Learn a little more...with a link!
Website Article: DOGOnews, Celebrating Black History Month | Learn about the origins of the month & important people who fought segregation.
Website Article: United States History for Kids, Racial Segregation History in the United States | This timeline gives you the facts about segregation.
Website Article: DLTK Crafts for Kids, Black History Month & African American Ideas | Find some fun activities to celebrate African-American history.
Website Article: Reading Rockets, Favorite Books for Black History Month | Read some good books to learn more about African-American history.
Read the script:
RICK: In Michigan, another company is looking at meal time as lesson time. The month of February, of course, is Black History Month. It's a time to look back on the history of African Americans and to celebrate their achievements, like Olympian Jesse James who Gabriel Kramer told you about in last week's Know Ohio.
It's not all a glamorous history though. Until the civil rights act of 1964, the government did not protect African Americans from discrimination. Discrimination is the unfair treatment of someone based on their race or age or sex or their gender.
Reporter Syma Chowdhry tells us how a restaurant is serving up great food with a side of black history.
SYMA: This Black History Month, Beans & Cornbread is celebrating with their food. Picture this: it's the 1940s, and often times, African Americans on the go had to pack their lunch in a shoe box like this.
PATRICK COLEMAN, RESTAURANT OWNER: There were oppressive times in the history of this country. Black people were refused service in public accommodations, rest areas, restaurants.
SYMA: Beans & Cornbread in Southfield has been around for 20 years, but when you walk-in, you take a trip back in time. And for the month of February, you can order some food for thought.
PATRICK: Walking into a restaurant, being seated, ordering food, and when you think about folks 50, 60, 70 years ago, they didn't have that privilege.
SYMA: Patrick Coleman says generations of family stories include tales of traveling with lunch in a shoebox. Because of segregation, it was often hard to find an eatery that would serve African Americans.
PATRICK: So, if you took the train, say from Detroit to Nashville, once you hit the Mason-Dixon line, you weren't allowed to go into the dining cars.
SYMA: For Black History Month, Beans & Cornbread is offering soul food in a shoebox. Inside you will find entrees, like delicious chicken and waffles. And on the outside are stories of historical figures and facts.
PATRICK: Let’s provide some knowledge. Let's tell the stories.
SYMA: The box costs $1 on top of the price of the meal. A portion of the proceeds will go to a youth program in Detroit. Even though the box represents an oppressive time, Patrick says it pays tribute to the people who lived through it.
Celebrating the resiliency of not only the human spirit, but the American spirit.
Nourishing your mind and soul with this food.