Since we’re all of African descent - that’s where humanity originated - how about a white supremacist like Adolf Hitler (perhaps focussing on the 1936 Olympics or counterpointing him with Mugabe) or some infamous Klansman? Thereby showing their hypocracy?
Other interesting Africans might include Jugurtha and the Pharoahs of Egypt.
Father Divine.
Quartz, and ShibbOleth, et al. I appreciate the sentiment. I really do. I had much the same thought, as the political correctness of this school bugs the shit out of me. It does seem like every week, they’re doing another project on an “African-American” somethingorother. And while I hope WhyKid learns histories of people that don’t look like him, I also kind of wish they’d study, oh, I don’t know, Polish Americans or something, once in a while. While he’s the only blondie in his class, the school is only about 58% non-white.
And before I get jumped on by posters telling me all of his social studies class is studying dead white guys, no, it’s not. Not anymore. He’s learned the Pilgrims settling - through the perspective of the Native Americans. He’s learned about the Civil War - through the perspective of the slaves. He’s learned about the French-Indian war, also through the Native Americans. When they did a “colonial living history day,” the kids had to research and dress as a minority person from the colonial days. Meanwhile, he’s not real clear on who Thomas Jefferson was or what he did, except he knows Jefferson owned slaves, may have fathered children with an African-American woman, and freed his slaves upon his death. This year it’s “World Civilizations” which means Africa and Egypt. And yes,** I** know Egypt’s part of Africa. Yet they insist of phrasing it this way.
But, those are my sentiments. They’re not his. And much as I might like to turn him into my little mouthpiece against reverse discrimination, it’s not the battle he’s choosing to fight right now.
And thanks for all the new suggestions. I’ll save this thread so we can have plenty of ideas for future projects, as well as this one.
Last I heard, she was still working on getting her US citizenship. So unless that’s changed recently then no, she’s not an “African-American” even if you insist upon using the term in some boneheadedly literal way rather.
Now, if it were my project, I’d probably go with Nina Simone. Another good choice from the world of entertainment might be Sidney Poitier.
St. Augustine could be interesting too.
that’s “rather than the way it is commonly used.” Don’t know what happened to the rest of the sentence.
On another board, we were discussing a male poster’s desire to learn to crochet, but he was afraid of the impression it would give off. Someone mentioned Rosie Grier as a kickass crocheter. Then I started thinking about all the other ways Mr. Grier kicks ass. He was a phenomenal athlete, he was an actor, he sang “It’s All Right To Cry,” he wrote a book called “Needlepoint for Men.” He was my first crush, at about age 3.
I love Rosie Grier:)
Colin Powell used to command a lot of respect for me until he joined the Bush Administration.
My vote would go to James Earl Jones.
Adam
John Menard, the first black person to win a Congressional election (Louisiana, 1868, but he was denied his seat).
Joseph Rainey, the first black United States Congressman to be seated (South Carolina, 1870-78)
Hiram Revels, the first black United States Senator (Mississippi, 1870-71)
Pickney Pinchback, first black acting governor of a state (Louisiana, 1872-73) [Pinchback was the Lieutenant Governor, and served as acting governor for several weeks while the Governor was under impeachment]
Doug Wilder, first black governor of a state (Virginia, 1990-94)
Henry O. Flipper, the first black graduate of West Point (1877)
Their nephew, science fiction writer and cultural commentator samuel r delany is a personal hero of mine but I guess there are aspects of his life that aren’t too school project friendly.
Their nephew, science fiction writer and cultural commentator Samuel R Delany is a personal hero of mine, but I guess there are aspects of his life that aren’t too school project friendly.
Without hijacking this thread completely and turning into something better suited for GD, I just want to say that I have noticed that this is beginning to balance at the high school level. I think it’s just a “pendulum-swing” - for years students only got the Dead White Guy perspective, then it seemed that they were getting the All Dead White Guys Were Evil By Default perspective. Now, in high school, my daughter seems to be getting a much more balanced diet of history that presents more facts from all sides.
And on topic: I love the idea of looking into more contemporary figures rather than the pioneers who’ve been done to death - possibly touching on how the more contemporary figures were inspired by those pioneers.
Thanks, that really does offer me comfort. Sorry if my post was hijack-y.
Bessie Coleman - the first black woman to earn a pilot’s license from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale.
I vote Langston Hughes.
Much of his poetry is extremely accessible and would be easy for a 6th grader to understand. (Forgive me for not using exact titles, but my computer is acting hinky, so I’m not going to look them up.) Hughes’s life was very interesting, and WhyKid could explain one of the poems in terms of the life, or vice versa.
The one about the dream deferred is quite straightforward, and has great imagery. It will be easy enough for your kid to explain the feelings that drove Hughes to write the poem in terms of the treatment of blacks at the time. The poem masterfully uses a very few words to say a lot about a multitude of issues, but WhyKid doesn’t need to go very deep into it Will the dream deferred shrivel like a raisin in the sun–or will it EXPLODE!? What made Hughes feel this way? Why did he feel that he had to defer his dreams? In what ways might one “explode?”
The “theme from English B” is also easy to understand, and since it is autobiographical, it will be easy to use to help explain his life.
While it might be a challenge for a 6th grader to analyze Hughes’s poetry in terms of his life, it might be doable, depending on the skills and talents of the kid. And to actually read the poetry and use it in an essay would make an English teacher faint with pleasure!
A lovely piece of understatement! 
Garrett Morgan, inventor of the gas mask and a traffic signal.
Some other options:
Alexandre Dumas (Sr., that is, though obviously Jr. was too), author of Three Musketeers et al. (His photo removes any doubt as to his African descent.)
Peter Ustinov (not exactly enjoying a huge comeback among pubescant students, but still a nice blonde and blue eyed gentlemen to throw in to the mix- one of his grandmothers was a mulatto).
Warren G. Harding (according to rumor- though other than “favorite corrupt 1920s president” he might not be on many favorites list)
Though personally I would go with Willona from Good Times or else her goddaughter, Janet “Penny” Jackson.
Russian poet Alexander Puhskin (although seeing him listed in an African-American Registry is rather amusing.
Pushkin, of course. :smack: