Happy birthday, Langston Hughes, and welcome to the start of Black History Month. For my three highest 6th grade readers, this month will be marked by a broad study of black poets in America. Today we began with Langston Hughes, which was especially meaningful, as today was also his birthday. We compared to poems ("Dreams" and "Harlem") written in the 1920s and 1950s respectively and talked about how time and place impacted Hughes' writing. 

Yet, what amazed me was how little my students have learned about civil rights history. Trying to get them to say the Civil Rights Movement, I asked what began in the 1950s and really took root in the 1960s; they tentatively answered the "end of slavery." I couldn't find complete error in the spirit of this reality, especially in Louisiana, but I needed them to understand the chronology of American history in order to truly look at the writings coming out of the African American culture. As we talked I realized more fully what exactly my students have been robbed of. It's not merely that my students have been robbed of an excellent education and the opportunities that such an education affords; my students have been robbed of a heritage and an identity that comes with an excellent education.

As I began to talk to my students about the Harlem Renaissance, I saw them waking up. They were practically hanging on every word I spoke today. They wanted to know that at one point there had been an African American cultural explosion that warranted the term "renaissance." They wanted to know that African American art and writing was worth revering, even among whites. As I talked about the hopes and disappointments of the era, they understood that what had happened in New York City was about a struggle that was felt throughout the country. I was so proud of them for the way they took to the deeper issues quickly.

It was strange, though. I felt unworthy to be the one to expose them to this whole world and heritage. After introducing them to the first two poems, I stopped and took the time to talk about how I have envisioned this poetry unit, focusing on African American poets (which they have been uber-excited about for the last two weeks). I then pinched my skin and reminded them that I knew full well I was white, and I understood that this unit would inevitably include many conversations on race. I asked them if they were comfortable and willing to have these conversations with each other and with me and in front of me. They assured me eagerly that that would be okay, but I still wonder... I wonder if I, who have never experienced what it is like to be black in America, can possibly present this unit half as well as I ought.

So wish me luck, as I engage the unit I have been most excited about all year.