{"id":246,"date":"2017-12-16T20:06:25","date_gmt":"2017-12-16T20:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/se-asiacenter.org\/?p=246"},"modified":"2018-12-21T01:31:41","modified_gmt":"2018-12-21T01:31:41","slug":"the-land-of-many-colors-newsletter-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/se-asiacenter.org\/index.php\/2017\/12\/16\/the-land-of-many-colors-newsletter-5\/","title":{"rendered":"THE LAND OF MANY COLORS | Newsletter 5"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Building Bridges Newsletter<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Newsletter Five<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is one of a series of newsletters written by Peter Porr and Paul Sjordal between September 1993 and December 1995 for the purpose of explaining the South-East Asia Center\u2019s Building Bridge\u2019s<\/strong> objectives, philosophy, and approach to learning.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE LAND OF MANY<\/strong> <\/strong>COLORS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A class of  pre-schoolers in Klamath Falls, Oregon wrote\nwith their teacher one of the best anti-violence reading books for K-3 that we\nhave ever found.  The Land of Many\nColors<\/em> evolved during the Persian Gulf war because the preschoolers had\nmany questions about war due to family members and friends involvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The teacher, Charlotte (Coco)\nReyes of the Klamath County YMCA Family Preschool, asked questions like \u201cWhat\nkind of people should we have?  What are\nthey like?  What should happen in our\nstory?\u201d  She kept notes on the children’s\nanswers.  Once the teacher had the ideas\ndown it wasn’t hard to arrange them into the story.  Each child created an illustration depicting\na part of the story.  For publication, a\nprofessional illustrator, Rita Pocock, gave the story a finished look.  The following is a summation of the story:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In The Land of Many Colors<\/em>,\nthe purple and blue people wanted more toys and food while the green people\nthought they were the best.  Before they\nknew it, they were at war.  Everything\nwas ruined and the people were very sad. \nThen, one child all <\/p>\n\n\n\n

covered with dust so you couldn’t tell what color he was, asked why everyone was hurting each other.  The people listened to his explanation and said he was right.  So they cooperated together and built a new community that became a peaceful and loving world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Land of Many Colors<\/em> is published by Scholastic Inc.,\nNew\nYork, Toronto,\nLondon, Auckland, Sydney, Copyright 1993.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TWO MULTICULTURAL MAGAZINES<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two magazines that address\nmulticultural education are Teaching Tolerance<\/em> and Multicultural Education.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teaching Tolerance is mailed\ntwice a year at no charge to educators. \nIt is published by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit  legal and education foundation based in\nMontgomery, Alabama.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Address: 400 Washington Ave.,\nMontgomery,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \n         AL 36104.  Fax: 205-264-3121.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Multicultural Education<\/em> is published quarterly by the\nNational Association for Multicultural Education.  Subscription cost is $40 annually.  The magazine’s role is to serve as a forum\nfor the exchange of information and opinion on multicultural education –\nfocusing on considerations of the nature and content of multicultural education\nas a field of study. They invite an expansion of the multicultural debate with\nsubmissions of articles, reviews, descriptions of successful programs and\nletters to the editor.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Address: Priscilla H. Walton,\nEditor, c\/o Caddo Gap Press, 3145 Geary Blvd. #275, San Francisco, CA\n94118.  Phone: 415-750-9978.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also invite people to become\na member of the Association for $75 yearly that includes a subscription to the\nmagazine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This issue of Building Bridges<\/em>\nis a compilation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of recommended books and\nmagazines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ADDY- HEROINE SLAVE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A nine-year old African American\nfictitious heroine, Addy Walker, has recently captivated preteens and\nparents.  Addy escapes from slavery,\nbegins a new life in Philadelphia and works hard at getting an education that\nshe knows is her best chance at real freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addy was conceived by author\nConnie Porter with the help of a seven-member advisory board of educators, curators\nand other African American history experts. \nThree Addy books have been written, Meet Addy, Addy Learns a Lesson and Addy’s Surprise.  Three more are due out in 1994.  The books are part of the very popular\nAmerican Girl series published by Pleasant Company, a Wisconsin corporation\nfounded in 1985 by former elementary schoolteacher Pleasant Rowland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addy joins four other American\nGirl characters, each a product of intensive historical research.  The series include dolls and paper doll sets\nfor each character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have criticized\nPorter for publishing books about slavery. \nPorter says in an interview with Chicago Sun-Times staff-writer, Mary\nGillespie, (Oct.-27, 1993) \u201cthe idea of the books is not to horrify children,\nbut to put a face on history.  We tend to\ntalk about subjects like this in broad terms, so that they lose their\nhumanity.  I tried to put myself in the\nmind of a child. How could I tell the truth without painting too horrible a\npicture?  You can’t have the young reader\nleft with no feeling of hope.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the interview she added, \u201cFrom\nwhat I’ve seen, kids of all colors just seem interested in her as a character\nand how she makes her  way through the\nstories.  There’s an innocence about the\nway they receive Addy that’s reassuring. \nThey haven’t taken on all the baggage yet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rev.  Willie Barrow, chairman of Operation PUSH\nsaid, \u201cThere are probably people in the community who aren’t comfortable with\ntheir own painful history, and I don’t down them for that.  But I believe it is vital for young\nAfrican-American girls to read books (like the “Addy\u201d series) with a character who looks like\nthem, to see this doll advertised in all her beauty and to begin to understand\ntheir full history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The books and dolls are sold in\nbookstores.  For questions or orders call\n1-800-845-0005.  Pleasant Company’s\nmailing address is 8400 Fairway Place, Middleton, WI 53562.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GOALS OF<\/strong>  <\/strong>MULTICULTURAL\nHISTORY<\/strong>\n<\/strong>&\nEDUCATION<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joel Spring, a professor of\neducation at State University of New York, in the Winter 1993 issue of\nMulticultural Education wrote an essay review of Ronald Takaki’s book, A\nDifferent Mirror<\/em>.  A History of<\/em>  <\/em>Multicultural\nAmerica<\/em>, Little\nBrown, 1993.  Professor Spring raises\nseveral questions about the goals of multicultural history and education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He says that \u201cWhile Takaki’s book\nis a well written history of groups often forgotten in writing of U.S. history\nand it does provide insight into the economic exploitation and discrimination\nof Native Americans, Irish, Asians, Mexicans and Jews, it’s not a multicultural\nhistory of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He raises the following\nquestions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.    Will multicultural history and education build cultural and\nracial tolerance or will it increase tensions by revealing the extent of\nexploitation and injustice in U.S. history and society?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.    Should the focus of multiculturalism be on the separate cultures\ncomprising the United States or on how these cultures intersect to create an\nAmerican culture?<\/p>\n\n\n\n