Carissa Taylor: Exploring Racial Diversity With Your Kids

2. Exploring Racial & Cultural Diversity with our Children

{ This is Part 2 of a 6-part series on talking to young white children about racism. Link here for the: Table of Contents or Part 1: An Orientation for Parents. }

If we want to teach our kids to dismantle racism, they first need to understand race. Race is not a scientific concept; it's a social construct based on outward appearances. But racial constructs have unfortunately had and continue to have very real impacts in our world. If we want to dismantle racism, we need our kids to understand what race is, and how their own race fits into the big picture.

From a very early age, you can start talking to your kids about their race. Point out your skin and hair color. Discuss what makes your family’s cultural heritage unique and special. Your kiddo will also be eager to learn about other races, other cultures, and what makes them unique. Unfortunately, because America is so racially segregated, a lot of this won't come about "naturally" - so you'll want to sit down and make time for this. Hopefully this guide will help.

Exploring racial & cultural diversity is a time to focus on fun. It's a time for kids to be curious, and to celebrate the similarities and differences between different races and cultures. The focus of this phase is:

How are we the same? How are we different? Isn’t that cool!? In this section, we will explore:

1. What Race Am I?

2. Why Do People Have Different Skin Colors?

3. Different Families, Cultures, and Traditions

4. Learning About Your Family History & Immigration

Okay! Let's jump in!

1. What Race Am I?

While it’s important for our kids to understand the concept of different races, it can sometimes be awkward to figure out how to start talking about race. It doesn’t have to be. Here are some activities to springboard discussion: NOTICING RACIAL DIFFERENCES

Watch Sesame Street's: We’re Different, We’re the Same, or one of the other videos listed in the resources at the end of this section.
Read I’m Like You, You’re Like Me by Cindy Gainer, What’s the Difference? by Doyin Richards or one of the other picture books listed at the end of this section.
Look in the mirror and talk about your appearance: skin color, hair color, hair type and eye color. Compare your skin with the colors in the skin colors image below.
Do a self-portrait activity, paying close attention to skin color, hair color, hair type and eye color. **Sidenote for parents: YMMV with this advice, because I know it’s easy to slip into and many picture books will do it but … it’s probably best to avoid comparing skin color to foods or animals. I won’t go into all the reasons why here, but essentially it builds up an association that human bodies are objects we can seize and consume like food. Not really the lesson in respect we want to be passing on to our kids. The image below has a bunch of skin color and skin tone descriptions you can use that are food and animal free!

Food and animal free skin color names list, from dark to light: Obsidian, onyx, deep brown, ebony, jet black, black, umber, chestnut, mahogany, night black, dark brown, rich brown, sepia, deep brown, sunset, olive brown, sienna, warm brown, rosy brown, rosewood, topaz, copper, clay, russet, soft brown, hazel, ochre, light brown, terracotta, dusky rose, sandstone, bronze, deep tan, coral, rosy, olive, golden, tan, ruddy, blossom, taupe, sand, beige, blush, pink, birch, ivory, alabaster, pale blossom, pearl.

What's Your Skin Color?
(click to enlarge)

CONVERSATION GUIDE:
Here’s a conversation you can have during or after the activity:

“What color of skin do you have? What about me?”

“Yes! Our skin is kind of tan or beige, or maybe light pink or sand colored. I like the way we look! Other people have different colors of skin. I love the way they look too! It would be so boring if we were all the same!”

“People with light skin are called “white” people, and people with dark skin are called “Black” people.

“It’s a little bit silly huh, because white people are more of a pink color, and Black people are more like a brown color ... but that’s what we call them!

“There are Asians and Native Americans and Latinx people and other people too. There are lots of races of people in the world!

“Who in our family has the darkest skin? Who in our family has the lightest skin?

Who do we know that has darker skin than us? Who do we know that has lighter skin?

“Isn’t it cool that we have so many different colors, and that we all look so different?

It would be so boring if we all looked the same!”

Continue the Conversation:

As you continue on this journey exploring the beauty of diversity, you’ll want to re-visit the concept that “different is beautiful” often. Integrate some of these videos, books, and activities into your routine to help make those conversations happen. MORE RESOURCES

Read-Aloud Videos: We’re Different, We’re the Same - Sesame Street Read-Aloud || I Am America - Read-Aloud by the Author || Just Like Me - Poetry Read Aloud by the Author || Happy in Our Skin - read aloud by the author || I Am Perfectly Designed (part of a co-author talk: the read-aloud starts at 11:00) ||

Videos: Beautiful Skin Song - Sesame Street || Different Skin Colors - Kinderview || I Love My Hair - Sesame Street || Hair Love || Sulwe’s Song || Lupita Nyong’o Loves her Skin - Sesame Street || Celebration (This is just a fun song sung by kids all over the world) ||

Picture Books Celebrating Racial Differences & Self-Love:

What’s the Difference? Being Different is Amazing|| I’m Like You, You’re Like Me || We’re Different, We’re the Same: Sesame Street || Black, White, Just Right || The Skin You Live In (does use a few food comparisons) || I Am America - Charles R. Smith || There’s Only One You || Skin Again - bell hooks || The King of Kindergarten || Hair Love || Just Like Me || I Love My Hair || Sulwe || I Am Perfectly Designed || I Love You Nose! I Love You Toes! || I Am Enough || All Are Welcome || || What I Like About Me || Lucy’s Umbrella || Large Fears || I Like Myself || Whoever You Are || Magnificent Homespun Brown || ColorFull: Celebrating the Colors God Gave Us || Different Differenter: An Activity Book || Shades of People (does use a few food comparisons) || Happy in Our Skin (does use food comparisons) || All the Colors of the Earth (does use animal comparisons) ||
**Remember to support BIPOC Owned Bookstores! Links above are to black or native-owned <3
(Also check out lists of black bookstores by state and also here, here, and here and here)!

Other Resources: Looking at Skin Color with Books || Lesson Plan: Painting Many Shades || Lesson Plans: Different Colors of Beauty || Lesson Plan - Looking Closely At Ourselves || Teaching your Kid Self-Love || Different Differenter: An Activity Book

2. Why Do People Have

Different Skin Colors?
Melanin - the pigment which makes skin darker - is a body’s natural defense from the sun’s UV rays. As educator Jane Elliott often points out, white people are just “faded” Black people; humankind’s origins can be traced to equatorial regions where we would have all had higher amounts of the skin pigment melanin and therefore darker skin. It was only after some humans migrated away from the equator that over time, in order to adapt to lower sun and adjust vitamin-D levels, people lost the active pigment and became “white.”

Introducing the Science of Skin Color

To introduce this topic to your kiddos, you may want to try one of the following activities:

Read: All the Colors We Are or one of the other books listed below
Watch: The Science of Skin Color or one of the other videos listed below

Talk About the Science of Skin Color

Next, grab a map (try the Interactive Human Migration Map ) and as you're looking at it, talk about skin color science with your kiddo. Here's what you could say:

“Melanin is a pigment in our skin -- little tiny bits of color -- which helps protect us from the sun. The more active melanin you have, the darker your skin is.

“The reason we have different colors of skin has to do with where our ancestors (like the grandparents of our grandparents) came from.

“The first people on earth lived in Africa [ HERE ] and had dark skin to protect them from the sun which is really strong there near the equator.

“Then some people migrated (moved) away from Africa up [ HERE ] to where our ancestors come from. Up there, there isn’t as much sun.

"So up here melanin in people’s skin was getting in the way. It was blocking the sun from making vitamin D for them! Uh oh! So gradually their great-great grandkids lost their active melanin and their skin became lighter, like ours.” MORE RESOURCES:

Images: Interactive Human Migration Map || Kids of Different Colors || Skin Color Map of Indigenous Peoples

Picture Books About the Science of Skin: All the Colors We Are: The Story of How We Get Our Skin Color (and activities here) || Your Skin Holds You In || Daddy, Why am I Brown?
**Remember to support BIPOC Owned Bookstores! Links above are to black or native-owned <3
(Also check out lists of black bookstores by state and also here, here, and here and here)!

Videos for older kids: The Science of Skin Color - TEDEd || The Science of Skin - TedEd || Map Shows How Humans Migrated Across the Globe || Human Migration - Khan Academy ||

Other Activities: Activities - All the Colors We Are ||

3. Different Families, Cultures, & Traditions

When diving into racial issues, it’s easy for white Americans to become fixated on negative feelings of guilt, and a notion that we somehow lack a positive cultural identity. There’s plenty to critique, and we do need to be honest about our historic and ongoing involvement with racism and racist systems. However: wallowing in guilt and a negative self-concept isn’t a healthy place to get stuck in. And it's not helpful either. We want to transform our world, and we can't do that if we are trapped in a negative self-concept.

So.

Instead, take some time to celebrate your family’s own cultural history and traditions, and explore and enjoy the diversity of families and traditions across America and the world. Again, this is a time to celebrate:

How are our stories different? How are they the same? What's special about each of us?

Different Families

First, you may want to read a picture book together such as My Family, Your Family by Kathryn Cole, Who’s in My Family? by Robie H. Harris, I Love You Too by Ziggy Marley, or All Families Are Special by Norma Simon.

If your little one is very small, try one of these slightly shorter reads: A Family is a Family is a Family by Sara O'Leary or My Friends and Me by Stephanie Stansbie.

Alternatively you could introduce the topic of family diversity by watching a video like: Our Family: A Film About Family Diversity or Family Song: Sesame Street. Take a peek at the end of this section for links to more books, videos and ideas.

Alternatively, you can dive straight into the conversation!

Talk About Your Family: Spend some time talking about your own family. Discuss your daily and weekly routines, reflect on what you do for special occasions, and list all your favorite things about being a family. Here are some questions to ask to get started:

What language(s) do you speak?
What sort of accent/regional dialect do you speak with?
Who lives with you? Who is your “family?”
What are your daily and weekly routines?
What do you do during the weekdays? The weekends?
Do you live in the country or the city?
How might life be different if you lived in a different place?
How do you help each other as a family? What chores and jobs are there in your house/s? Who helps out around the house/s? Who does work outside the house/s?
How do you get food on the table? Do you grow it? Do you help shop or cook?
What foods do you eat? What do you eat on holidays or special occasions?
What do you do for fun as a family?
How do you show each other you love one another?
Do you have any special religious beliefs, traditions, or holidays you celebrate?
What are some of your favorite things to do as a family?

Talk About Other Families:
Talk about how other families might do some things the same as your family, and some things differently. Other families may have similar or different family structures, languages, accents, favorite foods, clothing styles, holidays, religions and beliefs, everyday activities, routines, and traditions.

What is the same? What is different?

Reflect on similarities and differences between your family and other families you’re friends with.
Read picture books about families of different races and their everyday lives and traditions. Talk about how they compare to your family: what’s the same and what’s different? Here are a few of my favorites to get you started: Every Friday, Sunday Shopping, I Love You More Than …, The Hello, Goodbye Window, Juneteenth for Mazie, Alma and How She Got Her Name, What Can You Do with a Rebozo?, Uncle Peter’s Amazing Chinese Wedding, The Have a Good Day Cafe, Saffron Ice Cream, The Gift of Ramadan, When the Shadbush Blooms, and Hungry Johnny
There are links to many more picture books at the end of this section, so you’ll have plenty to keep you busy reading and discussing for quite a while! <3
Watch a video of a book read-aloud: Juneteenth for Mazie read by the author, The Wakame Gatherers read by the author, King for a Day read by the author, Ramadan Moon read on the author’s youtube channel, Sitti’s Secrets read by the author, and Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story read by the author.

As you read and watch, be sure to emphasize:

“Some things about us are the same and some are different and that is what makes the world such a wonderful place to live in!”

Videos about Different Families and Cultures:
Family Song: Sesame Street || Our Family: A Film About Family Diversity || Different Family Structures Song || Sesame Street; The Family Thing Song || Different Family Traditions Around the World? (for older kids) || The World’s Family Illustrated Poem || Sesame Street: Talk About Holidays || Sesame Street: Kwanzaa ||

Picture Books Celebrating Different Families & Cultures:
My Family, Your Family || Who’s in My Family? || Same, Same But Different || Children Around the World - by Donata Montanari || A Family is a Family is a Family || All Are Welcome || In Every House on Every Street || My Friends and Me || Hats of Faith || A Church For All || What Do you Celebrate? || Celebrations Around the World || A Winter Candle || Global Babies || Outside My Window || Families Around the World || The Barefoot Book of Children || This is How We Do It: One Day in the Lives of Seven Kids Around the World || DK Book: Children Just Like Me || At the Same Moment Around the World || I Am America || My Subway Ride || The Bus For Us || Our Community Garden || Madlenka || How My Parents Learned to Eat || Old Manhattan has Some Farms || Apt 3 || A Moon for Moe and Mo || Dear Primo || I Love You Too || A New Home (Mexico / USA) ||

**Remember to support BIPOC Owned Bookstores! Links are to black or native-owned <3
(Also check out lists of black bookstores by state and also here, here, and here and here)!

Picture Books Celebrating Families of Specific Races:

Black American Family Picture Books:
Sunday Shopping || Early Sunday Morning || The Hello, Goodbye Window || I Love You More Than …|| Full, Full, Full of Love || The Night is Yours || Sometimes We Do || Going Down Home With Daddy || Juneteenth for Mazie || I Am Perfectly Designed || The Big Bed (omg hilariously relatable) || Bedtime Bonnet || Bedtime for Sweet Creatures || Family - by Isabell Monk || Princess Truly || These Hands || City Green || Aunt Flossie’s Hats || Don’t Let Auntie Mabel Bless The Table || Saturday - by Oge Mora || The Airport Book || City Shapes || Come On, Rain! || Rainbow Stew || The Chicken Chasing Queen Of Lamar County (Rural) || The Old Truck (Rural) || My Grandmother Lives in a Shotgun House || Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut || A Million Fish … More or Less || Ava’s Big Move || This is the Rope || I Got the Rhythm || Fresh Princess || The Snowy Day || Apt 3 || Keats’s Neighborhood: An Ezra Jack Keats Treasury || Magnificent Homespun Brown || Love and the Rocking Chair || Hands Up! || A Boy Like You || When Aidan Became a Brother || Together for Kwanzaa || Me and Momma and Big John || Grandma’s Gift || Belle, The Last Mule at Gee’s Bend
Hispanic / Latinx Family Picture Books:
Alma and How She Got Her Name || I Love Saturdays y Domingos || Yum! MmMmm! Que Rico! || Kitchen Dance || Between Us and Abuela (Mexican American) || Little Night / Nochecita (Mexico #ownvoices) || Carlos and the Skunk (Mexican) || Imagine (Migrant Family) || All Around Us || What Can You Do with a Rebozo (Mexican American) || Grandma’s Gift (Boricua) || Grandma’s Records (Boricua) || El Barrio (Spanish Harlem) || My Feet Are Laughing (Dominican) || Abuela - by Arthur Dorros || La Tienda De Mama y Papa (Chinese-Guatemalan) || Xochitl and the Flowers (El Salvador) || Auntie Luce’s Talking Paintings (Haiti) || Freedom Soup (Haiti) || My Two Grannies || In My Family / En Mi Familia || Too Many Tamales (A Mexican Christmas Story) || La Noche Buena” A Christmas Story (Cuban American) ||
Asian / Asian-American Family Picture Books:
Bilal Cooks Daal (Indian American) || Hot Hot Roti for Dada-Ji (Indian American) || The Boy and the Bindi (Indian American) || Priya Dreams of Marigolds & Masala (Indian American) || Festival of Colors (India) || My Dadima Wears a Sari (India) || The Many Colors of Halpreet Singh (Sikh) || King for a Day (Pakistan) || When the Cousins Came (Japanese American) || Hiromi’s Hands (Japanese American) || Umbrella (Japanese American) || The Wakame Gatherers (Japanese American) || Tree of Cranes ( #ownvoices Japanese American Christmas Story) || Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin (#ownvoices Japanese American) || Auntie Yang’s Great Soybean Picnic (Chinese American) || Bringing In the New Year (Chinese American) || A New Year’s Reunion (Chinese) || Uncle Peter’s Amazing Chinese Wedding (Chinese) || Mooncakes (Chinese American) || Mei-Mei’s Special Birthday Noodles (Chinese American) || The Have a Good Day Cafe (#ownvoices Korean American) || Our Favorite Day (Korea) || Bee Bim Bop (Korean) || One Afternoon (#ownvoices Korean American) || Dear Juno (Korean American) || A Piece of Home (Korean American)|| Hush! A Thai Lullaby || Cora Cooks Pancit (Filipino) || Filipino Celebrations (Filipino) || Lakas and the Manilatown Fish (Filipino) || The Paper Kingdom ||
Middle-Eastern &/or Muslim Family Picture Books:
Baba, What Does My Name Mean? (Palestine) || Sitti’s Secrets (Palestine) || My Grandma & Me (Iran) || Saffron Ice Cream - by Rashin Kheiriyeh (Iranian American) || King for a Day (Pakistan) || Ramadan Moon (Muslim #ownvoices) || The Gift of Ramadan (Muslim #ownvoices) || Rashad’s Ramadan (Muslim) || Under My Hijab (Muslim #ownvoices) || Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns (Muslim #ownvoices) || The Many Colors of Halpreet Singh (Sikh) || Mommy’s Khimar (African-American Muslim) || Leila in Saffron (British - Pakistani)
Black African Family Picture Books:
A is For Africa (Nigeria #ownvoices) || Baby Goes to Market (Nigeria) || Sleep Well Siba & Saba (Uganda) || Sing to the Moon (Uganda) || The Water Princess (Burkina Faso) ||
Native American Family Picture Books:
We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga (Cherokee Nation) || Thanku: Poems of Gratitude (Various) || First Laugh: Welcome Baby! (Navajo) || A Day with Yayah (Interior Salish) || Huckleberries, Buttercups & Celebrations (Interior Salish) || Awâsis and the World-famous Bannock (Wapisewsipi) || When the Shadbush Blooms (Lenape) || You Hold Me Up (Cree / Lakota) || Wild Berries (Cree) || When We Are Kind (Cree / Lakota) || My Heart Fills With Happiness (Cree / Lakota) || We Sang You Home (Plains Cree) || Kamik Joins the Pack (Inuit) || Only in My Hometown (Inuk) || Jingle Dancer (Muscogee / Creek) || Bowwow Powwow (Ojibwe) || Hungry Johnny (Ojibwe) || Johnny’s Pheasant (Ojibwe) || Skysisters (Ojibwe) || The Range Eternal (Ojibwe) || Kiki’s Journey (Taos Pueblo) || Saltypie (Choctaw) || Kunu’s Basket (Penobscot)
White Family Picture Books:
Every Friday || At Night || City Moon || Wake Up, City! || The Night Worker || Applesauce Day || What a Year || It’s Milking Time (Rural) || The Farm Book (Rural) || Blueberries for Sal (Rural) || Time for Cranberries || We Are The Gardeners || Stella Brings the Family || Papa, Daddy, and Riley || Heather Has Two Mommies || Fred Stays with Me || Soup Day || Under Alaska’s Midnight Sun (Alaska) || San Francisco, Baby! (California) || The Legend of the Cape May Diamond (Delaware) || Wildfire! (Florida) || Fire Storm (Idaho) || Snowboard Twist (Idaho) || Green Thumbs Up (Illinois) || My Mountain Song (Kentucky) || Grandpappy (Maine) || Island Boy (Maine) || The Henhouse (Maine) || Mrs. Mack (Michigan) || Mail By The Pail (Michigan) || Where Are All The Minnesotans? || One Frozen Lake (Minnesota) || North Woods Girl (Minnesota) || Ohio Thunder (Ohio) || Our Farm (Ohio) || The Fat Stock Stampede (Texas) || White Water (Utah) || A Canada Geese Quilt (Vermont) || Sugar on Snow (Vermont) || From Dawn Till Dusk (Vermont) || A Salmon for Simon (Washington) || Lying Awake (Washington) || A Day At The Market (Washington) || Waiting for High Tide (Washington) || The Raft (Wisconsin) || Isla & Pickle (Scotland) || The Fourth Bonniest Baby in Dundee (Scotland) || Thunder Cake (Russia) || Christmas in Noisy Village (Sweden) || Peter and Lotta’s Christmas (Sweden) || Lucia Morning (Sweden) || Christmas Lights || Christmas on the Farm || The Worst Christmas Ever || Just in Time for Christmas || Here is the World: A Year of Jewish Holidays (Jewish #ownvoices) || More Than Enough: A Passover Story (Jewish #ownvoices) || New Year at the Pier: A Rosh Hashanah Story (Jewish #ownvoices) || Lights Out Shabbat (Jewish) || I Say Shehechiyanu (Jewish #ownvoices) || Hanukkah Hop (Jewish #ownvoices) || The Cholent Brigade (Jewish #ownvoices) || Mitzvah Pizza (Jewish) || The Night Before New Year’s ||

**Remember to support BIPOC Owned Bookstores! Links are to black or native-owned <3
(Also check out lists of black bookstores by state and also here, here, and here and here)!

Did I go overboard on the book list for this section? Of course not! XD

4. Learn About Family History
What’s your heritage? Explore where your family’s ancestors migrated from. Talk to your kiddo about the countries their ancestors left behind, map how they travelled to and across America, and discover what activities, foods, and traditions may have been special to them. Discuss which beliefs and special traditions have been passed down to your family today, and which were perhaps given up along the way. This is a time to celebrate your family history, the family history of others, and to empathize with immigrants and the hardships they faced.

Your Own Family History
Here are some more ideas to get started exploring the concept of immigration and your family history:

Watch: Videos introducing immigration: Ellis Island - A Kid Explains History or the author read-aloud of All the Way to America. If you have older kids try Crash Course: European History and Emigration. (find more options linked at the end of this section).
Read about Immigration: Books that provide an introduction to immigration stories. Try: We Came to America by Faith Ringgold , Klara’s New World, Gittel’s Journey , Mom, Where Are We From?,or La Frontera: El viaje con papa.

Also check out the books and resources at the end of this section. I’ve compiled links to many picture books about immigration and have noted the various countries-of-origin. You may find one that is quite similar to your own family’s history of immigration.

Family Tree: Look at (or draw) your own family tree and discuss. If your kiddo isn’t familiar with the concept of family trees, you may want to introduce the concept with a book such as: My Family Tree and Me by Duyan Petricic, I See the Sun in the USA by Dedie King, Mom, Where Are We From? by Rahimah Rahim, or Me and My Family Tree by Joan Sweeny. Alternatively, you could watch and discuss a video such as: Family Tree Chart.
Family History Collections: Browse family photo albums and family histories or stories that may have been compiled before. You might be surprised at what you can find online at family tree websites like familysearch.org
Map: Map where your ancestors came from, and make it a point to learn a bit about each country of origin (check out the country-specific books, videos and resources below).
Interview: Interview grandparents and great-grandparents about their lives, as well as what they remember about their own grandparents and great-grandparents.

Where were they born? Did they move from one house to another?
How did it feel to move home?
What language did they speak?
What was their family like? Who lived in their home?
What was a day like in their house? Did they have chores?
What did they like to do? What were their hobbies?
What were some of their most memorable moments?
What were their jobs?
What sorts of foods did they eat?
What religious beliefs or traditions do they have?
What sorts of holidays did they celebrate?
More question ideas: Loc.gov || Family Tree Magazine ||

Names: Do your names say anything about where your ancestors came from or what they did for work? Did your family ever change the spelling and pronunciation of their names after facing pressure to sound more white/American? (Many families did after feeling socially pressured to fit in, and many had theirs accidentally changed in legal documents.)
Language: Learn a few words in the languages your ancestors spoke. Thank you, hello, family, and food names can be a fun start.

Other Family Histories and Immigration Stories:
After you’ve spent some time exploring your own family’s immigrant experience and about the diverse cultures of your ancestors, your kids will enjoy learning about other cultures and immigration experiences too. You might start with the books: I’m an Immigrant too! , My Family Tree and Me, La Frontera: El viaje con papa, Mom, Where Are We From?, Grandfather’s Journey, watch the author read-aloud The Arabic Quilt (reading begins at 6:00) or dip into one of the many videos and books listed below.

How are the stories different? How are they similar?

ADDITIONAL BOOKS, VIDEOS & RESOURCES ABOUT FAMILY HISTORY AND IMMIGRATION

** Note that only a few of the resources listed below mention the enslavement of African people or the impacts of immigration and colonization on the Native people who lived in America already. These are very important discussions to have with your kids, and deserve their own time and space, so I’ll cover it in a subsequent post.

I’ve tried to be very careful about the “pilgrim” and white colonist stories I’ve chosen here. Many children’s books about this time period (including many textbooks and books used in schools) are filled with myths about American History and are quite harmful in the way they romanticize white colonization. Be cautious about which colonist and “Thanksgiving” stories you share with your kiddos.**

Videos About Immigration (most are kid-friendly, but do pre-screen): Ellis Island - A Kid Explains History || Immigrants at Ellis Island (History Channel) || A Refugee’s Journey (modern, but in a wordless, child-friendly way shows the reasons people become refugees) || Crash Course: Growth, Cities, and Immigration (best for older kids) and Crash Course: European History and Emigration || America’s Sources of Immigration over Time || From Far Away || The Pilgrims (PBS) Thanksgiving || The Story of a 10 year-old Russian Child’s Journey to Ellis Island (PBS) || Carly, A Refugee’s Story || Contemporary Immigrant Stories & Videos (Scholastic) || The Friends of Kwan Ming || The Chinese Violin || Meet the Children (Contemporary Immigrants) || Immigrant Stories Collection (UMN)