (Wikipedia)
• Emily Jenkins, A Fine Dessert: Four Centuries, Four Families, One Delicious Treat
• The New York Times, “Scholastic Halts Distribution of ‘A Birthday Cake for George Washington’”
• Erica Armstrong Dunbar, Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge

Hasan Kwame Jeffries

• Ohio State University, African-American History
• All Sides with Ann Fisher (radio), Black History Is American History
• Ohio State University, United Black World Month

And you'll find a full episode transcript on our site.