Teaching About Slavery

 

            The trouble with most books written about slavery in America's past is that they turn to graphic depictions of racial violence to make their points - and scare off, or turn off, young readers.

 

            Of course we want our children to know what slavery was like, and how wrong it was. But we certainly don't want to turn them off reading in the process. We want them to associate reading with being challenged as well as encouraged and uplifted.

 

            So when you're looking for stories to teach young children about slavery, look for stories about the heroes who ended it, both here in the United States, and in foreign countries.

 

            Two examples that are great for older preschoolers through children in about Grade 3 are Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt and Under the Quilt of Night, both by Deborah Hopkinson.

 

            Another is Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter.

 

            More examples: Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky by Faith Ringgold, The Secret to Freedom by Marcia Vaughan, and Wanted, Dead Or Alive: The True Story of Harriet Tubman by Ann McGovern.