Why it’s important to teach Black kids Black history and culture
In her cultural workshops for children, Vera Oye’ Yaa-Anna uses traditional West African music, dance and cuisine to promote physical and emotional well-being. Food and music also provide a good front door for teaching history, which she does with the flair of a master storyteller.During her series of jazz appreciation workshops held at two D.C.
“I have never understood how, in one of the richest cities in the richest country in the world, you could have kids who can’t even dare to dream,” she said. “I never want kids to feel that they are less than others just because they don’t have what others have.” For the students, her workshops are the only place they get to laugh with classmates, rather than laugh at them.Storytelling also has therapeutic value. But when she first started asking kids to stand and tell a story, much of what they talked about were violent incidents that they had witnessed or heard about. So she asked them to tell a story about their families, only to find that some children were essentially raising themselves and had little to say about family.
In her work, Oye’ Yaa-Anna would help restore the broken cultural connections. It’s been a joy, but it hasn’t been easy. Joseph Ngwa, a native of Cameroon, is one of Oye’ Yaa-Anna’s master drumming teachers. He could use more drums.
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