In the classroom this week we read The Great Migration: An American Story featuring Jacob Lawrence’s migration series paintings as well as the story of his own family. We learned that 6 million African Americans left the Jim Crow South between 1910 and 1970 and arrived first in cities to the north and then to cities like San Francisco and Oakland on the West Coast. The book explored the wrenching decisions Black families had to make in search of a better life, the challenges they faced, and the wins, such as being able to send their children to school and gaining the right to vote in their new homes.
In the kitchen we made a truly American dish, collard greens, that combines traditional West African culinary practices of cooking leafy greens in liquid with a vegetable European colonists brought to North America. Collard greens, with the nutrient-rich potlikker left over from the braising process, were an important source of sustenance for enslaved peoples and remains a soul food staple today. We ate ours with cornbread and discussed ways we could get creative with the recipe next time.
