“I’m Black History.”
A young girl wrote this during KID Museum’s Black History Month Celebration this year. She’s exactly right. Black History is about the celebration of past heroes, luminaries, and traditions; but it’s also about current-day innovators and makers, and future history makers – like her.
At KID Museum, we celebrate “active history”: history as an active, ongoing endeavor that we contribute to daily. Our recent Black History and Women’s History Month celebrations – and all of our heritage celebrations at the museum – incorporate active history to achieve inclusive learning environments that create a sense of belonging for youth from all backgrounds, especially those typically underrepresented in STEM.
What does it mean to create a truly inclusive maker learning environment? We must first acknowledge that we are not the knowledge owners or knowers of all of the deep and rich cultural and technological making stemming from each culture and community. KID Museum convenes advisory councils made up of members of the local and national communities we celebrate. These councils are our “north star” towards being culturally responsive and sustaining in our educational approach.
KID Museum staff and leadership work closely with the advisory groups to identify and address needs and barriers for each community that we serve – from determining how to best bring an outdoor powwow experience indoors, to determining how families might receive a free grocery pickup at KID so they can spend time at the museum with their children instead of in line at a service provider. And while our Community Celebrations may be timed with a particular month of cultural celebration, we know you cannot distill a culture into one day or one month, and it’s never our goal to. We build these experiences into our museum programming throughout the year. And we’re seeing the results: growing diversity and engagement across all of our programs.
At KID Museum, we are actively creating the future – future innovators, future inventors, future changemakers. We are also actively creating what learning looks like, and how it can be accessible and welcoming to all. The young girl who wrote “I am Black History” declared her rightful place in history. It’s on us to ensure that she and all youth can see themselves and their cultures in the past, present, and future of STEM and beyond.
Check out this post from Odalys Lugo-Morales, our Senior Manager of Community and Partner Engagement to learn more about our Community Celebrations and Black History Month.
