Monday, June 1, 2009

Dinner at Aunt Connie's House by Faith Ringgold

A fantastic book that highlights noteworthy African American women through history. Each woman introduces herself and discusses her contributions to U.S. history.
Making Text-to-Text Connections Using her internationally renowned artwork and historical facts, Caldecott award-winning author, Faith Ringgold weaves a story between past and present as noteworthy African-American women tell their stories to the current day narrator. Students can easily make connections to the adversity that the women went through to forge a place in U.S. history. Lesson Idea: Through a social studies unit on civil rights, have students read biographies about the various women. Ask them to make connections between Dinner at Aunt Connie's House and the biographies they read. Ask students to think about how women were part of the evolution of civil rights over the years, particularly African American women, beginning with Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman and moving on to Rosa Parks.