February has a lot packed in it this year. We have Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year, and I haven't even started on Black History Month. Today I am going to share two amazing resources for Black History Month. These books are for grades 3 or higher. Be sure to come back on Monday for my post for the Multicultural Kid Blogs Black History Month Blog Hop. The first book I want to share has been around for a couple of years and has received a few honor rewards. It is Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Ekua Holmes. And the first thing I am going to say about this book is "WOW!!"
Did you get that? I said, "WOW!!" This book is that powerful and amazing. I wish I could go out and meet Fannie Lou Hamer after reading this book. The book itself is written in short clips of Fannie Lou's life. Each page has a beautiful illustration and a bit of what was happening. She is the youngest of twenty kids. Twenty kids?? Can you imagine? Her parents were paid $50 for her birth by the plantation owner since she would be another worker. Her parents were sharecroppers and thus so were her entire family. Fannie Lou saw the injustices in the world from a young age and the black folks in area didn't know about what was happening across the nation until college students showed up pushing people to register to vote. They didn't even know black people could register to vote at that time.
Fannie Lou's story is an amazing one and a sad one. She fought for rights for black people and women, and I mean she fought. She was beaten, jailed and had everything taken from her, but she kept fighting. She describes being a sharecropper as being a slave with a nicer name. She is truly a hero every child should read about and everyone should know her story.
Now when this book first came out, I had taken it out of the library. However Hazel was young for it. I remember looking at it and knowing she wasn't ready for this story. The suggested ages are 10 and up or grade 5 and up. It has sadness and scary moments. It describes the world as Fannie Lou saw it and experienced it. It is not for the light of heart but is has a powerful message about equality and why we all need to keep fighting for equal rights for all.
Our next book is Young, Gifted and Black by Jamia Wilson and illustrated by Andrea Pippins. This book is a positive history book. It shares black people from around the world who contributed to the world. It includes famous ones like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Barrack Obama. It also has lesser known names like Mary Seacole, Matthew Henson, Alexandre Dumas, and Maurice Ashley. Each person has a page with a colorful illustration of him or her and information about him or her like birth date or years lived and where he or she is from. There are 52 biographies in this book.
The people range from civil rights fighters and government officials to singers and athletes and scientists. This book is perfect for a classroom who wants to bring in more black history. I plan on donating it to Hazel's teacher because she does a biography unit and I know this book will add some culture to her lessons. There is such an amazing range of people from all walks of life. Plus these people each made a difference in their own way.
Well, I hope you will check out these great resources and share yours here. Be sure to come back Monday for our special Black History Month Blog Hop post!
My students enjoyed Young Gifted and Black. They enjoyed reading about people familiar to them and were excited to learn about unfamiliar people. This was a great addition to our class library.
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