What amazes me the most is that I grew up in Seal Beach, California, one town over from Westminster, where Sylvia Mendez and Aki Munemitsu both lived. When Aki and her family were forced to leave their farm during WWII and live incarcerated at internment camps, a banker helped her family lease their land so…
Category: Social Studies
History, social science and geography for kids.
Tulsa Race Massacre: What They Don’t Teach You in History Books
“This history was totally hidden from white children. And that was deliberate.” from The Atlantic I think that the Tulsa Race Massacre may have garnered a single sentence in my history book when I studied A.P. History in high school in Southern California. A single sentence or even paragraph isn’t enough to do it justice,…
The Chinese Exclusion Act – What They Don’t Teach in History Books
I’m kicking off a series that I call “What They Don’t Teach in History Books.” These are topics that are generally erased from history. I don’t remember ever learning about them at school. I will center each topic using children’s books. I plan to add videos and other links to make each topic a more…
Visiting the exact location of the Boston Massacre: A Unit on the American Revolution
What exactly was the Boston Massacre and why is it an important milestone in American history? Let’s follow along Boston’s Freedom Trail and find out! The American Revolution was ignited by this single incident. The Boston Massacre was a deadly riot that occurred on March 5, 1770, on King Street in Boston. It began as…
Resources for Holocaust Memorial Day
Holocaust Memorial Day is coming up soon on January 27th. We used to host Multicultural Children’s Book Day on the 27th of January every year until we realized that it conflicted with Holocaust Memorial Day. It seemed disrespectful to put our celebration on the same day so we switched our day to the last Friday…
Are Slant Eyes Racist? Portraying Asians in Children’s Books
“[Asians] are not a monolithic group. There’s nothing in our DNA that binds all Asian-Americans together. No group identifiable by race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion is unanimous in terms of how they approach justice, even if they share the same values. We’re far more diverse than stereotypes allows.” from Slanted: How An Asian American…
FREE Immersive History Game about WWII Japanese Americans
I met Michelle Chen at the Asian American Alumni Association a few years ago. We were both volunteering to be mentors to Harvard students. She is a producer of PBS educational shows at WNET in New York City. I interviewed her previously about how PBS shows got made. She is currently working on an educational…