Quote:
Originally posted by KSigkid
Slight hijack...I was at an antiques fair with my family a couple of weeks ago, and one of the vendors was selling a bunch of signs, etc. that were like the ones your mother found. I thought it was a bit odd to have a booth selling items like that...
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There is a major market for this stuff - celebrities such as Whoopi Goldberg collect them. I can remember when most of the little girls in my neighborhood had "mammy dolls" or when cookie jars looked much like Aunt Jemima.
I think it's really important to explain the importance of the African Americans in our society - and not just the Dr. Martin Luther Kings or the Malcom X's Let's hear more about Rosa Parks, Sally Hemings, and about the thousands of nameless cooks or nurses who contributed so much to American society through Cajun or Gullah society. Let the children know about "the Castle" where captured Africans were kept prior to transport to the Americas. In other words, tell the whole story - but on an age when it's able to be received with understanding, and not hatred.