![]() ![]() And I was left pondering the wisdom of her words. Hasan Kwame Jeffries: Moments later, A’laila was fast asleep. He was trying to say that America was damaged." Hasan Kwame Jeffries: "Well, you’re right. Hasan Kwame Jeffries: "Are you talking about Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries: "Did you say damaged?" "Yes," she said. But after a long period of silence she said, "Daddy, I think he was trying to say that America was damaged." I struggled to process what I had heard. Hasan Kwame Jeffries: It was already late, and I thought A’laila had finally fallen asleep. And she said that Denise McNair looked like Asha, my oldest daughter, her nine-year-old sister. Then I showed A’laila photos of the four girls. So I picked up my phone, searched 'Birmingham Church bombing,' and said their names: Cynthia Wesley, Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, and Denise McNair. And then she asked me what the names of the girls were. Hasan Kwame Jeffries: When I shared this story, A’laila looked at me like, "Wait, what?" She wasn’t confused, she was just processing this new information. And then she said "No children had died," and that's when I realized I never told them about the bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church, which had left four little girls dead. But a few nights later when I was putting her to bed, she started sharing what she remembered about the discussion-recalling what I had told them about King’s childhood and about the children who had marched with him. ![]() Hasan Kwame Jeffries: That evening, A’laila didn’t say much about my visit. ![]() When we were done, I said my thank yous and goodbyes, hugged and kissed my daughter, and I bolted for the car, happy to have just survived. And I didn’t stick around to find out, either. "None did." We covered a lot in 15 minutes, and I wasn’t quite sure what, if anything at all, actually sunk in. King, they wanted to know if any of the young demonstrators had gotten killed too. Hasan Kwame Jeffries: And when the conversation returned to Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries: I taught the kids to sing "Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round," and I had them stand and march in place, and we sang that freedom song together. And when they learned about the police siccing dogs on them, they asked, 'Why did they want to hurt those children? Why didn’t the police protect them?' I explained how many of those children went to jail, and the kids wanted to know if they got scared. And the preschoolers wanted to know if they got tired. I told them all about the Black children who marched. Hasan Kwame Jeffries: Then I told them about the 1963 Birmingham campaign, and how children played a role in toppling Jim Crow in America’s most segregated city. So I explained how racial discrimination made young Martin feel, and about how his feelings of hurt motivated him to act. And I asked the students if they thought separate and unequal was fair? They didn’t. I explained what life was like for young Martin in the segregated South-the things he could not do simply because he was Black. Hasan Kwame Jeffries: My approach was simple. Now I have to explain away dragons too?" Of course, I agreed to do it anyway. That little tidbit of information was supposed to help. You know, because Kings fight dragons, and sometimes the dragons win. Except they thought that he had been killed by a dragon. She explained how the children already knew that Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries: My reluctance must’ve been obvious, because A’laila’s teacher tried to ease my anxiety. King they just don’t need to learn about him from me. Don’t get me wrong, preschoolers need to learn about Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries: Four year olds make me nervous-you never know what they’re thinking, or what they might ask. Hasan Kwame Jeffries: I thought, "How nice." I also thought, "Ain’t no way in hell I’m doing that!" She wanted the children to learn about the civil rights icon in advance of the school’s annual MLK Day assembly. ![]() holiday, my four-year-old daughter’s preschool teacher asked me to speak to her class about Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries: Last year, shortly before the Martin Luther King, Jr. Learning for Justice, Birmingham 1963: Primary Documents (grades 6-8, 9-12). ![]()
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