Religious education resources for Friends racial justice
work
No. 2 / 2004
List of Anti-Racism Resources by Age Group
The resources listed below are some of the many books and curricula available from QuakerBooks of Friends General Conference that you might want to explore. Please use your knowledge of your settings to determine which materials would be most appropriate for your religious education program.The Religious Education Committee of FGC plans to make additional suggestions to help meetings engage in racial justice, equality, and anti-bias work. If you discover curricula or other resources in these areas that work well in your meeting, please let us know by contacting Michael Gibson, Religious Education Coordinator, at michaelg@fgcquaker.org or by sending correspondence to him at FGC, 1216 Arch Street, 2B, Philadelphia PA 19107.
Pre-K and Early Elementary
There is no current Quaker curriculum we can recommend—let us know what you are using! If there is a Unitarian Universalist Church near you, you might be able to borrow Rainbow Children:A Racial Justice and Diversity Program for Ages 5 to 8. Unfortunately, it is now out of print. Happily there are many excellent picture books which can be developed into a lesson or unit. Some suggestions:
Coleman, Evelyn. White Socks Only. 1999.
Coles, Robert. The Story of Ruby Bridges. Penguin, 1995.
Gainer, Cindy. I’m Like You,You’re Like Me:A Child’s Book About Understanding and Celebrating Each Other. Scholastic,1998.
Hoffman, Mary. Amazing Grace. Dial Books for Young Readers, 1991.
Hopkinson, Deborah. Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt.Random House, 1993.
Krull, Kathleen. Harvesting Hope:The Story of Cesar Chavez. Harcourt, 2003.
Polacco, Patricia. Chicken Sunday. 1998.
Winter, Jeannette. Follow the Drinking Gourd. (also has a video). Dragonfly, 1992.
Woodson, Jacqueline. The Other Side. Putnam, 2000.
Upper Elementary
Stand Your Ground:The Life and Accomplishment of Paul Robeson.Written by First-day teachers in Princeton Monthly Meeting (PYM), 1999.Although it states it is for kindergarten through 8th grade, most meetings have found this excellent curriculum more appropriate for older children. (This curriculum is reviewed in the February issue of the Christian Education Newsletter of NEYM, available by email from youthsec@neym.org)
Wellesley Meeting introduced this unit to the whole meeting by showing the award-winning documentary film Here I Stand:The Life of Paul Robeson by St. Clair Bourne. Also, this year the USPS is finally issuing a postage stamp in Robeson’s honor.
Other books that children might enjoy reading for more history:
Haskins, James and Kathleen Benson. Building A New Land:African Americans in Colonial America. Harper Collins, 2001
McKissack, Patricia and Frederick. Black Hands,White Sails:The Story of African American Whalers. 1999.
Turck, Mary. The Civil Rights Movement for Kids:A History with 21 Activities. Chicago Review Press, 2000
Middle School
Stand Your Ground:The Life and Accomplishment of Paul Robeson. Written by First-day teachers in Princeton Monthly Meeting (PYM), 1999. See description above. Princeton Meeting chose to study Paul Robeson because of his connections to their community. Perhaps your students could research an important historical person of color from your community.
There are many additional resources middle schoolers can use, including:
Celebrating Racial Diversity by Kathleen McGinnis, Institute for Peace and Justice (http://www.ipj.org), is an adaptable curriculum for older children and teenagers with lessons on seven justice heroes from different cultures.
Educating for a Just Society by Kathleen McGinnis, Institute for Peace and Justice (see above). For grades 7–12, this program addresses a number of justice issues including conflict resolution, ageism, ableism, sexism, racism, poverty, and multiculturalism.
Race to Justice:A Racial Justice and Diversity Program for Junior High by Jose Ballester and Robin Gray. A 12-session curriculum for Unitarian Universalist junior high youth that celebrates diversity and addresses individual, cultural, and institutional racism in age-appropriate ways.
High School
Sarah Mapps Douglass:Faithful Attender of Quaker Meeting:View from the Back Bench, by Margaret Hope Bacon, foreword by Vanessa Julye. Quaker Press of FGC, 2003.A free discussion aid is available on-line or from FGC RE Committee via the Philadelphia office.
Young Friends can probably suggest additional books. Some age appropriate resources currently in the QuakerBooks of FGC catalog are:
Remembering Jim Crow:African Americans Tell about Life in the Segregated South, edited by William Chafe, Raymond Gavins, Robert Korstad and the Staff of Behind the Veil.New Press, 2001.
Anderson, Jervis. Bayard Rustin:The Troubles I’ve Seen. Univ. of CA, 1997.
Barnes,Annie S. Everyday Racism:A Book for All Americans. Basic Books, 2000.
Todras, Ellen H., Angelina Grimké:Voice of Abolition. Linnet, 1999.
Adults
Sarah Mapps Douglass:Faithful Attender of Quaker Meeting:View from the Back Bench, by Margaret Hope Bacon, foreword by Vanessa Julye. Quaker Press of FGC, 2003. See “High School” above.
Additional reading:
Kivel, Paul. Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice.New Society, 1999.
William, Lena. It’s the Little Things:The Everyday Interactions That Get Under the Skin of Blacks and Whites. Harvest Books, 2002.
Perry, Mark. Lift Up Thy Voice:The Grimké Family’s Journey from Slaveholders to Civil Rights Leaders. Penguin Books, 2001.
Other Resources
QuakerBooks of Friends General Conference. Their yearly catalogue has a section on equality. http://www.quakerbooks.org
Unitarian Universalist Association Religious Education. Their yearly catalogue has a section called prodiversity, anti-bias programs.Their website contains an excellent list of multicultural and anti-bias programs. http://www.uua.org/re/antibias.html
Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith. Provides workshops, videos and material. http://www.adl.org
National Council of Churches. The council offers a free 24 page bibliography of Africentric resources at http://www.ncccusa.org/nmu/mce/africen tricbibliography.html. See their home page for justice and peace resources: http://www.ncccusa.org/
The Episcopal Church has an initiative called “Seeing the Face of God in Each Other.” http://www.episcopalchurch.org/1835ENGHTM.htm?menu=menu1858
Friends Journal. The October 2003 issue has a number of excellent articles on diversity. http://www.friendsjournal.org
Teaching Tolerance, a semi-annual magazine with resources for teachers published by the Southern Poverty Law Center. http://www.splcenter.org/teaching.tolerance
Oyate.Anti-Indian Biases Resource Center and Clearinghouse.Workshops and resource materials by and about Native peoples for children and adults. http://www.oyate.org
Working Party on Racism. Ministry and Council, New England YM. See their website for valuable resources: http://neym.org/ministryandcounsel/racism/index.html
World Council of Churches. The council produces a free discussion guide,Why Violence? Why Not Peace?, a good resource for exploring issues related to justice, violence, and the use,misuse, and abuse of power.While the resource is not specifically about race, examination of power issues is important in racial justice work. http://www.overcomingviolence.org/
