Kids Taking Action Through Time--and I'm one! Thanks Storyworks & Scholastic Mags! by B. Woodard
The StoryWorks by SCHOLASTIC arrived last week and having a chance to read the full article really makes me think about how each of the kids must have been feeling at the time. Thanks Scholastic for including me with such inspiring kids in our history! For me, I never doubted if what I was doing was the right thing to do but did wonder if I was brave enough to do it. Answer: YES!
For those who are new here, 👋🏽 ! and this all started when my friends would ask for the “skin color” crayon expecting peach and my mom thought maybe I should just hand over the brown one. (I’ve always been the single brown/Afr. Am. girl in my class & grade and also the youngest). But I didn’t like defaulting to a single crayon and I didn’t want to do to someone else what I didn’t want done to me. So instead, I began asking my classmates, “Which color would you like...because it could be any number of beautiful colors?” And my class & teacher began asking the same question—and the language (and perceptions) changed & grew! First in my school and community and now——it’s changing around the world! A single crayon was once named flesh by a brand and when I learned that and thinking of how it must have made kids feel, I decided if I were going to truly grow perceptions and the language everywhere, I would create More than Peach multicultural crayons and name them all “skin color” (and after natural landmarks). My work and brand began over two years ago and was created by me to represent my spirit but our dreams. And my mission considers everyone so that our differences are dignified and absolutely no kid is “disincluded” and so that we really, actually soar.
For those who are new here, 👋🏽 ! and this all started when my friends would ask for the “skin color” crayon expecting peach and my mom thought maybe I should just hand over the brown one. (I’ve always been the single brown/Afr. Am. girl in my class & grade and also the youngest). But I didn’t like defaulting to a single crayon and I didn’t want to do to someone else what I didn’t want done to me. So instead, I began asking my classmates, “Which color would you like...because it could be any number of beautiful colors?” And my class & teacher began asking the same question—and the language (and perceptions) changed & grew! First in my school and community and now——it’s changing around the world! A single crayon was once named flesh by a brand and when I learned that and thinking of how it must have made kids feel, I decided if I were going to truly grow perceptions and the language everywhere, I would create More than Peach multicultural crayons and name them all “skin color” (and after natural landmarks). My work and brand began over two years ago and was created by me to represent my spirit but our dreams. And my mission considers everyone so that our differences are dignified and absolutely no kid is “disincluded” and so that we really, actually soar.