{"id":4086,"date":"2024-02-11T16:30:34","date_gmt":"2024-02-11T21:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/?p=4086"},"modified":"2024-02-11T16:30:36","modified_gmt":"2024-02-11T21:30:36","slug":"tameka-fryer-brown-on-celebrating-black-culture-with-all-children-all-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/blog\/2024\/02\/11\/tameka-fryer-brown-on-celebrating-black-culture-with-all-children-all-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Tameka Fryer Brown on Celebrating Black Culture with All Children All Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A week or two ago, I contacted Tameka Fryer Brown, a Charlotte children\u2019s author whose books include That Flag, Not Done Yet: Shirley Chisholm\u2019s Fight for Change, <\/em>and Brown Baby Lullaby<\/em>, and I asked her if she would be willing to send me a few paragraphs about how she incorporates Black history in her books for children. I was thinking that I would feature her response in a blog post related to Black History Month. She responded by asking if I would be open to her \u201ctalking about how children\u2019s books that center on Black culture \u2026 are important to share with all <\/em>children?\u201d Of course, I said yes.  A few days later, she sent me the following commentary:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Did you know there are designated themes for Black History Month? Each year, the <\/em>Association for the Study of African American Life and History<\/em><\/a> encourages a particular area of focus for celebrating the myriad contributions to society made by Black people, both in the past as well as the present. From the ASALH website:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen Carter G. Woodson established Negro History week in 1926, he realized the importance of providing a theme to focus the attention of the public. The intention has never been to dictate or limit the exploration of the Black experience, but to bring to the public\u2019s attention important developments that merit emphasis.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor those interested in the study of identity and ideology, an exploration of ASALH\u2019s Black History themes is itself instructive. Over the years, the themes reflect changes in how people of African descent in the United States have viewed themselves, the influence of social movements on racial ideologies, and the aspirations of the Black community.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s BHM theme is <\/em>African Americans and the Arts<\/em><\/a>. As a literary artist whose medium is children\u2019s books, I, of course, am overjoyed! Today, there are many titles available for kids and young adults by Black authors and illustrators, about the creative contributions Black people have made throughout history\u2014not only in literature, but also in the visual and performing arts, culinary arts, architecture, fashion, film, music, and more.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We who have been educated in the United States know that during Black History Month, an emphasis on slavery and Jim Crow has typically governed the narratives presented to our children, assuming any observance is held at all. Providing such a limited perspective on the Black experience can foster a very narrow and pitiable view of Black lives, Black history, and by extension, Black destiny. This is harmful for all our kids.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does our nation\u2019s history include vile and heart-rending stories of suffering for Black people? Absolutely. And it is important not to shy away from those truths in our educational system. Those truths are a part of American history and should be shared throughout the year as such. But when it comes to \u201ccelebrating\u201d Black History Month, we must focus on more than Black suffering. There are many celebratory aspects of our history, culture, and traditions that can be shared. This year, I pray those of us who have children in our lives will expose them to more than the usual tales of oppression and overcoming. Let\u2019s be intentional about adding more stories of Black innovation, imagination, creativity, and joy to our children\u2019s literary diets\u2026not only in February, but in every other month as well.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information about Tameka and her books, please click on the following link:  https:\/\/tamekafryerbrown.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her email message to me, Tameka added, \u201cThanks for sharing your platform.\u201d  Well, as I see it, the thanks should go to Tameka for sharing her thoughts on the importance of celebrating Black culture throughout the year and for providing the children of Storied Charlotte and beyond with inspiring and joyful books.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A week or two ago, I contacted Tameka Fryer Brown, a Charlotte children\u2019s author whose books include That Flag, Not Done Yet: Shirley Chisholm\u2019s Fight for Change, and Brown Baby Lullaby, and I asked her if she would be willing to send me a few paragraphs about how she incorporates Black history in her books […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-storied-charlotte"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4086"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4088,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4086\/revisions\/4088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}