Note: This blog entry was authored by AWTT Education Director Connie Carter, reflecting on her recent virtual visit with students in Roslindale, Massachusetts.
On Friday I spent an hour talking with fourth grade students at Phineas Bates Elementary School. They had hosted four Americans Who Tell the Truth portraits in their classroom for a month to support their end of the year unit on women’s suffrage. To say that they were enthusiastic about their new friends Fannie Lou Hamer, Ella Baker, Sojourner Truth, and Ida B. Wells would be a huge understatement. They each had a favorite. Some chose Fannie because she looked so determined and didn’t “cave” to those around her. Others chose Sojourner because she knew she should have rights that she didn’t seem to have. Then there were the Ida B. Wells fans who loved her quote (“I’d rather go down in history as one lone Negro who dared to tell the government that it had done a dastardly thing than to save my skin by taking back what I have said.”) and the way she “looked them in the eye”. And those who loved Ella Baker because she wasn’t afraid to stand up to LBJ and has that “kind, but I gotcha look” in her eyes!
Clearly these students found a new group of allies when it came to women’s suffrage. These portraits made them feel empowered to be the next generation to stand up for social justice and believe that, to quote a student, “I can do anything if I see something wrong.”
The light bulb that went off in my head should have been obvious long ago. For quite a few years we have been creating lessons, potential projects, and activities that help teachers bring AWTT portraits into their classroom and as a way for students to find their voices and become courageous activists. This has been and continues to be a powerful part of AWTT’s education program. What became clear to me this week is that these portraits are an amazing support for a curriculum that is already in place, e.g. women’s suffrage.
Think about a few examples. A class on the environment and climate change – bring in Rachel Carson, Bill McKibben, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Wendell Berry. A unit on righting the wrongs of the past – let Maulian Dana Bryant, John Lewis, Abraham Lincoln, Bree Newsome be present. Engaging with a curriculum on health and nutrition – look into the eyes of Joan Gussow, Russell Libby, Leah Penniman, Steve Ritz.
I think we all have the idea – AWTT portraits can make curriculum come alive. It is like adding a few important people to a classroom. In fact, a Roslindale teacher who was leading her students out of the classroom to go to another activity looked back thinking she had left a student behind, only to realize it was Fannie Lou Hamer who had become so much a part of the class, the teacher thought she was one of her students!
There are 285+ Americans Who Tell the Truth who are very ready to join classrooms across the country, look into the eyes of students, inspire them, help them personalize topics that may have seemed a bit remote, and say “be like us!”