Classroom resources for infusing African American studies

The Notebook asked several respected educators and education advocates locally and nationally to suggest a resource that could be tapped to infuse African American studies into the K-12 classroom. Below are their suggestions.

The list below does not include the wealth of resources on the African roots of African Americans. Some authors whose work is useful background include: Edward Robinson Jr., John Henrik Clarke, Cheikh Anta Diop, Chancellor Williams, Ivan Van Sertima, Yosef ben-Jochannan, and George James.

For instance, Robinson is a local scholar who contributed to the School District's African American curriculum, and also co-authored Journey of the Songhai People.

Deidre Farmbry, founder and CEO of The Urban Education Fund, and former interim superintendent and Chief Academic Officer of the School District:

Visually stimulating by virtue of its haunting sketches of the horrors of the Middle Passage is a large art book titled The Middle Passage, by Tom Feelings (Dial Books, 1995). You can feel the depth of human suffering and inhumane treatment through the artist's use of motion and light in his soul-stirring black and white drawings. In addition, the book's introduction was written by historian John Henrik Clarke, who gives an overview of the Atlantic slave trade from a historical and psychological perspective.

Deborah Wei, principal, Folk Arts and Cultural Treasures Charter School:

Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching (Deborah Menkart, Alana D. Murray, and Jenice L. View, eds., published by Teaching for Change and PRRAC, 2004), provides lessons and articles for K-12 educators on how to go beyond a “heroes” approach to the Civil Rights Movement. As one of the most commonly taught stories of people's struggles for social justice, the Civil Rights Movement has the capacity to help students develop a critical analysis of United States history and strategies for change. However, the empowering potential is often lost in a trivial pursuit of names and dates. The book includes interactive and interdisciplinary lessons, readings, writings, photographs, and interviews, with sections on education, labor, citizenship, culture, and reflections on teaching about the Civil Rights Movement.

Linda Mizell, writer, lecturer in education at Tufts University, consultant:

Documenting the American South (DocSouth), http://docsouth.unc.edu, is a digital publishing initiative that provides Internet access to an extraordinary digital collection of texts, images, and audio files related to Southern history, literature, and culture from the colonial period through the first decades of the 20th century. Currently DocSouth includes seven thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs.

Marsha Pincus, English and drama teacher at Masterman School and Ruth Wright Hayre Teacher of the Year: