Colorism and Utilizing Picture Books to Help Teach Hard Topics
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As protests spread across the world this summer, children started to hear about racism, prejudice, and mistreatment. Educators started having conversations about how to teach students about these hard topics from an early age in order to help children eliminate racism. Teaching colorism and utilizing picture books to help teach hard topics is the first step in building awareness about respecting each individual for who they are.
Colorism
Discrimination and racism have unfortunately been around for so long. While one goal of any history class is that people learn from the past to prevent certain aspects from happening again, there is still so much hatred and judgment among citizens based on color. Colorism is treating those with lighter skin more favorably than those with darker skin. This kind of treatment has been witnessed around the world and it is vital to teaching students about hard topics at an early age in order to build their awareness and understanding.
Picture Books
Students love picture books! Between looking at the pictures and hearing the story, students stay engaged from cover to cover. Due to this, picture books are the perfect item to bring into lessons as they take serious issues and put them into student-friendly terms.
Sulwe by Lupita Nyong is one of the best picture books to incorporate into a colorism unit while teaching so many standards! In this book, Sulwe has skin the color of midnight. She is darker than her entire family and anyone at school. Her determination to lighten her skin and feel beautiful leaves her trying everything she can think of. She tries to erase her skin color, eats light-colored food, and prays at night to be beautiful. Sulwe’s eyes about true beauty are opened as a magical journey appears in the night sky. This book is the perfect resource to help teach students to see their own unique beauty!
In the Sulwe Picture Book Unit, students will learn the meaning of colorism through several Common Core Standards. Additionally, character education lessons are fully embedded in this unit. There are so many engaging activities that focus on the following skills: cause and effect, character traits, compare and contrast, story elements, text connections, author information, superlatives, vocabulary, and higher-order thinking questions.
While reading the story, students will be able to track the change Sulwe sees in herself. This is a great way to show students’ character development and how growth happens over time. There is a strong chance that students will either personally connect to Sulwe or know someone who feels the same way she does. By tracking changes in character, students will be able to see how one’s mindset is flexible. As Sulwe starts to appreciate her beauty, students may start to feel more comfortable and confident with themselves. Sulwe is an excellent character for students to learn the importance of true beauty.
In order to ensure students fully comprehend the story and to work on writing skills, they will also be able to answer higher-order thinking questions. Students will focus on the main idea, how Sulwe’s emotions and feelings change over time and analyze dialogue. They may work alone, in small groups, or as a class to ensure everyone fully understands the importance of respect, compassion, and understanding. Additionally, these questions can build a great conversation on true beauty.
As a way to increase the analysis of the book, students will also work on comparing and contrasting themselves to Sulwe. This is a great way to bring in text-to-self connections in addition to build empathy for Sulwe and for members of the community.
By teaching about colorism, students are learning so much more than just the state standards. They are learning how to be caring, kind, empathetic, and respectful community members. By embedding the standards into a powerful Sulwe Picture Book Unit, students will be able to truly see the connection between school and their outside environment. It is never too young to teach students to be role models!