Don’t know much about history
Don’t know much biology
Don’t know much about a science book
Don’t know much about the French I took
— from Sam Cooke’s “Wonderful World”
Our country will recognize Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, but today - January 15 - is King’s birthday. Three-day holidays are fine, but I think King’s actual birthday would make a fine holiday annually. Seems like we Americans have sort of already settled on approximate dates for holidays.
Here’s some facts about the Declaration of Independence, which we celebrate on July 4th. It wasn’t nearly as an important a date as we were taught because the process of signing this important document took longer than a day. “The process of revision continued through all of July 3 and into the late morning of July 4. Then, at last, church bells rang out over Philadelphia; the Declaration had been officially adopted. One of the most widely held misconceptions about the Declaration is that it was signed on July 4, 1776, by all the delegates in attendance. John Hancock, the President of the Congress, was the first to sign the sheet of parchment … New Hampshire, the northernmost state, began the list, and Georgia, the southernmost, ended it. Eventually 56 delegates signed, although all were not present on August 2.”
I was happy to know that in Elizabeth’s Kindergarten class they are learning lots about Martin Luther King Jr.’s background like the struggle for equality that he so eloquently presented and listened to some of his “I have a Dream” speech. They were also told about his untimely death.
I think it’s easy to shy away from death and sex when talking with children. But history isn’t all warm and cuddly, and we shouldn’t cover up historical facts we think they might be uncomfortable with. I’d mentioned King’s background this weekend to Elizabeth, who’s 6. She came home yesterday and saw the paper’s special section with King’s picture on it and said, “Hey, we learned about this guy in school today!”
I thought her teacher did a good job of presenting a lot of facts and making it interesting enough for Elizabeth to remember. Elizabeth even learned a lot about King from her 3-year-old preschool class. Her gifted instructors “Miss Susie” and “Miss Joyce” made each child a “Be Like MLK” life-size puppet that the children wore on their tiny, little bodies. (The teachers even did a modified “blue-eyed” and “brown-eyed” experiment with the children that introduced them to how discrimination would have felt like.)
I think children fear what they don’t know. That’s why I’m curious why Mrs. Bush, a former schoolteacher wasn’t more forthcoming with history at a children’s holiday reception and performance at The White House this past December. Mrs. Bush, who I think is a class-act and remains the ever steady, comforting spouse in the background, introduced the entertainment. She asked the children if they’d been to Ford’s Theater.
MRS. BUSH: Well, it was President Lincoln’s, one of his favorite theaters to go to. And guess what today? Today we’re going to get to see the actors from Ford’s Theater. They’re going to do a special performance for us of “A Christmas Carol.”
Pause for dramatic effect here. Um, she didn’t explain to the children (ages unknown, I have not seen the video footage) that this was maybe NOT President Abraham Lincoln’s favorite theater on April 13, 1865, WHEN HE WAS MORTALLY SHOT in this exact entertainment venue.
You don’t have to say it like that, but because it’s a pretty big juncture in history, shouldn’t we maybe mention it? Or was Mrs. Bush being nice and not wanting children to get disturbed and Googling “Lincoln shot?” Where do we draw the line when it comes to explaining our country’s history current and past?
History is what we make of it. (Take a few minutes to listen to King’s speech today.)
But I do know that I love you
And I know that if you love me too
What a wonderful world this would be