eac
In order to better Ie cb their
student about their -African
American and African
heri ge, t enty-three Metro
Detroit area teachers are par­
ticipating in a t 0 week enrich-
ment and multicultural
aware or hop at Wayne
State University.
The Ren is ance Outreach
Alliance for the Detroit area
Schools (ROADS) Summer In­
stitute: African nd African
. Americ n Heritage. is spon-
ored by the Detroit Associated
Librarie the Detroit In titute
of Arts, the Michigan Ethnic
Heri rage Center. and the
Michigan Council for tbe
Hum niue .
The summer program aims
to strengthen the knowledge of
Detroit area teachers in the
humanities by bringing them in
contact with scholars and
profe ionals knowledgeable
in African and African
American culture.
The opening day of the
ROADS Summer Institute was
Monday, August 6, nd wili
end Thursday, August 16,
featuring Profcs sor Richard
e
jou
ey
o
n
feHIGAN elJIZE PAGE 3
Tbomas of Michigan State
University as the opening day
keynote peaker,
His topic was, "What Is It
All - About?: A Black
Historian's Se rch for tbe
Meaning of the Blac Ex­
perience for the Blac Com­
munity, America and the
World.".
His talk was an exercise in
an historical and philo ophical
exploration of the meaning of
the BI ck experience. .
The teachers attended ses­
sions throughout the two week
period, which featured African
American history with an em­
phasis on cultural tradition
and Black organization . ex­
posure to African American
Ii terature, and cuI tural tradi­
tions in African and African
American music and art.
Ten cholar from various
universities and cultural in­
stitutions within the state and
the city of Detroit taught the
sessions.
Most of the teachers ay the
sessions are tool to help them
encourage their students to
learn more about their heri tage.
Helen Coleman a Pontiac
teacher, says the session have
inspired her to disseminate the
information she learned to her
children.
She said she is al 0 inspired
to go back to school and take
Afrocentric type classes to in­
crea e her knowledge in
African American music,
literature, and history.
Joyce .1: ylor, a ie cber at
Detroi t Gompers Elementary
School introduced her third
grade students to African cul­
ture by studyin community
structure , myths, legends and
folktales, provided by a new
readin center in her school.
Her students had two dis­
plays outside of the ses ion
rooms, which focused on the
African culture.
New Haven School Dis trier
Librarian Alice Daniel, aid
she igned up for the ROADS
program. to gel ne� informa­
tion, and find out what wa
going on in education.
She wants to dis eminate
the information she gets to
New Haven ocial studie
teachers, to implement into
, their study plans.
Many of the teacher
present expressed support for
the implementation of an
A
program available to teachers
for cl sroom projects and a
variety of alliance-building ac­
t�vities to increase support for
the program from metro­
Detroi t busine ses and cul tural
i titulions.
Altbough the 89-90 cbool
y ar fo u d on the African
a�d African American
heritage, the program will
focuse for the 90-91 school
year on Middle E tern Islamic
a d non-Islamic culture.
enies c arges
ption c
,.
D.C.�"�
rdto ng
Ily harmful'
boo
WASHINGTON, DC - Social
studies teatboo used in the
public sc 00 of the District of
Col e rutalIy harmful
to the intellectual and emotion­
al he8lth of tudents" and cur­
riculum guides used by teachers
"are ockiDgIy racist in certain
particul rs." These are the
centr I findings of study
released Aug. 1 by three African
American educators.
In a letter to Board of Educa­
tion chairperson Nathaniel
Bush the educators called on the
'school bo d to "notify textboo
publis er that of 1 January
1991, the District of Columbia
will no longer purchase or
recommend for e any U.S. his­
tory textbook hich does not
le t 175 on the scale
used in this tudy d 0 world
. ory textboo unless it scores
1 80" on a similar scale.
Criteria for the textboo
in two scales containing
of rated items whi the
of the 250-p e tudy
end m be dealt with in
t e textbook in order to
elimi te White upremacist
bias.
The Study is entitled, "A
Study of R cial Values in the
Curricula for Language Arts
and in the Curricula and
Textbooks Used in Social
Studies by the Public Schools of
the District of Columbia,"
Authors are Dr. Imari A.
Obadele, associate professor of
political science at Prairie VICW
A&M University, Texas; Dr.
Kwaku Walker, co-director of
D.C.'sAfrican Learning Center,
and Ms. Abena Walker, a D.C.
author who holds a Master's de­
gree in education and is current-
1y directing a pilot training
program for practicing D.C.
public school teachers.
The data were compiled in
1987 and the writing was com­
pleted in 1989.
In the matter oflanguage arts
the educators recommend that
teachers take step to ensure
that st dents are no penalized
for spea ing "Black English"
and that "teacher use the infor­
mation studie to help them util­
ize some of the technique used
for teaching English a second
language."
The educators also condemn
the D.C. dministration for "a
seeming ignorance of the wealth
of material written by African
writers in America· and "omis-
. on of material hich contain
positiw images of Afrikans in
America and other people of
color,"
The authors compare the
present study to one done in
Detroit a generation ago "which
led to changes in the textboo
and curriculum in many school
systems in the United States."
"Twenty-seven years 0 the
focus of New African [i.e.,
"Black1 parents and educators
was on 'Dick and Jane' and their
all-white, middle-class ttiags;
it was on egregious omissions
and distortions, - the author
write. "Today there is still a
major prob em 'th omissions:
White freedom fighter are
honored d bound in the lan­
guage arts and social science
literature, for instance, while
New A&ican freedom fighters
are i nored or limned
criminals.
"But," the educ tors con­
tinue, "the focus todayi t once
more fundamental and' more
elusiw. For, in contrast with Z7
years ago, this tudy i more
directly challenging ba ic
par digms, values' d perspec­
tive - m ny of which have
heretofore been ccepted UD­
que ioned, perhaps even un­
questionable."
For instance, in evaluating
the Second Gr de curriculum
guide prepared by the D.C.
school admini tration, the
Study authors DO e t pages 43
ClUIJ'ID1D2little
Washington
to sew the
] flag."
ents: -Here
a ount or money from th
a optivc parent of a 15-year­
o d girl i. only parti lIy true.
He say� CSS accepted
S .600 from the Mi hig n
Department of Social Service
and no i the girl adoptfv
p rent, in order to place the
a option in effect.
Quinn ay. thi i tandard
t tc contra tu I procedure
a d the money i u ed for
o rati n cost and children
pro ram ..
A ter learning of the at­
lc tion a ain t CSS, Quinn
d he r e l d a picture of-
lh adoptive paren fronT CSS
rq , and s id they w r
African American, not white,
a alledged in an earlier
Mi hi an itizen article.
uinn ac nowled ed the
in rea il)g number' of Afric n
Am rican youth going into
fo tcr care i. out tripping the
vailability of Black adoptive
pa nts, anti aid SS i trying
very hard to pia e Blac
cniluren with BI c paren ,
bu that it was b coming di f­
fic It.
e adrnoni he the pre to
hcl with thc i 'sue, in tead of
att ck CSS in their endeavors.
o cph Cumming. former
cmployee 0 SS. aid
Qu nn' w rd are not verifi­
abl I and di puted S5' i n­
ten ions in rc lard� to Bla
children.
umming said whomever
the mon y came from, there i
a profi t motive by CS5, and
pointed out 55 I placing
Bla k children with (jue -
tionable adoptive parent.
QUinn. ay the que tion f
a profit motive an be
an .wered by looking at CS5
ledger. nd indicat d C5S
doe not make a profi t from
tat contractual money to
place an adoption in effect.
Quinn ay th particular
adoption case rep rted by the
Mrch: an itizen i till
under upervi ion, and that an
adoptive family i given a
period of adju trneru to wor
out problem .
j