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ccbc-net digest 22 Jun 1999
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From: Tattercoat at aol.com <Tattercoat>
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 11:55:11 EDT
In light of the discussion of when is the right age, time and place for using The Middle Passage with children, some of you may be interested in one of my student's experiences with the book.
The Middle Passage is one of many crossover books that I utilize in my Children's Literature class to give my students (mostly future teachers) tools for introducing different cultural and racial viewpoints in history. One student this spring was already teaching, as a home school teacher to two boys aged nine and ten, in a religiously conservative family. Annie was appalled at the lack of African American perspectives in the U. S. history book she was asked to teach from (it is a standard public school text, not a church curriculum) and she took it upon herself to create an ongoing literature exploration of the African American experience. For the slave trade we looked at a variety of books, none of which she felt came close to conveying the human experience in a way her two squirrelly charges could relate to. (She considered Paula Fox's The Slave Dancer, but felt the youngest child would not sit still, even for a read aloud.)
She decided to use The Middle Passage as a resource, but was concerned about parental response. She and the boys' mother sat down and read and examined the book together. It was an education for the mom. She helped Annie select pictures to share with the boys. Then all four looked at the chosen illustrations and discussed the slave trade. Their talk was one of the richest learning experiences of the year, according to Annie. She told me that without this understanding of the origins of slavery and the human experience of the middle passage, much of the following history of African people in the Americas would have been lost on the boys, that they were able to form an empathetic identification through the powerful illustrations. By involving the mother from the start, she gave the family a shared experience and the basis for rich discussions of issues and history as well as contemporary issues. Books like The Gold Cadillac took on deeper meaning when they came to them. All this happened in a very rural, overwhelmingly white community. Can anyone doubt the power and reach of Tom Feelings' work?
<<Shelby wrote: "When one ignores the pain and violence of the African American culture one ignores the true history of an entire race of people." I'd say we are ignoring the true history of two races of people. Elizabeth Partridge>>
This is true, too, for other racial groups. I hope to see the day that we examine Native American experience with the same accuracy and profundity as Tom Feelings has in The Middle Passage.
Carolyn Lehman Humboldt State University Arcata, CA
Received on Tue 22 Jun 1999 10:55:11 AM CDT
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 11:55:11 EDT
In light of the discussion of when is the right age, time and place for using The Middle Passage with children, some of you may be interested in one of my student's experiences with the book.
The Middle Passage is one of many crossover books that I utilize in my Children's Literature class to give my students (mostly future teachers) tools for introducing different cultural and racial viewpoints in history. One student this spring was already teaching, as a home school teacher to two boys aged nine and ten, in a religiously conservative family. Annie was appalled at the lack of African American perspectives in the U. S. history book she was asked to teach from (it is a standard public school text, not a church curriculum) and she took it upon herself to create an ongoing literature exploration of the African American experience. For the slave trade we looked at a variety of books, none of which she felt came close to conveying the human experience in a way her two squirrelly charges could relate to. (She considered Paula Fox's The Slave Dancer, but felt the youngest child would not sit still, even for a read aloud.)
She decided to use The Middle Passage as a resource, but was concerned about parental response. She and the boys' mother sat down and read and examined the book together. It was an education for the mom. She helped Annie select pictures to share with the boys. Then all four looked at the chosen illustrations and discussed the slave trade. Their talk was one of the richest learning experiences of the year, according to Annie. She told me that without this understanding of the origins of slavery and the human experience of the middle passage, much of the following history of African people in the Americas would have been lost on the boys, that they were able to form an empathetic identification through the powerful illustrations. By involving the mother from the start, she gave the family a shared experience and the basis for rich discussions of issues and history as well as contemporary issues. Books like The Gold Cadillac took on deeper meaning when they came to them. All this happened in a very rural, overwhelmingly white community. Can anyone doubt the power and reach of Tom Feelings' work?
<<Shelby wrote: "When one ignores the pain and violence of the African American culture one ignores the true history of an entire race of people." I'd say we are ignoring the true history of two races of people. Elizabeth Partridge>>
This is true, too, for other racial groups. I hope to see the day that we examine Native American experience with the same accuracy and profundity as Tom Feelings has in The Middle Passage.
Carolyn Lehman Humboldt State University Arcata, CA
Received on Tue 22 Jun 1999 10:55:11 AM CDT
