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| May 2009 Volume 3, No. 9 |
Articles Featured in This Issue
1. Calendar of Events
2. Our Web Site Picks for May
3. The Book Corner
4. Feature Articles
5. Events and Resources
Calendar of Events
Click here to view the complete calendar of events.
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Our Web Site Picks for May
KentuckianaGreen.com Blog
www.courier-journal.com/blogs/greenblog5/blog.html
Dr. David Wicks recently retired from his job as director of the JCPS Center for Environmental Education, but he is still active in environmental issues in our community as co-director of the Kentucky Institute for Environmental and Sustainable Development and as an adjunct professor at U of L. Check out Wicks' recent environmental education endeavours on the blog "KentuckianaGreen.com" hosted by the Courier-Journal.
UNESCO - World Digital Library
www.wdl.org
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has created the World Digital Library, an online library of some of the most important historical documents in the world. The Web site is a recent development, but it already has a number of interesting items in the collection. Educators may find it useful as a resource for classes and projects.
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The Book Corner Our featured books this month are Meet Our New Student From Colombia and Mao and Me. Both books can be found at the Louisville Free Public Library. |
 Mitchell Lane Publishers, August 2008 |
For 2nd - 5th Grades: Meet Our New Student From Colombia by Rebecca Thatcher Murcia. This new book series spotlights the country of an immigrant student. Social studies becomes exciting with this book's information on history, geography, and life through its personal perspective. The book includes excellent pronunciation guides throughout the text, a glossary, recipes and crafts. |
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 Enchanted Lion Books, Nov. 2008 |
For Middle and High School Students: |
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Feature Articles
Blackacre Turns 30!
Provided by June Sandercock
Blackacre Conservancy
“Making the world better – that’s my motto.” In her own words, that’s exactly what Emilie Strong Smith and her husband, Judge Macauley Letchworth Smith, accomplished in 1979 when they donated Blackacre, their 171 acre farm, to become the first state nature preserve in Kentucky. On March 19, 1979, Blackacre was formally accepted into the Kentucky State Nature Preserves System.
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In 1997, Emilie made it possible for the Blackacre Foundation (now the Conservancy) to acquire an additional 100 acres of surrounding land, further insulating and protecting the gift she and the Judge had previously made.
Emilie and the Judge lived at Blackacre for over twenty years, raising a son, John, and daughter, Rachel. They enjoyed visits with their grandchildren and entertaining countless friends and relatives.
When the Smiths first moved to Jeffersontown, the land was terribly overgrown. Emilie said of this time, “Our friends helped us clear with axes and snippers. It was before the day of the bush hog. …The more we worked, the more we fell in love with the land…The Louisville Gas and Electric brought high tension lines across the big pasture …That gave us the money to build the fence. Then Mr. Graff, who lived a mile away, pastured some of his Jerseys here. When he left, we began to have some cattle sharing of our own. The bulls would get out and we would chase them around the house back to their pasture. We had a wild time here. The deeper we fell in love with the land, the more determined we became that it must be saved.”
Emilie has talked about her feelings for Blackacre and the gift she and her husband made. “It was not to save the houses that our gift is primarily designed. Houses are not sacred…It is the land that is sacred. The land can never be restored after bulldozers and blacktop. I can well imagine in 50 years what urban people will need most to see is not what our museums hold, but what did farm land look like?”
Thirty years later, Blackacre has grown to offer environmental education to children and community programming to the general public. Every year, thousands visit to learn and to appreciate Blackacre’s country charm and its natural beauty.
Today, the Smith and Lord family and friends remain faithful contributors and long-term supporters. In recognition of the tremendous gift that Blackacre has been and will be in the future to our community, we thank Emilie and the Judge, John and Catherine Smith, Rachel S. Lord, Macauley and Carol Lord, Sam and Sara Lord, Edith Bingham, William and Josephine Wiseman, Gwynne Potts, and Anne Ogden and Judge Boyce F. Martin, Jr., for their unwavering commitment.
Thanks to Catherine Manz Smith, Emilie Strong Smith-In Her Own Words, 2008, and Sam Thomas, Blackacre: The Homestead, 1982, for quotes and historical information.
This article first appeared on http://blackacreconservancy.org. It is republished with permission.
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| Photo by Aukram Burton | |
by Aukram Burton
Diversity/Multicultural Education Specialist
JCPS Department of Diversity, Equity and Poverty Issues
When I heard of the passing of Dr. John Hope Franklin on March 25, 2009, one of our greatest historians and scholars, I reflected on how fortunate I was to meet him over a decade ago in 1999.
While teaching at the University of North Carolina Charlotte, I was among 150 people invited to pay tribute and celebrate Dr. Franklin’s 84th birthday at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center. Renowned poet Maya Angelou attended the event. So, I was blessed with the opportunity to meet two giants in American history in one night, Dr. John Hope Franklin, one of the foremost chroniclers of America's early treatment of African Americans, and Dr. Maya Angelou, America's most visible African American female autobiographer.
Other guests included celebrities, and Dr. Franklin's friends and admirers. Celebrities included Surgeon General David Satcher; Clifton Taulbert, author of “Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored"; and pianist Awadagin Pratt, who played a classical tribute. The tribute also featured letters from Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King, and taped messages from President Clinton, actors Ozzie Davis and Bill Cosby and Phylicia Rashad, among others.
The words from Ozzie Davis’ message best described what Dr. Franklin meant to me and countless other Americans. He said, “John, for so many Americans you are more than a historian; you're a hero. Through your writings and teachings you have taught us so much about what we know about race in America.”
Davis thanked Dr. Franklin for helping African Americans find their identity. He continued, “America has never taken the trouble to tell me exactly who I am. Therefore, I've been the victim of lies, distortions, omissions, put out by people who perhaps didn't want me to be anything at all. Luckily, I've had people like John Hope Franklin to fall back on . . . This is the man, who through the prism of black history knows me better than I know myself.”
Following the tributes, Dr. Franklin was treated to a taped song by Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul. A smile spread across his face as Aretha Franklin, with the audience joining her, sang Happy Birthday to Dr. Franklin.
The tribute closed with Dr. Maya Angelou reciting her famous poem, “And Still I Rise.” At the end of the recitation Dr. Angelou said, “John Hope Franklin is the hope and the dream of the slave. Each of us at our best is the hope and dream of the slave - rising.”
Dr. Franklin’s 84th tribute was an uplifting experience in honoring the man who changed the perceptions of slavery and African Americans for me and many Americans. My impression of Dr. Franklin after meeting him during the tribute was that one of America's most prestigious historians was as gracious as he was great and famous.
This was a special evening for me because over three decades before meeting Dr. Franklin, I was exposed to his writings in Ebony, a magazine that my parents had a subscription to for as long as I can remember. Then when I entered college, I was introduced to and read his seminal work of African American history, "From Slavery to Freedom," first published in 1947 and sold over 3.5 million copies. The book chronicles over 500 years of history, from slave ships to plantations to lynchings. This book is a must read for everyone who is a student of U.S. history or who wants to know the truth about the sacrifices and contributions that descendants of Africa made in building this country.
Dr. Franklin helped NAACP lawyers with research for the landmark Brown v. Board of Education school desegregation case in 1953. He joined a group of historians who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. And five decades after his masterpiece, "From Slavery to Freedom," was published, Franklin was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1997 to lead a national initiative on race.
In Dr. Franklin’s obituary, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., was quoted saying:
He (Dr. Franklin) is the prince of black academics and the prince of contemporary American historians.
Many do not know that Dr. Franklin was a survivor of the Tulsa, Oklahoma race riots. Franklin was born Jan. 2, 1915, in Rentiesville, where his father, Buck Colbert Franklin, was an attorney, farmer, newspaper editor and postmaster, and his mother, Mollie Franklin, taught school. Caught in a town feud between the local Methodist and Baptist churches, B.C. Franklin moved to Tulsa in early 1921 with the intention that his family would soon follow.
Those plans were interrupted by the race riot, which occurred on the very week that John Hope Franklin, his mother and his sister were to join B.C. Franklin in their new home. The house the elder Franklin had picked out for them was destroyed, and it would be four years before the Franklins were fully reunited.
In 1921 Tulsa was the site of one of the worst race riots in U.S. history. From the evening of May 31st, to the afternoon of June 1, 1921, more Americans killed fellow Americans in the Tulsa riot than probably anytime since the Civil War. Those events left a total of 301 dead. The Tulsa Riot was two days of violence and arson directed by whites against African American neighborhoods which left hundreds dead, hundreds injured, and more than 1500 African American-owned homes and 600 businesses destroyed.
In 2008, Dr. Franklin went to Tulsa for the dedication of the John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park. The park, planned as a memorial to Tulsa’s 1921 Race Riot and to ultimately include programs intended to promote community reconciliation, is scheduled for completion in the summer 2009.
Both the conflict in Rentiesville and the Tulsa riot created a deep impression on Franklin that forever shaped his destiny to be on the firing line, helping, directing or doing something to try to make this a better world, a better place to live.
Over a lifetime of scholarship, he helped ensure that no American history book could be complete without the story of African Americans, and that America could not be whole until it confronted its past of slavery, segregation and racial hatred.
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Diversity Ambassadors Visit Louisville to Study Underground Railroad
by Aukram Burton
Diversity/Multicultural Education Specialist
JCPS Department of Diversity, Equity and Poverty Issues
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This past March, Louisville hosted Dr. Toni-Mokjaetji Humber, Professor of Ethnic and Women’s Studies; Ms. La’Keisha Gilford-Beard, Coordinator, African American Student Center; and twenty-three students who are Diversity Ambassadors from California State Polytechnic University at Pomona. The purpose of their week-long visit to the area was to study the Underground Railroad in Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio.
Since 1999, the Diversity Ambassadors program at Cal Poly Pomona has taken students on the Civil Rights Tour of the South during their spring breaks to retrace significant events in the civil rights movement in Alabama and Georgia. After participating in the Underground Railroad tour with Ms. Judith Lalude, Founder and Director of the j. camille cultural academy, in 2007, Dr. Humber suggested that the Diversity Ambassadors should alter their focus for their tenth anniversary year to include the stories of courage and prominent sites along the Underground Railroad.
Kentucky, a borderline slave state, was a major artery along the Underground Railroad. Enslaved Africans traversed Kentucky and headed north for the Ohio River to cross over into Jordan. Some were led by people such as Harriet Tubman, who many refer to as the black Moses of her people. Likewise, Sojourner Truth’s story persuaded many to flee Kentucky and Virginia and to cross the Ohio River into Indiana in search of their freedom. Many other freedom seekers continued their journeys into Canada.
The Diversity Ambassadors traced the historic steps to freedom of courageous men and women who were both freedom seekers and conductors along the Underground Railroad. During the week, the Diversity Ambassadors covered a lot of ground. They began in Ripley, Ohio (3-hour drive from Louisville, KY), where the Ambassadors performed the Circle of Imani (swahili for faith or belief) and gave libation ceremonies to the Ancestors at the Presbyterian Church in Ripley. While in Ripley the Ambassadors climbed the Stairways to Freedom, and toured the John Rankin and John Parker House Museums. Then they traveled to Washington, Kentucky to visit the Thomas Marshall, Jr. Plantation, and held a candle ceremony at a slave auction site.
They visited the studio of Louisville sculptor Ed Hamilton and traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio where they visited the Freedom Center and the Harriet Beecher-Stowe house. Their visit concluded with travel to Frankfort, Kentucky to visit the Kentucky Historical Society; Lexington, Kentucky to tour the Henry Clay Estate; and a tour of the Second Street Baptist Church in New Albany, Indiana.
One of the highlights of the Diversity Ambassadors’ journey was the Slavery on the Ohio River, a riverboat cruise. The Diversity Ambassadors along with current and retired administrators and teachers from the Jefferson County Public Schools, as well as other members of the Metro Louisville community boarded the CQ Princess Yacht at Captain’s Quarters on River Road, Harrods Creek, Kentucky to experience the history of Slavery On The Ohio River.
The cruise included lunch, a lecture by Dr. Alicestyne Truly-Adams, Director of the Underground Railroad Research Institute, Georgetown College, Georgetown, Kentucky, and the dramatic presentation of a mother and her son escaping to freedom, The Long Walk: From Slavery to Freedom, by Ms. Judith Lalude.
To learn more about the Slavery on the Ohio River cruise and the j. camille cultural academy go to:
http://ramimages.com/slaveryonohio/Photos.html
www.judithcamille.com
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Environmental Education in JCPS
by Donna Griffin
Resource Teacher
JCPS Center for Environmental Education
As spring returns to Kentucky, we experience the renewal of life. The blooming daffodils and forsythias start the transition from brown and gray to brilliant colors across the landscape. This presage to full canopies of green imply that all is well with the natural world. But when Earth Day pops up each April, we are reminded of many issues lurking that put us and our environment at risk.
The JCPS Center for Environmental Education (EE) is working with a variety of schools and community partners to keep the spotlight on the health of our environment while we learn from our environment. One of these initiatives is our work with the new environmental studies magnet programs, Portland and Cane Run Elementaries. Next fall these schools will embark on an exciting path of learning. Students will connect classroom instruction to the real word using the schoolyard and outdoor classrooms to experience learning through inquiry. Each student will participate in 3-5 field studies at local EE sites such as Blackacre State Nature Preserve and each grade will participate in a memorable culminating field study.
For more information on EE in JCPS or our community partnerships, call the JCPS Center for EE at (502) 485-3997.
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| Wacipi: Celebrating Native American Cultures at JCTC. (photo by Aukram Burton) | |
by Aukram Burton
Diversity/Multicultural Education Specialist
JCPS Department of Diversity, Equity and Poverty Issues
Jefferson Community and Technical College recently hosted Wacipi: Celebrating Native American Cultures. Wacipi (pronounced wa-chee-pee) means community celebration and powwow. Hundreds of students, faculty and community members attended the Wacipi to honor and learn more about Native American cultures. The event was highlighted by a traditional powwow and a performance by Pura Fé, a Native American artist and educator. It also included various displays and activities such as a community mural project.
To view images from the Wacipi, please visit http://ramimages.com/wacipi.
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Events and Resources
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| Photos and logo courtesy of Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest |
Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest will host a number of events for adults and children this summer. Below is a list of activities planned for May through July.
Bernheim ECO Kids First Saturday Discovery Day
Saturday, May 2, anytime, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Why do we celebrate World Water Day? On this First Saturday, Bernheim ECO kids get the answer to this and other nature questions and discover their connections to the natural world.
BloomFest
Saturday, May 16, 9:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Woodland Fairies, native plant sale, informal talks by renowned gardening experts, wildflower walks, nature inspired crafts, family nature experiences, Bloomin Brunch, and more.
Books at Bernheim: An Open Book Club in the Open of Nature
Saturday, May 30, 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
The book for this quarter is “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” by Barbara Kingsolver. The discussion leader is Erin Burke, adjunct professor at Bellarmine University. Donations welcomed.
Every Child Outside Month, June 2009
Bernheim’s Every Child Outside Initiative – ECOkids – offers year round experiences that encourage kids to observe, think, learn, make something and play outside. In June, Bernheim will offer more than thirty ways in thirty days to connect kids with nature.
Children at Play Conference: Exploring Free Play in Nature
Saturday, June 6, 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Bernheim and Bellarmine University have partnered to develop a gathering of creative minds focused on advancing outdoor play environments that connect children and nature. Educators, landscape designers, parents and community planners are encouraged to attend.
National Trails Day
Saturday, June 6
Bernheim is proud to be part of this nationwide event. Both guided and self-guided walks will be offered throughout the day.
Bernheim’s 80th Anniversary Bash
Saturday, July 11
At over 14,000 acres, Bernheim is the largest private conservation forest in Kentucky. Nature experiences and activities will abound on this day of celebration.
For more information on these and other programs visit www.bernheim.org or call (502) 955-8512, M--F between 9 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.
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Crane House Chinese Language Institute
This program is an intensive 3-week institute that will be held July 6-24, 2009 from 8:30 am to 1:00 pm at Field Elementary School. The institute is designed to develop verbal, written, aural/oral language skills for Chinese and to expand Chinese cultural experiences in an immersion program setting. There will be daily classroom sessions, field trips and other cultural activities. High school credit will be awarded based on program completion and school approval. University of Louisville credits are awarded based on qualifications.
For additonal information, please visit www.cranehouse.org or call (502) 635-2240.
Crane Houise Chinese Language Institute is part of STARTALK National Language Project administered by the National Foreign Language Center, University of Maryland, in conjuction with a Federal initiative for critical-need languages and in partnership with Jefferson County Public Schools and the University of Louisville.
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Take a trip to Asia without leaving Louisville. Crane House is offering a camp that will open the door to exploration of the people, customs, arts, culture and countries of Asia. The camp is geared towards children ages 7-12 and will be held August 3-7 from 9 am to 4 pm at the Crane House. Climb aboard to explore the ancient Cambodian temple of Angkor Watt, become a lion dancer, create Origami masterpieces, shower your friends with color as part of the Indian celebration of Holi, and perform a shadow puppet play as you explore the wonders of the countries of Asia. Each day will bring new surprises as campers discover new cultures.
For more information, please contact the Crane House at (502) 635-2240 or email byslayton@cranehouse.org.
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Events at Blackacre Conservancy
Life on the Farm - Farm Feedings
Each Saturday in May-July at 9:30 am
Blackacre, 3200 Tucker Station Road
Have fun and learn while helping Farmer Larry and other voluteers feed our hungry horses, cows and goats. All ages welcome!
Beginning Genealogy for Adults
May 6 and 13, 6-8 pm
Blackacre, 1844 Presley Tyler Visitors Center, 3200 Tucker Station Road
In this two-part workshop, genealogist Marilou Jacob will give you the basics you need to research your family history. The class is limited to 15.
Life on the Farm - Planting Our Kitchen Garden
May 9 at 9 am
Blackacre barn, 3200 Tucker Station Road
Learn about the many uses of herbs from Katie Clark, owner of Porch Time Herbals and get planting tips from Blackacre's staff. Weather-permitting, we will begin planting Blackacre's new kitchen garden.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - Everyone Can!
May 9 at 10:30 am
Blackacre's Schick Nature Center, 3200 Tucker Station Road
Learn all about recycling, how it affects the environment, and find out how you can reduce such things as water and energy usage in this fun program led by Jackie Heinzen, president of the environmental club at the Brown School.
Full Moon Hike
May 9 at 8 pm
Blackacre's Schick Nature Center, 3200 Tucker Station Road
Hike by the light of the full moon and listen to the night sounds of wildlife at Blackacre. In this family-friendly hike, you'll tour our meadows and woods, and be challenged to attend to your surroundings with heightened senses of sight, smell, touch and hearing. All ages are welcome.
Visitors Center & Homestead Tours
Every Sunday from 1-5 pm.
Blackacre, 1844 Presley Tyler Visitors Center, 3200 Tucker Station Road
Browse on your own or take a guided tour. Volunteer docents will lead guided tours through our 1844 farmhouse and around our historic homestead each Sunday at 2 pm and again at 3:30 pm
Blackacre State Nature Preserve & Historic Homestead is open to the public year-round on weekdays during the school year from 3 pm to dusk, and on weekends and school holidays from dawn to dusk.
For more information (including cost) about these events, please call (502) 266-9802.
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Undoing Racism Workshop - June 9-11
The Undoing Racism workshop will be held on June 9-11 at the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Schlegel Hall, Room 122. The workshop will begin on June 9-10 at 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. and will begin on June 11 at 8:30 am to 12:30 pm.
The workshop is being brought to Louisville to help address racial disproportionality that occurs in various organizations in our community. Through dialogue, reflection, role-playing, strategic planning and presentations, Undoing Racism includes an intensive process that challenges participants to analyze the structures of power and privilege that hinder social equitgy and prepares them to be effective organizers for justice.
The event is presented by the People's Institute and is sponsored by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services in partnership with several agencies. For more information or reservations, please contact the training coordinator for your employer. More information is also available at www.jointheconversation.net.
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U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Trip/Workshops
JCPS middle and high school teachers can participate in an educational trip to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. The trip will be held on Mon., June 22. In addition to the trip, all participants must attend two sessions, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 12 noon on Wed., June 17, and on Wed., June 24. The Jewish Community Federation of Louisville and the JCPS Multicultural Education Office sponsor the program and all related educational sessions. To apply, call Mary Jean Timmel at (502) 618-5309 or send her an e-mail at maryjt@jcfl.com. The program costs $90, which includes roundtrip air transportation from Louisville. Participants will receive 12 PD credit hours. The deadline to apply is Fri., May 15.
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Global Connections: Staying in Touch with Culture and Environment is a monthly publication of the JCPS Office of Equity, Diversity and Multicultural Education and the JCPS Center for Environmental Education. All submissions to the newsletter must be sent to Catherine Collesano, Editor, at catherine.collesano@jefferson.kyschools.us or fax (502) 485-3762 the Monday before the publication date. If you are interested in becoming a subscriber or a contributor to Global Connections, please contact the editor at the above email address.
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