The more my children grow the more I feel I need to be educated and prepared for questions they may have. I know dad will always have more insight on the Black culture as I will have more insight on the Mexican culture but I would like us all to understand what our family is made of.
Celebrating Black History is as new to me as it is to the kids.I enjoy it because it is new and I embrace it as if it were my own culture because my children are Black!
Growing up I did learn about MLK and the underground railroad but the SoCal school system i grew up in didn’t go much farther than that unless you were luck to have a Black teacher.
I was luck enough to have a teacher who had a pretty famous brother. This will be a story I will tell my kids.
Mrs. Berns was my 4th grade teacher(though she wasn’t my teacher until a year after this memorable day) and her brother was Gen. Colin Powell.
I remember him coming to visit our elementary school. It was a pretty exciting time. He arrived in style too. Helicopters arrived at our school yard and off came Gen. Colin Powell. you can imagine all us little kids seeing helicopters fly over us only to arrive at our school yard which was no more than half a mile away. We went crazy screaming cheering it was so exciting.
Here’s the article I found recently from the LA TIMES
Sadly I don’t remember much more than the helicopters and the massive crowds. It was a little overwhelming tho exciting. From what I gathered from the article he came to talk to us about education. He also told us about his job in the military. I do remember him in uniform and I remember the others that were with him as well. In dark navy blues.
Last year Little man and I celebrated in our own way. We did arts and crafts and lots of coloring pages. As we went along I tried to explain things in terms that I could remember also. I mean he was just 1year old at the time. I know he couldn’t possibly remember the month of information I had been talking to him about. We did have fun and he always posed next to his Black History wall after each project.
I found myself asking my husband a series of questions after he told me how they did it in the east coast. He said there were Plays, reports, visiting museums, and even parades!
Now as Black History Month has begun I am hitting the books and the net once again in hopes of creating a memorable Black History Month for the kids even if it will just be remembered in pictures. I hope to take them to a couple of events too.
ps. Today I also found out Mrs. Berns had passed away in 2005.
Mrs.Berns was an amazing Teacher. I think it says a lot if I still remember her 17 years later.
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