Resources for Families of Color
- Embrace Race (https://www.embracerace.org/) has a number of amazing resources including:
- Several webinars on police brutality, systemic racism, and the like, including this webinar: https://www.embracerace.org/resources/supporting-kids-of-color-amid-racialized-violence
- Embracerace. (a) I [STILL] can’t breathe”: Supporting kids of color amid racialized violence; (b) Supporting Kids of Color in The Wake of Racialized Violence Part 1 and Part 2; (c) Tips for Talking to Your Child About Racial Injustice.
- “Momma, did you hear the news?” (Talking to kids about race and police) by Sanya Whittaker Gragg – Geared towards grades 1-6. Frames police as a few bad apples rather than discussing systemic racism.
- Resources from the American Psychological Association (APA) focused on resilience and self-care
- Talking With Youth about Racism, Police Brutality and Protests and They're Not too Young to Talk about Race.
- Sesame Workshop has some excellent resources for preschoolers through school age kids, including a 3 part documentary (towards the bottom of the page) Coming Together: Standing up to Racism - https://www.sesameworkshop.org/what-we-do/racial-justice
- Bibliotherapy is a powerful medium to start these conversations. See APA's RESilience; Embracerace; Social Justice Books; Charis Books and More. A personal favorite: Something Happened in Our Town. The story is about two families — one White, one Black — as they discuss a police shooting of a Black man in their community. The story aims to answer children's questions about such traumatic events, and to help children identify and counter racial injustice in their own lives. You can listen to a recording here.
- Riana Anderson – Assistant Professor at UofM in the School of Public Health Here is her website and a link to an Apple Podcast episode she did on Talking to Kids about Race. She has also designed a clinical intervention, which "focuses on racial socialization, racial stress and coping, and family functioning in order to reduce the discriminatory tension we may experience on a daily basis." Here's that website.
Resources for White Families
- Google Doc with many suggested books, podcasts etc to deepend your anti-racist education and help raise anti-racist children: bit.ly/ANTIRACISMRESOURCES
- 'Raising White Kids' Author On How White Parents Can Talk About Race. In this NPR podcast, Michel Martin talks to Jennifer Harvey, author of Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America, about how to talk with white kids about racially charged events. And most recently: How White Parents Can Talk To Their Kids About Race
- Related to this was a webinar: "How do I make sure I'm not raising the next Amy Cooper?" with Jennifer Harvey and EmbraceRace. From EmbraceRace is also How Kids Learn About Race, which referenced Maggie Hagerman's book on White Kids: Growing Up with Privilege in a Racially Divided America.
- What is privilege, example of the privilege walk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD5f8GuNuGQ&feature=youtu.be
Resources for white parents who have adopted Black children
1. Embracerace. (a) Transracial Adoption Resources, and (b) Tips for parenting your transracially adopted child.
2. PACT: An Adoption Alliance has a good list of resources.
3. Empowering Adopted Children of Color in the Face of Racism and Discrimination
4. How to Talk to Your Transracially Adopted Child About Race
5. Child Welfare Information Gateway: Transracial/Transcultural Families Resources
6. I think any parent/caregiver of a transracially adopted child can engage in these race and racial injustice conversations within a Racial Socialization framework. Some resources on this: (1) RESilience. (a) Racial Stress and Self-care, and (b) Engaging My Child; (b) Talking With Youth about Racism, Police Brutality and Protests and They're Not too Young to Talk about Race; and (c) Embracerace
7. Bibliotherapy is a powerful medium to start these conversations. See APA's RESilience; Embracerace; Social Justice Books; Charis Books and More. A personal favorite: Something Happened in Our Town. You can listen to a recording here and see a guide here.
8. Fresh Air interview with mom and blogger who is white and has 2 adopted Black children: https://www.npr.org/2020/06/18/879953980/a-mother-reflects-on-privilege-adoption-and-parenting-without-perfection
Additional Resources
https://www.embracerace.org/action-guides: Lots of good action guides for many different groups
Video with author of Anti-racist Baby and Stamped for Kids, Ibram X. Kendi, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnqS49Zfrjw
How to talk to children (both Black and white) about race: https://www.psychology.uga.edu/racial-trauma-guide
Several good resources for talking to kids about race: https://www.prettygooddesign.org/blog/Blog%20Post%20Title%20One-5new4?fbclid=IwAR1yZP57dQjvcuChDWHznG09OMAGfHdwJ02-tncBy9D6X9Zuo44XPpx7kgY
From a local author, Maria Desmondy, who does character lessons for young kids. There are many other great book lists in links above as well.
READ BOOKS THAT.....
Celebrate Racial Diversity
- One Family by George Shannon
- Same, Same but Differentby Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw
- Whoever You Are by Mem Fox
- All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold
- The Skin You Live In by Michael Tyler
- We All Sing with the Same Voice by J. Philip Miller
- We're Different, We're the Same by Bobbi Kates
- Chocolate Milk, Por Favorby Maria Dismondy
Explain Racism to Children
- Stamped for Kids by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
- Let's Talk About Race by Julius Lester
- Big Papa and the Time Machine by Daniel Bernstrom
- Separate is Never Equal by Duncan Tonatiuh
- Something Happened in Our Town by Marianne Celano PhD, Marietta Collins PhD and Ann Hazzard PhD
- Let the Children Marchby Monica Clark-Robinson
- Woke Baby by Mahogany L. Browne
- If You're Going to Marchby Martha Freeman
- Someday is Nowby Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
- We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson
- A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara
Teach about Being Treated Unfairly for Differences
- My Traveling Eye by Jenny Sue-Kostecki Shaw
- You, Me and Empathyby Jayneen Sanders
- Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
- The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi
- Yoko by Rosemary Wells
- Dare by Erin Frankel
Are by Black Authors, Illustrators and about Black Characters
- I Am Enoughby Grace Byers
- My Hair by Hannah Lee
- Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry, illustrated by Vashti Harrison (Watch the movie short here)
- Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison
- Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o, illustrated by Vashti Harrison
- Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold
- A Chair for My Mother by Vera B Williams
Are Biographies About People of Color
- Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library by Carole Boston Weatherford
- A Voice Named Aretha by Katheryn Russell-Brown
- The Power of Her Pen by Lesa Cline-Ransome
- The Oldest Student by Rita Lorraine Hubbard
- Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed
- Before She was Harriet by Lesa Cline-Ransome
- Maybe Something Beautiful by F. Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell
- Harlem's Little Blackbirdby Renee Watson
- Salt in His Shoes by Deloris Jordan and Roslyn M. Jordan
- Molly, by Golly by Dianne Ochiltree
- Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton by Don Tate
- It Jes' Happened: When Bill Traylor Started to Draw by Don Tate
GO BEYOND THE BOOK
- Ask yourself how your family will participate in taking action to help others. Consider participating in service work and giving back to organizations that are helping bring peace to our planet.
