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Fundies and Black History Month


roddma

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It probably depends on the family. Fundie-dom isn't monolithic.  Just going off my personal experience, I've known a few families who couldn't care less about things like this. However, I've also known some who felt very convicted about the church including people of all races, and who would probably be all over teaching a black history month unit. I know Bob Jones and some of the other Christian homeschool publishers do black history month units, and I've seen fundie and fundie-lite bloggers mention it, so I have a feeling that it's taught in some form or another. 

Of course, what is actually being taught in some quarters could be up for debate.

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11 minutes ago, roddma said:

February is black history month. I wonder if Fundies acknowledge this in homeschooling.

It's funny, I was just thinking about this. I can't speak for all fundies, of course, but we study all kinds of people as we come across them in our history/reading. We've talked a lot about slavery and racial tensions both past and present. But I can't say that I've ever focused extensively on black history month, and I've been thinking on how/if I should this year. 

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1 minute ago, JemimaPuddle-Duck said:

It's funny, I was just thinking about this. I can't speak for all fundies, of course, but we study all kinds of people as we come across them in our history/reading. We've talked a lot about slavery and racial tensions both past and present. But I can't say that I've ever focused extensively on black history month, and I've been thinking on how/if I should this year. 

You should teach it and I can help you get started. 

I am a black person with a history degree.

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1 minute ago, purple_summer said:

You should teach it and I can help you get started. 

I am a black person with a history degree.

So what are your suggestions? I have a wide range of ages. 

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6 minutes ago, JemimaPuddle-Duck said:

So what are your suggestions? I have a wide range of ages. 

Contact your local library and see if they have a copy of PBS's Eyes on the Prize documentary. It's probably the best film on the entirety of the civil rights movement that's available. I'd recommend it for middle school and up. Younger ages (elementary) would enjoy the films Ruby Bridges and Selma Lord Selma. They're both wonderful world of Disney productions and you should be able to find resources on it pretty easily online. Ruby Bridges has a book that's appropriate for younger readers as well. American Girl has a line about Addy, a girl who was an escaped slave during the Civil War and it's honestly what sparked my love of history. 

These are all general baseline suggestions, I don't want to give you 500000 things that you won't possibly be able to cover right away (and I'm not familiar with your curriculum). Check your local library for age appropriate books and films and do a google search (better yet call the historical society) and see what is in your area that relates to black history. You might be surprised.

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9 minutes ago, purple_summer said:

Contact your local library and see if they have a copy of PBS's Eyes on the Prize documentary. It's probably the best film on the entirety of the civil rights movement that's available. I'd recommend it for middle school and up. Younger ages (elementary) would enjoy the films Ruby Bridges and Selma Lord Selma. They're both wonderful world of Disney productions and you should be able to find resources on it pretty easily online. Ruby Bridges has a book that's appropriate for younger readers as well. American Girl has a line about Addy, a girl who was an escaped slave during the Civil War and it's honestly what sparked my love of history. 

These are all general baseline suggestions, I don't want to give you 500000 things that you won't possibly be able to cover right away (and I'm not familiar with your curriculum). Check your local library for age appropriate books and films and do a google search (better yet call the historical society) and see what is in your area that relates to black history. You might be surprised.

Thanks....I'll see what we have available. Our area is a strange one for black history, which might actually make it even more interesting. 

(And Addy is our second favorite American Girl ;-))

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34 minutes ago, GenerationCedarchip said:

It probably depends on the family. Fundie-dom isn't monolithic.  Just going off my personal experience, I've known a few families who couldn't care less about things like this. However, I've also known some who felt very convicted about the church including people of all races, and who would probably be all over teaching a black history month unit. I know Bob Jones and some of the other Christian homeschool publishers do black history month units, and I've seen fundie and fundie-lite bloggers mention it, so I have a feeling that it's taught in some form or another. 

Of course, what is actually being taught in some quarters could be up for debate.

I would be really interested to find out what a Bob Jones University black history units looks like, since this is an institution that is not know for being particularly enlightened on racial issues. Aren't their A Beka books still teaching that apartheid and slavery were good things?

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Just now, Cleopatra7 said:

I would be really interested to find out what a Bob Jones University black history units looks like, since this is an institution that is not know for being particularly enlightened on racial issues. Aren't their A Beka books still teaching that apartheid and slavery were good things?

A Beka Books is affiliated with Pensacola Christian College in Florida. Bob Jones curriculum is published under the name Bob Jones University Press. 

A Beka Books, back when I taught from their texts at Christian school in the late 90s, have a lot of both cloaked and blatant racism in them. 

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2 minutes ago, Cleopatra7 said:

I would be really interested to find out what a Bob Jones University black history units looks like, since this is an institution that is not know for being particularly enlightened on racial issues. Aren't their A Beka books still teaching that apartheid and slavery were good things?

BJU and Abeka are separate. Abeka is from Pensacola Christian College or something like that. 

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Just now, louisa05 said:

A Beka Books is affiliated with Pensacola Christian College in Florida. Bob Jones curriculum is published under the name Bob Jones University Press. 

A Beka Books, back when I taught from their texts at Christian school in the late 90s, have a lot of both cloaked and blatant racism in them. 

D'oh! Thanks for pointing that A Beka isn't published by BJU. I feel like my FJ card needs to be revoked for such a mistake. I'm still curious to see BJU's take on black history, since it seems like black people don't really exist in the IFB world in general.

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I'm not a black person, but I am also a history major - and I try to make sure my daughter is getting some exposure to black history beyond her school.

In addition to Addy, American Girl also has a set from 1850s New Orleans featuring Cecile, who is black, and Marie-Grace - it gets a little into how the 2 groups existed next to each other in that era.

Ruth and the Green Book by Calvin A. Ramsey - Deals with the issues of traveling in the South for blacks - the "Green Book" is a guide for black motorists that let them know places where they could safely stop and be served.  It's a gorgeous book.

My daughter's school has them doing Black History Month research (although the projects don't seem to be due until March), and she is doing Bessie Chapman - I have 2 books on her that we haven't read yet.

For adults:

American Patriots: Blacks in the Military by Gail Buckley goes from the Revolutionary Era to Desert Storm.

Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Beals Patillo - one of the girls who was part of the Little Rock integration.

At The Dark End of the Street by Danielle McGuire looks at how rape/sexual violence against black women has played into the civil rights movement, and how women took part in it - including looking at the fact that Rosa Parks didn't just sit down on that seat.

 

 

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9 minutes ago, desertvixen said:

My daughter's school has them doing Black History Month research (although the projects don't seem to be due until March), and she is doing Bessie Chapman - I have 2 books on her that we haven't read yet.

 

 

 

 

 

My daughter just got cast as Bessie Chapman in a series of historical portrayals at our state historical museum for Black History Month. She will be delivering a monologue and then staying in character to interact with elementary school kids.

For upper elementary reading, I recommend Mildred Taylor's books. They follow a black sharecropping family from the 1930s (if memory serves) through the '60s. They are beautifully written and historically grounded. My kids loved them.

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22 minutes ago, Cleopatra7 said:

I would be really interested to find out what a Bob Jones University black history units looks like, since this is an institution that is not know for being particularly enlightened on racial issues. Aren't their A Beka books still teaching that apartheid and slavery were good things?

This is what I've always been told:

When Dr Martin Luther King was assassinated, the BJU students were at a assembly when the news of the assassination was announced.  The students erupted in cheers.  Well, most of them did.  One guy basically quit god right then and there and founded the upstate SC chapter of the Secular Humanist association.

They have changed their policies now, but back about 20-25 years ago, they had a strict ban on interracial dating.  Students who were interracial would have to decide which race they were for dating purposes when they enrolled.  Of course, most kids would decide to be white as there were more white kids to date.

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1 hour ago, desertvixen said:

Ruth and the Green Book by Calvin A. Ramsey - Deals with the issues of traveling in the South for blacks - the "Green Book" is a guide for black motorists that let them know places where they could safely stop and be served.  It's a gorgeous book.

really wish we still had my grandfather's green book. Such a forgotton piece of history that is honestly still very relevant today.

 

1 hour ago, desertvixen said:

At The Dark End of the Street by Danielle McGuire looks at how rape/sexual violence against black women has played into the civil rights movement, and how women took part in it - including looking at the fact that Rosa Parks didn't just sit down on that seat.

This book was such a hard read but it's excellent. Game changer. 

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At my last school, we had the kids read Warriors Don't Cry in government class as a springboard for teaching about the Civil Rights Movement. A very eye-opening book for white suburban kids. I would recommend it for teens as well. 

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3 hours ago, desertvixen said:

I'm not a black person, but I am also a history major - and I try to make sure my daughter is getting some exposure to black history beyond her school.

In addition to Addy, American Girl also has a set from 1850s New Orleans featuring Cecile, who is black, and Marie-Grace - it gets a little into how the 2 groups existed next to each other in that era.

Ruth and the Green Book by Calvin A. Ramsey - Deals with the issues of traveling in the South for blacks - the "Green Book" is a guide for black motorists that let them know places where they could safely stop and be served.  It's a gorgeous book.

My daughter's school has them doing Black History Month research (although the projects don't seem to be due until March), and she is doing Bessie Chapman - I have 2 books on her that we haven't read yet.

For adults:

American Patriots: Blacks in the Military by Gail Buckley goes from the Revolutionary Era to Desert Storm.

Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Beals Patillo - one of the girls who was part of the Little Rock integration.

At The Dark End of the Street by Danielle McGuire looks at how rape/sexual violence against black women has played into the civil rights movement, and how women took part in it - including looking at the fact that Rosa Parks didn't just sit down on that seat.

 

 

In addition to that, American Girl has released the first book for their 2016 BeForever character, Melody, a young black girl from 1963/4 Detroit who is affected by the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, and also will probably touch on the start of the Civil Rights Movement and does touch on segregation and racism. Book's called "No Ordinary Sound" and the second book will be released when the doll is released, as will her "Journey" book (a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure type of book where the reader can "meet" Melody) If you don't have an AG store in your area, I think Books-a-Million stores are also carrying her book. The character herself is slated to be released later on this year.

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13 hours ago, applejack said:

In addition to that, American Girl has released the first book for their 2016 BeForever character, Melody, a young black girl from 1963/4 Detroit who is affected by the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, and also will probably touch on the start of the Civil Rights Movement and does touch on segregation and racism. Book's called "No Ordinary Sound" and the second book will be released when the doll is released, as will her "Journey" book (a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure type of book where the reader can "meet" Melody) If you don't have an AG store in your area, I think Books-a-Million stores are also carrying her book. The character herself is slated to be released later on this year.

I've seen the ad for Melody, but I didn't see the books when we went to the bookstore last.  I was happy to see that we were getting a black character who was a little more modern, and I'm looking forward to reading her books.  (Although I'm not crazy about the Journey books, and my 9 year old hasn't yet finished the one she started about Samantha.)

@purple_summer, European history for my BA and American history for the MA (in progress, still).  One of our professors is very into presenting POVS other than middle-class and white, so there's been some interesting reading - although I've kept more of the articles than the books.  We also had one on race relations in the YWCA, and we read To 'Joy My Freedom (Tera Walker? Tera Hunter?).  Some of the other stuff has focused partially on the African-American experience, like Unprotected Labor (deals with the whole "domestic help" situation in history).  My advisor's deal is mostly labor history, so she keeps it pretty varied.

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@desertvixen, labor history sounds fascinating!  

I was told this by a cool Franciscan priest about why he didn't like events held at the YWCO camp near Athens.  The Athens YWCO had been a part of the YWCA program but decided to secede when the YWCA chose to integrate in the 50s or 60s.  Yeah, real Christian of the Athens group wasn't it?

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@desertvixen one of my favorite profs ran her 400-level classes more like graduate level classes (as in at least 1 full book per week + an essay for the entire 16 weeks of the semester) so I've read a LOT on southern US history. The labor history angle sounds interesting but I hope it's not a substitute for other minority/social histories. If you need a fun read I can throw some titles your way.

But for the love of all is holy, please read the Nat Turner graphic novel. 

 

I sound like a pretentious "reviewer 2" and I'm sorry.

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18 hours ago, purple_summer said:

Contact your local library and see if they have a copy of PBS's Eyes on the Prize documentary. It's probably the best film on the entirety of the civil rights movement that's available. I'd recommend it for middle school and up. Younger ages (elementary) would enjoy the films Ruby Bridges and Selma Lord Selma. They're both wonderful world of Disney productions and you should be able to find resources on it pretty easily online. Ruby Bridges has a book that's appropriate for younger readers as well. American Girl has a line about Addy, a girl who was an escaped slave during the Civil War and it's honestly what sparked my love of history. 

These are all general baseline suggestions, I don't want to give you 500000 things that you won't possibly be able to cover right away (and I'm not familiar with your curriculum). Check your local library for age appropriate books and films and do a google search (better yet call the historical society) and see what is in your area that relates to black history. You might be surprised.

Good suggestions! We lived all our homeschooling years in an inner-urban neighborhood, and our local branch of the library always had an excellent display for Black History Month (actually, they had a dedicated year-round Black History section).

I've always wondered... why February?

I tried hard to present our kids with positive images, from picture books onward. They had a bit of a tough time, being on a range in appearance from light-olive-skinned to peaches-and-cream in a neighborhood where they were the minority. Sad to say, they experienced a lot of bullying, and while they are still idealists, in RL they're cautious and more suspicious of African Americans than any others. (For some reason the younger siblings of Asian and Hispanic gang members left them alone, or "played nice".) 

Our older neighbors were wonderful, it was the kids at the playground who seemed to have it in for others who were "different". Perhaps as a result, our teens aren't suspicious of older black people, they'll interact with them in a free and friendly manner. But anyone under 25 or 30? Uh-uh. No way.

Sheesh. My kids are selective racists. (They practice this avoidance, and yet argue passionately against profiling. Yet they are profiling, themselves.)

It saddens me; I wanted to raise them with the idea that race doesn't matter, that we all bleed red, we all have hopes and dreams and struggles... but their skin color made them targets for bullies at the park and pool. Even though we talked about how they were getting a personal view of how it was to grow up as a member of a minority, which gave them some perspective into the Civil Rights movement, and gave them a strong interest in social justice, still, in their personal lives, it doesn't apply. And they don't seem to see the disconnect.

I'm sorry if any of this is badly put and offensive. My brain is still very fuzzy from this respiratory infection, and I'm having trouble putting thoughts together.

 

15 hours ago, louisa05 said:

At my last school, we had the kids read Warriors Don't Cry in government class as a springboard for teaching about the Civil Rights Movement. A very eye-opening book for white suburban kids. I would recommend it for teens as well. 

Will check this book out, thanks.

18 hours ago, Cleopatra7 said:

I would be really interested to find out what a Bob Jones University black history units looks like, since this is an institution that is not know for being particularly enlightened on racial issues. Aren't their A Beka books still teaching that apartheid and slavery were good things?

A la Doug Wilson and Steve Wilkins?

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19 minutes ago, refugee said:

Good suggestions! We lived all our homeschooling years in an inner-urban neighborhood, and our local branch of the library always had an excellent display for Black History Month (actually, they had a dedicated year-round Black History section).

I've always wondered... why February?

I tried hard to present our kids with positive images, from picture books onward. They had a bit of a tough time, being on a range in appearance from light-olive-skinned to peaches-and-cream in a neighborhood where they were the minority. Sad to say, they experienced a lot of bullying, and while they are still idealists, in RL they're cautious and more suspicious of African Americans than any others. (For some reason the younger siblings of Asian and Hispanic gang members left them alone, or "played nice".) 

Our older neighbors were wonderful, it was the kids at the playground who seemed to have it in for others who were "different". Perhaps as a result, our teens aren't suspicious of older black people, they'll interact with them in a free and friendly manner. But anyone under 25 or 30? Uh-uh. No way.

Sheesh. My kids are selective racists. (They practice this avoidance, and yet argue passionately against profiling. Yet they are profiling, themselves.)

It saddens me; I wanted to raise them with the idea that race doesn't matter, that we all bleed red, we all have hopes and dreams and struggles... but their skin color made them targets for bullies at the park and pool. Even though we talked about how they were getting a personal view of how it was to grow up as a member of a minority, which gave them some perspective into the Civil Rights movement, and gave them a strong interest in social justice, still, in their personal lives, it doesn't apply. And they don't seem to see the disconnect.

I'm sorry if any of this is badly put and offensive. My brain is still very fuzzy from this respiratory infection, and I'm having trouble putting thoughts together.

 

Will check this book out, thanks.

A la Doug Wilson and Steve Wilkins?

Black History Month was originally Negro History Week, and the week that was chosen was meant to coincide with Abraham Lincoln's birthday. 

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