Latoya McGriff is a first-grade teacher from Virginia that decided to go the extra mile and raise awareness on Black history by dressing up as famous African American figures during Black History Month. Yes, she dressed as a different African American hero during each day of the month!
McGriff’s idea was to raise the interest of her students about African American figures, and her approach was the igniton for the interactive history crash courses at the Creekside Elementary School in Suffolk, Virginia.
“I decided to dress up for Black History Month so that the kids are actually seeing a live person from history. I just wanted to bring history alive for the kids”.
Some of the persons she dressed as were NASA’s aeronautical engineer Mary Jackson, American Ballet Theatre’s principal ballerina Misty Copeland, and even former President Barack Obama.
The teacher believes that young children need to learn about historical figures they can identify with, and she also believes that there isn’t enough representation of Black people within history.
She wants to change that, and where do you start? With our children, of course.
“It is important for the children to see that people who look like them have made contributions because it reassures them that they can, too … It’s hard to believe in something you don’t see,”
According to her, dressing up as black historically important people will start a conversation among students about who she dressed up as, and she’ll then explain about them and their contribution.
Besides well-known figures, McGriff also dresses up as lesser-known figures such as former slaves who managed to escape slavery, or the first African American doctor, or the Supreme Court’s first African American justice.
Source: Upworthy
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