 | ProGroup > Learn > Articles > Celebrate African American History Month | Celebrate African American History Month | Supplement to our February 2007 diversity and inclusion newsletter celebrating African American History Month (Black History Month) | | |  As a supplement to our newsletter for African American History Month, ProGroup presents a few suggestions for ways you can raise your consciousness and take responsibility to promote positive images and messages about black culture:
Display and promote positive images of people of color that go beyond movie stars and entertainers. While the musical Dreamgirls is worthy of all the accolades it is getting (I've seen it twice and will see it again), other media have demonstrated beauty, talent, and intelligence in quieter ways. One simple suggestion is to have magazines like Black Enterprise, Essence, Jet, Ebony, and O available in your homes and workplaces. At home, mix them in with other reading material. At work, put them on lobby coffee tables and in lunchrooms and lounges for everyone to read and learn about black culture.
Read books to learn about important people in black history. Consider the work of Jessie Carney Smith, librarian at Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee, who spent 20 years collecting information on important black women from colonial days to the present. Her book, Notable Black American Women (Gale Research, 1991), contains 500 biographies, weighs six pounds, and costs $75. "It was definitely a labor of love, not only for me, but for the more than 200 contributors who were not paid," says Ms. Smith. "Black history," she says, "has been rewritten because so many black women had been neglected, even by black historians." Share what you read with the children in your life and invite discussions about these amazing people.
Join the voices of many parents and grandparents who want to see more multicultural books, toys, and movies for children. "When," asks one of our consultants, "will there be black princesses?" She is not alone. Currently, there is a petition online to lobby toymakers to create black princesses. I raised two daughters and I know that the fantasy of a "princess" goes beyond beauty to symbolize being respected, intelligent, and full of greatness. "Are they aware," a blogger on the petition states, "of the great African queens who were the makers and creators of the world's first known high civilizations?"
Keep a positive outlook. Remember that, while slow, things have changed. One of our employees, a Gen Xer who is biracial, saw Ms. Davis's work and said, "This film really made me look back at my preferences as a child. I was quite the opposite; hunting the aisles of the toy store for that one black Cabbage Patch Doll and I always bought the African American GI Joes first...well, after the ninjas." Gen Xers and Millennials can accelerate this change beyond the toy aisles. They are part of the most diverse population this country has ever had, and they are having babies. Someday, we hope, they will be running the corporations that produce toys that reflect future generations. Let's hope that they will help their children to see the world differently.
Engage in conversations about race. While difficult and sometimes requiring courage, the results can be amazing. If you desire something formal, many communities sponsor dialogues across race. Many of us at ProGroup attended a program sponsored by our local YWCA called "It's Time to Talk." All in attendance commented that a one-time event was not enough. We wanted to take this back to our work, communities, and schools and foster the deep conversations that will lead to greater understanding. During Black History Month, consider inviting folks to join you in a dialogue across race that asks and answers the question "How do you define beauty?" |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| | | | | | | | | I would like to tell you about a change that affects this newsletter, and I'm excited to tell you about the new Novations enewsletter you will start receiving in the coming months. | |
|
| |
| |
|
| | "Gave us real life examples why this is important." | – Session Participant | Manager |
|
|
|
| |
Log In
Printer Friendly Version
back to top
Learn More about Honoring Differences® Diversity Calendar
Buy Now
