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Freedom On The Menu Essay

1367 Words6 Pages

I chose the book Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Jerome Lagarrigue. I chose this book because it has a personal, kid-friendly interpretation of an important historical event, and it offers an important lesson on empathy and privilege. I chose to model my lesson plan after the “Upon the Clouds of Equality” lesson plan for Doreen Rappaport’s book Martin’s Big Words. I felt this lesson plan worked as a model for my book because it has really detailed instructions for the activity. It provides guided discussion questions, which is something I wanted for my lesson plan. I also appreciated the inclusion of the “assessment” section, which encourages the educator to observe the children as they …show more content…

Clark’s “How Children Learn About Race” discusses how research over the past thirty years shows that “children learn social, racial, and religious prejudices in the course of observing, and being influenced by, the existence of patterns in the culture in which they live” (74). In Freedom on the Menu, Connie’s point of view exemplifies this research. As I mentioned earlier, Connie is very observant. She knows she cannot sit at the lunch counter like the other white children, and she knows she and her family have to follow the signs that dictate where she can drink from a water fountain, go swimming, use the bathroom, or go to the movies. All of these things influence how Connie identifies herself. Her acknowledgment of these things indicates that she knows society sees her as different from the white children and she wonders why she that is when a white girl may have the same purse as she does or when the water from the “white’s only” fountain tastes the same as the “colored water.” But Connie is very lucky that her family is extremely involved in the movement and they teach her that everyone is equal no matter their skin color. Kenneth B. Clark’s discussion of the research about children’s identity inspired me the most to include the freedom menu activity. In this activity, the children are encouraged to recognize what privileges they have. They can use Freedom on the Menu as a comparison to what privilege is like today versus what it was like

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In the first chapter of Beverly Tatum’s, “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?”, And Other Conversations About Race, the author immediately clarifies that racism is not a thing of the past. People in today’s society are merely raised with racial concepts at such a young age that they do not realize the injustice going on around them. She reinforces her statement by showing an example of a group of preschoolers who were told to draw a picture of a Native American. Most of the children didn’t even know what a Native American was, but after being told to draw an Indian, complied. Recurring elements in all of their drawings were feathers, along with a violent weapon, such as a knife.

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One of Tatum’s points in her essay “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria” is understanding racial identity development. As black children are growing up, they start to experience things other white kids do not. As little girls start to grow up, they start to compare themselves to other girls, particularly white girls. Tatum states that, “When their White friends start to date, they do not. The issues of emerging sexuality and societal messages about who is sexually desirable leave young black women in a very devalued position” (378).

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America is made up from all different types of cultures from all around the world, such as Europe, Asia, and Africa. In America Street, there is a lot of different cultures in each story. Like in The Circuit, Francisco Jiménez talks about his family sharecropping and his opportunity and conflicts with going to school. The common theme of cultural, racial or religious differences appears in Sixth Grade, The Wrong Lunch Line, and The All-American Slurp.

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This leads to her being elected for homecoming queen, where her father even gave her gown for the occasion. This marked a very special time in her life. But Anne still saw inequality amongst whites and blacks in day to day living conditions. When Anne discovered the NAACP, she began to contemplate how racial inequalities could be changed. Anne’s mother does not understand her interest in the civil rights movement, nor agrees with it.

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Steele begins addressing the issue by saying that “ By making black the color of preference, these mandates have re-burdened society with the very marriage of color and preference( in reverse) that we set out to eradicate.” In essence Shelby states that by allowing blacks to get a free privilege that whites do not have, the same issue that people were attempting to eradicate had just been reversed except this time in favor of African Americans. Shelby further explains that “ In integrated situations where blacks must compete with whites who may be better prepared, these explanations may quickly wear thin and expose the individual to racial as well as personal self doubt.” By using the example of college Shelby shows people that just because something is free does not mean it is beneficial in fact it may have the opposite effect it set out to achieve. At this point the audience has been made aware of a problem on several occasion and at this point in time Shelby begins to elaborate on the issue creating more intricate situations in which the free privilege will affect African Americans in the future.

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Freedom Anyone in the world with an occasional source of internet has no choice but to see the seemingly outrageous news stories, posted weekly on events in the US. American’s have made their distrust in the government more than obvious, which in many cases, the government has provoked. The largest debate in the states today is the with the concept of freedom and where the lines are drawn between social security, equality, and one’s rights. Freedom is and always has been heavily emphasized in the development of the 50 states. It’s brought peace and war both figuratively and literally.

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This indirect influence taught me that although others might have different last names and origins, they were all doing similar jobs in a communal workplace, sending a positive message about racial identities in general. Consequently, my parents also taught the importance of equality as a strong moral in our household. From the age of 3, I was enrolled in a very diverse preschool. However, I never noticed differences in race at the time. At 3, it was all a matter of storytime, singing, and dancing.

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