Happy February friends! Like we discussed last week, the entire month of February is African American History Month (or otherwise known as Black History Month.) I hope you enjoyed reading about our wonderful African American Inventors! Isn’t it amazing their contribution to society? It’s also amazing how many different products scientist George Washington Carver made from the peanut! You’ll never look at peanut butter the same.
Another part of life that we honor is their contribution to literature—which is a fancy word for writing, like we see in books (And you KNOW how much we love books!) Some famous authors, and this is just a few, are Alice Walker, Zora Neal Hurston, W.E.B. DuBois, Toni Morrison, Phyllis Wheatley, Maya Angelou. 1001 Things Everyone Should Know About African American History by Jeffrey C. Stewart has tons of great facts as we go through the month and honor many people who made wonderful contributions. Do you know Phyllis Wheatley wrote a poem about George Washington, our first president?
Parents, this is a wonderful time to share culture with your children, whether they are your own roots as an African American, or you share another ethnicity, so carve some time this month to read some remarkable things about some great Americans. Take care, and we hope to see you in the jungle! Now that it’s winter, come play in warmth! Hope to see you there.
Sincerely,
Miss Lisa
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Miss Lisa’s Book Review – African American History Month, Part 3
Well, here we are the day after Valentine’s Day! Hope all of you had a wonderful day letting the people you love know how much you appreciate them. Whether it is your mom who does so much for you, dad who is there to listen when you need him, a grandmother or grandfather who loves you and SPOILS you (we know that’s what they do), we stop to think about how we value them, and we see that because they are in our life, our life is better. So, Valentine’s Day is a wonderful day to remember that!
We are looking, just like we do on Valentine’s Day, at the month of February to appreciate what amazing African Americans did for our American culture. Just like family members who have made your life better by being in it, there are many African Americans who have made our society better by living the way they did. Did you know that in the beginnings of America, African Americans were brought here as slaves? As a result, we fought a war in America over 150 years ago, called the Civil War, because this tradition of making people slaves was not right and had to stop.
This war for freedom was very difficult, because half of America thought slavery was okay, and half thought it was not. Many slaves had to secretly escape to the states that believed in freedom, and their families were in danger the whole way. Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman by Faith Ringgold, and Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford are two wonderful books that talk about one of the most brave freedom fighters during this time, Harriet Tubman. She is an African American that created the Underground Railroad, a secret trail that led slaves to free states. It is an amazing story you will not be able to put down! Great reading for beginning readers, or a must read for parents out loud to their children.
Don’t miss this opportunity to read about bravery, courage, and a brave group of people who risked their lives for what was right. And I’ll see YOU next week as we celebrate more African American heroes!
Take care,
Miss Lisa