Sunday, October 28, 2007
The Brownie's Book
I think this was an interesting change from the other things we have been reading this semester. When reading "The Grownups Corner" I thought it was interesting that the parent mentioned that her child asked her about colored people doing things. I guess I had never really thought about it before, but it is true that in schools at that time children probable heard a lot about white people and the amazing things that they had done. The child specificaly hearing about "Bersy Ross and Geaorge Washington" but never about black people. I found that this was interesting and I completely agree with the parent that it is so important to hear about these people. A child needs somone to look up to, a person to serve as a role model for them. If the child isn't hearing about these people in school then they need to get the information from somewhere else. As I read through the Brownie's Book I noticed that they did do a good job of mentioning these people. THere were articles on young heroes (the boy who got the little girl out of the fire), Denmark Vesey, Harriet Tubman, and others. This would have been a great resource for young black children.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
I agree that the Brownies Book is a wonderful resource for African American children. It informs them of heros (big and small), that changed the course of history for African Americans.
I liked the brownies book. I think that the grownups corner is a good part of the magazine. It helps the authors to focus on what to write in the magazine. The famous african american people in the magazine are good for african american children to look up to as a role model. It is very inspiring for african american children to read especially the little people of the month. The stories in the magazine like dolly's dream and heritage were inspiring for children to read too. The magazine in general is good for children.
In the Grown Up’s Corner the mother states that her daughter does not learn about the great things that African Americans have done through her text books at school. This does make sense for the time though. The Best of the Brownie’s Book was in the 1920’s and Brown vs. The board of education didn’t take place until 1954. I think that the publication of this magazine was a magnificent way for black people to get information about their history and the greatness of their heroes published, because surely society was not going to accept a large publication company to do this, not yet, anyway.
This is a really interesting point about The Grownup’s Corner. This was a chance for parents and adults to write to the editors of the magazine in order to influence what is put in the magazine for their children. This provides the editors with some insight into what children are talking about at home or what parents want their children to know more about. I think that The Grownup’s Corner was a great idea for the magazine at that time. As you also pointed out, the magazine did a good job of listening to parent’s questions and ideas and incorporating them into the magazine.
“The Grownups Corner” is an interesting touch to the Brownie’s Book, but I think an important one at that. It’s obvious that the creators of this book valued parents input and wanted to address their concerns and questions within the writings included. You mentioned children need a role model to look up and I think that’s an interesting point. Denmark Vesey, Harriet Tubman, and Bert Williams were different people who made different impacts on black society, but each can be seen as a role model by children.
“The Grownups Corner” is an interesting touch to the Brownie’s Book, but I think an important one at that. It’s obvious that the creators of this book valued parents input and wanted to address their concerns and questions within the writings included. You mentioned children need a role model to look up and I think that’s an interesting point. Denmark Vesey, Harriet Tubman, and Bert Williams were different people who made different impacts on black society, but each can be seen as a role model by children.
I agree. If anything, even lasting little over a year, this book helped children come to terms with some issues they were experiencing at the time. It also served as portraying an ancestory that might otherwise be hidden from them.
I agree, I think it is hard for us to think about the lack of African American history, just because we come from elementary and middle school that taught us about MLK jr and Harriet Tubman. As teacher’s in training many of our classes are geared toward teaching us diversity and the demographics of our students. However, that is very different from 1920s America. I think that’s the great things about primary documents, they really enable us to analyze how things were.
Post a Comment