A White

We are studying "American Heroes" in Social Studies in third grade and are focusing on heroes who fought for the rights of others while sacrificing their own freedoms. Harriet Tubman was the topic for today and after a brief introduction of this gold-star woman, a student asked...


"Can you show us Maryland [where Harriet was born] on the map, Mees Ana?"

-- "Of course! Its right here. Did you know my dad went to University in Maryland?"

"He did? Was your dad white?" asked another curious pupil

-- "Yes, yes he was."

"Are you a white?" questioned a young girl, in all seriousness.

-- "What do you think? Do you think I am white?"

"You are SUPER white!" shouted one hilarious kid.

--[Miss Hannah laughs uncontrollably]

"Now you are white and red! Like snow and tomatoes!" 

Jokes aside, my students were enthralled with the story of Harriet Tubman. They asked a hundred questions about her life, how she did what she did, and why people thought it was okay to treat other people poorly. They kept saying how "loco" it was that anyone would think that because someone has a different skin color that they would be any less of a person than someone else. One kid even went as far as to ask, "Why didn't the black people just tell the white people to be their slaves?" Good question. It actually made me get goosebumps talking to them about it because in the last 50 years we have come so far in our societal mindsets as to raise a generation of kids who think it is "LOCO" to judge others by something as surface level as their skin tone. I was pretty proud of those niños, to say the least :)