Children shouldn’t have to wait for Black History Month to learn about black history.
A North Carolina author and an artist both believe you can give children an introduction to African American achievement before they’ve learned their alphabet.
Inside the pages of “My N.C. From A to Z”, children can walk with the bankers of black wall street, join the fight with Ella Baker, and experience the sounds of Nina Simone.
“She is a powerful representation of the creativity an the spirit of freedom that is North Carolina,” says "My N.C. From A to Z" author, Michelle Lanier. "I’m a mother, and I often felt like, ‘I wish there were more books that reflected her life, our culture, our heritage’.”
Lanier wrote “My N.C. From A to Z”, which gives a letter-by-letter crash course in African American history in North Carolina.
It invites children, and their parents, to learn about the unsung people and moments that shaped the Tar-Heel state.
Lanier says the book contains many names that are just as new to parents as they are to children. It's something she says is an invitation to say, "lets now go and use our smart phones, and our computers, and our tablets, and lets look up together who is Anna Julia Cooper, who is George Henry White, why is George Clinton's mothership in this book?”
The book was illustrated by Dare Coulter who says each image draws from a place of triumph, instead of trauma.
“My role as an artist, that I was making sure that I was teaching people that there is this really beautiful collection of things that we really should be proud of,” says Coulter.
Even if a child doesn’t know the names of the past, they can see the accomplishment, resilience, and joy in their past.
"Because it’s so much easier to become something that you have a visualization of,” Coulter says.
“To hear the stories about what our people had been able to accomplish despite all odds, made me stand up straight," says Lanier. "Made me dare to do more. Made me hope.”
Because inside the pages of this book, it’s not a stranger's story — children can find their story.
Lanier says, “When life gets hard I can overcome that because people before me already have.”
“My N.C. From A to Z” is on sale now.