Seize This Learning Moment: Host a Civil Rights Victory Party for Kids on Inauguration Day

January is the month we celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. This January 2009, we will also witness the historic inauguration of the first African American to the Presidency of the United States. Many children in this country, of all ethnicities (and, sadly, some adults with little memory), do not realize the history that has brought us to this day. This moment is a teaching moment. I say, why not make the lesson fun? Celebrate with a Civil Rights Victory Party.

Serve up a Louisiana gumbo as you teach your kids about Ruby Bridges, the 6-year-old from New Orleans who was the first girl to take the step of integrating an all-white school in the South. Post a print of Norman Rockwell’s famous artwork, The Problem We All Live With, to commemorate the moment.

Teach your kids about Dooky Chase Restaurant, the historic New Orleans fine dining restaurant where Martin Luther King, Jr. presents the early days of the civil rights struggle with local black leaders. Dooky’s (as it is colloquially known) was also a haven for prominent musicians like Ray Charles, who flocked to it after performances because they had so few other options open to them. Leah Chase, chef and co-owner of Dooky Chase’s, also began establishing her restaurant as an exhibition venue for African American artists in the early 1970s because there were no outlets for them to display their art.

Teach your kids, with a traditional “soul food” lunch of fried chicken, chard, and cornbread, that this is a day that could never have happened without a long and hard battle, some even giving their life. He plays the music of Odetta, the Staples Singers, Joan Baez and others, which provided a powerful inspiration for the workers to continue their fight.

Teach your kids that it wasn’t long ago in our history that blacks couldn’t sit down to eat at a local lunch counter, let alone vote, or imagine that one day America would have a black president, and savor this moment. that Martin Luther King and others made it possible.

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