Black History Month

Throughout the year as a business Command Performance is actively working to include new titles by new voices, not just one month a year.  That is reflected in our broadening selection of comprehensible readers (featured below).  We've included here more resources for teachers to dive deeper into Black History Month, but encourage all teachers to use these resources and books to weave Afro-Latino and Afro-Franco culture, history and representation into lessons year-round.   

One way to support Black History Month is financially.  Dollars spent in your local black community work to build the financial power of that community or with businesses online.  Money spent at local bookstores, local restaurants, local printers or local graphic designers is an important way to consciously re-direct wealth.  If you know of an author or content-creator we should be amplifying, let us know and we'll add them to this blog.

This year Command Performance will continue to seek out black-owned businesses, Latino-owned businesses, Women-owned businesses, LGBTQ owned businesses and environmentally conscious and sustainable businesses to collaborate with and patronize as we also continuously build our diverse selection of readers.   Dollars you spent with Command Performance are re-invested in finding and promoting new authors.  We are always looking for strong writers and a diverse array of perspectives.

This year, I'm collaborating with Command Performance to curate a calendar to further amplify black voices, content creators, authors, and materials that speak to the black experience. Whether novels that highlight characters of color, biographies of unsung heroes, we want to make sure you have comprehensible, engaging, and uplifting materials at your fingertips.  

I am a fierce proponent of making sure as teachers we include content that does not disproportionately focus on the pain and struggles of Afro-descendants but rather spark joy in our shared humanity. We understand that the human experience is multifaceted and multidimensional, and this is the message we want to convey to our students. We also believe in the notion of constructing as many mirrors and windows as possible to promote a robust, balanced, and culturally responsive program. That said,  please join us as we celebrate Black History Month, and Aspiring Black Futures. We hope the carefully crafted content calendar provides you with insightful resources you can use all year around.