Reddit mentions: The best children multicultural biographies

Yeah, as a beader I have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest. It's useful for skills, but terrible for actual cultural teachings. And so many gross culturally appropriative pins. So. Many. But its search functions sometimes outdo google when it comes to specific Indigenous items, so... yeah, mixed feelings. :p

I was an Ojibwe kid growing up in another people's territory. My folks did what you propose -- they taught me about Ojibwe stuff and made sure I had plenty of exposure to local cultures and peoples too. Are there any cultural centres nearby that you could travel to?

For crafts: You could do some very simple beadweaving with big pony beads and craft wire. I made snowflakes sort of like these ones with my little cousin last year for Christmas. Note that you needn't go as elaborate as this blog post does -- you could stop at "round 3" and still have a cute, decent sized snowflake.

While you craft, you could talk to him about beading history. Long, long ago, we didn't have plastic or glass beads. Long ago we only worked with porcupine quills, seeds, bone, stone, and shell (and metal in some central and south american regions) -- and we had to turn them into beads by hand. Some people still know how to do those things.

When the Europeans traded us glass beads, Indigenous people knew exactly what to do with them! After all, master weavers existed across the continent. We adopted glass beads and made incredible things with them, and we are still doing that today. (Bonus: If y'all have any eastern European heritage, that's another area with a rich history of incredible beadwork!)

You could teach him the Ojibwe word for beads, "manidoominensag", and how it's an 'animate' word, meaning we view beads are living beings, that beads have a spirit. I imagine that many kids would have an opinion on that - I know I did. :)

Or, if you'd rather focus on Menominee, maybe learn the word for beads in that language! I think Menonimee has a lot of similarities to Ojibwe (same language family), so the animacy thing may still apply.

Another craft could be to get round paper or canvas and paint a medicine wheel. While you paint, you could tell teach him about the four quadrants, and the things each quadrant represents.

Really you could apply this process to most crafts. Making little tipis? Talk about actual tipis, what they are made from, when they were used, how people transported them, etc. Learn the word for the craft in one or more of the languages of your ancestors!

For Ojibwe language and culture, take a look at this puppet show, Boozhoo Nanaboozhoo. It became popular almost overnight on facebook, lots of people saying their kids love it. There's some other fun stuff, and a bit of serious/heavier stuff in there too.

Another resource that may be useful to you is The Mishomis Book. It's probably too advanced to read to your little one right now, but you could read it and pull out some of the simpler concepts to teach.

Sure, here you go:

-------------------------------

"He eventually made recruiting visits to Miami, Louisiana State and Mississippi State. But these schools wanted him as a defensive back. McNair wanted to play quarterback."

-------------------------------

"Steve was recruited heavily by schools like Florida State, but every school who recruited him wanted him to play safety."

-------------------------------

From the out-of-print book "Running & Gunning":

"When Cardell Jones heard that schools like Florida State were recruiting Steve McNair, he gave up on the idea of carrying on a 'family tradition.'"

(Cardell Jones was the coach at Alcorn State at the time, and Steve's brother Fred had played there, so Jones had hoped to lure Steve there as well).

-------------------------------

"McNair was recruited by several of those colleges as a defensive back -- he tied Terrell Buckley's state career record with 30 interceptions at Mount Olive (Miss.) High. But he wanted to play quarterback. When Jones offered him the chance, he chose Alcorn over the likes of Nebraska, Oklahoma, Colorado, Florida State, Miami and Mississippi State."

-------------------------------

Steve was recruited heavily by schools all over the southeast, including Florida State. But every major program wanted him as a defensive back. Steve considered himself a quarterback and refused to go to any college that didn’t share this view. That essentially narrowed his choice down to Alcorn State in Mississippi"

-------------------------------

"McNair was initially offered a full scholarship to the University of Florida to play running back"

-------------------------------

"McNair spurned a full scholarship to the University of Florida because they were only offering it to be a running back"

The best place to get information about native and indigenous Americans is to go to the source. Books by native/indigenous Americans using their own voices to tell stories about encountering Europeans in North America for the first time, as well as talking about their own culture and traditions can be found here:

Giving Thanks

The Very First Americans

Native American History for Kids

Getting to Know the Native American Indian Tribes

1621 - National Geographic

Four Seasons of Corn

Author page for Joseph Bruchac (His Squanto book is "not recommended" but he is an authorized writer of native American stories)

American Indians In Children's Lit - Thanksgiving Books to Avoid (there is a comment on this list that shares several titles and authors that may also be beneficial to this subject).

I hadn't seen that This Week in Baseball History yet. Very cool.

My nephew loves football and basketball. He never really got into baseball. Then he did a book report on (I think) this Roberto Clemente book and now he loves him and likes baseball a bit more.

The first few are Chahta but there are various tribes depicted, some available in both English and the given tribal language!

• The Cloud Artist
  
• Crossing Bok Chitto
  
• When Turtle Grew Feathers
  
• When We Were Alone
  
• Grandmother’s Dreamcatcher
  
• Buffalo Bird Girl
  
• Stolen Words
  
• I Am Not A Number
  
• A Day With Yayah
  
• You Hold Me Up
  
• Wild Berries
  
  Some tribes have lists online or books available in their online stores, as well, so if you’re looking for anything specific you might try that.

Here's a good start: https://www.amazon.com/Plate-Ken-Griffey-Athlete-Biographies/dp/0316142336

Quote from Kevin Kernan's Slam Duncan