PSA: Wear Your Seatbelt, a Video

I got tears in my eyes when I watched this video. It’s perfect.

(I wonder if it works well for kids, too. I’d expect ads that get kids bugging their parents to wear a seatbelt to be wildly effective.)

BHM: Escaping Slavery, Big Jabe

Unlike the last two books I reviewed, this one is fictional ... as far as we know. In the tradition of tall tales, Jerdine Nelson tells the story of Big Jabe, with the help of Kadir Nelson's powerful illustrations.

Addy has gone fishing and hasn't caught "nary a one", when she sees a boy floating down the river in a basket. He hands her a golden pear, and plants its seeds after she's eaten it. Then he calls the fish to jump in her wagon, which they obligingly do. There's feasting that night, at the Big House, and in the Quarters.

By June, Jabe is a full-grown man "with the strength of fifty. He could weed a whole field of soybeans before sunup, hoe the back forty by midday, and mend ten miles of fence by sunset." With all that help, there's time for leisure, and Addy gets to fish more, under that new pear tree.

The overseer gets mad and tries to punish some of the other slaves, but they keep disappearing. The story keeps me on the edge of my seat every time I read it.

BHM: Escaping Slavery, Henry Brown

Henry's Freedom Box, by Ellen Levine, tells the story of Henry Brown. Born a slave in Virginia, he was taken away from his family when he was about 15, to work in a tobacco factory in Richmond, Virginia. While living there he married Nancy, and they had 3 children together. They were owned by different masters, and one day her master sold her and their children away to a plantation in North Carolina - Henry could do nothing about it. He was devastated, and eventually determined to escape to freedom. With the help of two friends, who nailed him into a box, he mailed himself to Philadelphia, where he was able to live as a free man.

We love Kadir Nelson's illustrations. Tomorrow, another book warmed by Nelson's illustrations.

BHM: Escaping Slavery, Oney Judge

As the white (single) mama of a Black and Latino son, it's important to me to tell him of the strength of his people. We've enjoyed lots of books about people escaping from slavery. A few are true stories.

The Escape of Oney Judge: Martha Washington's Slave Finds Freedom, by Emily Arnold McCully, tells a fascinating bit of history. The young Oney Judge was Martha Washington's seamstress, and at 16 had to leave her mother behind when George Washington assumed the presidency and the Washingtons traveled from Mount Vernon to New York City. A few years later they moved, along with the nation's capital, to Philadelphia. Although the Washingtons had slaves with them there, there were also many free Blacks in the city, and a law that said that an adult slave living there for 6 months must be freed.

When Oney found out that upon Martha Washington's death she would be given to Martha's son-in-law, she knew she needed to escape. Free Black friends helped her arrange passage on a ship, to New England, and one day she simply walked away. She lived in New Hampshire, and still had to worry about the possibility of being taken back. That would have been a public relations problem for George Washington - it didn't happen. She married and had three children. (Here's more information.)

Tomorrow, the story of a slave who mailed himself to freedom.

BHM: Josephine Carroll Smith

I've been following the blog Like A Whisper for maybe 6 months now. It keeps on educating me. (Professor Susurro is very interested in media issues, and sometimes I skip the analysis of TV shows and movies, since that's just not a part of my life.) She's got some sharp analysis of race, gender, and class issues, and tells great stories too.

From her post today on Black History Month:

I think we often shrink black history down to key figures in moments that ultimately celebrate dominant narratives (what a good country the U.S. is for abolishing slavery or embracing civil rights or making millionaires, etc.) and erase the harder questions, struggles, and failures of the nation in the face of powerful opposition by black women and girls.

So the book I'm picking today is about a woman who did a lot of good in a realm where the U.S. is still failing Black children terribly - education. Josephine Carroll Smith worked in the Washington DC public schools throughout her professional life, retiring as a Director of Elementary Education. Over the years, she "opened her home, her heart, and her purse to numerous young Black men who were struggling to educate themselves."

That quote is from the biographical page at the end of Pictures for Miss Josie, by Sandra Belton. The story is written from the point of view of a young boy whose father takes him to meet the delightful but intimidating (for him) Miss Josie, who helped Dad make it through college. By the end, he's grown and is introducing his own son to Miss Josie, who helped him through college, and helped him follow his passion.

My son and I love this book.

I wanted to find a page or two online that tells more of her story. Shockingly, I haven't succeeded. Here's a challenge for those who like searching online. Find us more information on the life of Josephine Carroll Smtih!

(I did find a page that has lots of good children's books, and a great mission: Embracing the Child. When I have time to read something more than math books, I'll go back there for inspiration.)

Happy Black History Month...

... of course, I think Black History deserves more than a month. But I'll start with what I've got.

I just found out that today is the 50th anniversary of the Woolworth's lunch counter sit-in in Greensboro, NC. Here's an NPR story on it. There's also a great picture book about it, Freedom On the Menu, by Carole Boston Weatherford.

And Democracy Now had a great segment on the Freedom Riders, who rode busses into the south and sat together interracially, braving police violence for breaking the crazy laws of the time.

I'll see if I can post on a cool book each day this month.

Dear Diary

I haven't been writing here much, because I'm working hard on my book. Until last week, I was working TWTh afternoons at my son's school, and after the holidays, I'd started feeling like I won't have enough time to finish everything when I need to. (May would be good. I start back to teaching in August, and there's lots going on in the summer.) Last Tuesday was my last day teaching at his school. (They needed my tuition money, and I needed my time.)

So now I have my full days free to work on the book. The hardest thing will be to write my own parts of it. I haven't really done that this week, but I have:

• Sent out a proposal to New Press
• Sent out a proposal to AK Peters
• Edited a chapter on gifted kids
• Edit another chapter (I'd been procrastinating on this one, so, yeay for me)
• Emailed various authors about various details
• Sent a progress report to all 15 authors
• Dealt with childcare so I can go to 3 different events related to my work
• Read The Calculus of Friendship, by Steven Strogatz, which was excellent
  

So I've accomplished something substantial this week. But it was pretty uneven. I got the first 3 things almost done on Monday, and finished them up on Tuesday. Then on Tuesday night I had trouble sleeping (a common problem for me), so on Wednesday, I was a bit groggy. That's the day I read the book. I did nothing for my book that day. I bit my nails because I wanted to be getting something done, but I couldn't motivate myself.

Then we had an intense - and good - meeting at my son's school on Wednesday evening, and maybe that was the kick I needed. I got the second edit on the gifted chapter done yesterday, along with editing that other chapter. Today I won't get much done. I've been jumping up and down because I'm too excited about everything that's happening. (I'm avoiding telling a story I'd like to tell, so as not to jinx it. More details later.)

Tonight I get to go see Paul Giganti's Math Festival in Albany. Tomorrow I get to go to a Math Circle workshop for teachers. Sunday I get to hang out with my son. I am so lucky to be living my life.

So this is the way I work - big push on 3 days, nail-biting procrastination on one day, excited rambles on the 5th day. If I can get 3 good days of work each week, I think I can do this. Maybe I can find a way to get out of that useless feeling day. When I start writing more, I know I'll be biting my nails over that. Next Wednesday I have a dentist appointment - I figured Wednesday was the perfect day for it.