SRA Dimensions: We Are Black SAKRI, Ruth, edited by

Laminated illustrated cardboard box measuring 8½" x 8¼" x 13" and containing 119 (of 120) illustrated bifolium reading selections, printed on card stock measuring 8½" x 7½", with 120 corresponding skill cards, 50 unused student workbooks, 39 unmarked student answer keys and two teacher s handbooks. Contents complete save for one reading selection. Overall very good with box moderately rubbed with (teacher's?) name on lid, institutional stamps on the interior and split to the top of one corner; contents generally very good or better with light general wear, a few workbooks with some pencil notations from students and oxidation to the stapled booklets. Sixteen pounds of African-American history from the company whose ubiquitous classroom kits have been encouraging children to read since 1938, this program with a "special" purpose of broadening "students understanding of the accomplishments and contributions of black people." If students engaged in this course (it appears that this one was little used) it would have been hard for SRA to miss its mark. The reading selections each contain artwork created for the kit or a halftone illustration of the selection s subject, all reasonably provocative, encouraging the child to actually open and read what s inside. There are reading selections by important African-American authors such as Ralph Ellison, Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Richard Wright and many more. The kit also contains brief vignettes on icons such as Aretha Franklin, Medgar Evers, Floyd Patterson, and Dick Gregory. Important snippets of history such as the killing of Crispus Attucks at the start of the Revolutionary War, the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, and the workings of the Underground Railroad. The student workbooks encouraged the children to think critically about race issues with questions such as, "Do you think it was important that Dr. King won the Nobel Peace Prize? Why or why not?" A rare survivor of an effort to promote education in black history that is both visually and intellectually stimulating.