Kwanzaa and Me Kwanzaa and Me: A Teacher's Story a Teacher's Story

Paley, a white kindergarten teacher at the Univ. of Chicago Laboratory Schools, interviewed parents of black pupils, adult graduates of integrated schools, African American teachers, a Tlingit Indian Head Start teacher in Alaska and students of various racial and ethnic backgrounds. To her surprise, many of the black parents and teachers were deeply skeptical of the integrated classroom, citing subtle but pervasive racism, and said they favored all-black schools as the best environment to build their children's self-esteem and sense of identity. Recording her dialogues and encounters at conferences and schools around the country, Paley (You Can't Say You Can't Play) supports the multicultural classroom as a forum where teachers can help children recognize and accept individual differences. She also relates here her fictional stories featuring a runaway slave, Kwanzaa (whose name she took from the African American holiday), which she uses to teach about racism in this sensitive report. (Feb.)