Blog
Rosa Bonheur Wears the Pants
Imagine you're going to walk out into pastures to draw horses and sheep from life, or to the slaughter house, to see what the muscles of animals look like under the skin (better to paint them) but you have to do it in a long skirt, that brushes the ground. A long...
read more
The Taking Tree: A Selfish Parody by Shrill Travesty
Has The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein always bothered you? When I was a kid, my brother and I devoured the Shel Silverstein poetry books, such as Where the Sidewalk Ends. Quirky things like a little girl who eats and entire elephant didn't bother me. But I remember...
read more
Sofanisba Anguissola, Painter, 1532-1625
Sofanisba Anguissola was a portrait painter during the Italian Renaissance. (You may have heard of other Renaissance painters such as Artemesia Gentileschi, Michangelo and Leonardo DaVinci.) She was born in 1532 in Cremona, Italy to a family of minor nobility. Her...
read more
A Naked Baby Doll at the Check out Stand
Dolls for Boys When my son was a toddler, he adopted one of his older sister's dolls, declared it a boy doll instead of a girl doll and renamed it. Despite the wide selection of clothes available, he preferred that his doll was naked. I was cool with all of that, so...
read moreWonderful Photos of Black Fatherhood
The Chicago Reader has a lovely photo essay of black fathers with their kids. We need more images like this! Author W. D. Floyd writes: At a Father’s Day speech in 2008, Obama claimed that there are too many Black fathers missing from too many homes and that it...
read more
Rachel Ruysch, Dutch Flower Painter with Ten Children!
Rachel Ruysch, 1664-1750 Rachel Ruysch was a Dutch flower painter who is known for her amazing detail and accuracy. She was the first financially successful artist of her time period, the Baroque period. She was born into a wealthy family that included artists,...
read more
Kid Inventor: Ellie Skalla, Invented the game Galactiquest!
Sixth grader Ellie Skala, of Oak Park, Illinois invented a game, entered it in a contest at the Chicago Toy and Game show, in their Young Inventor Challenge. Her idea was picked up by Pressman Games and is available for sale at Target stores this year, 2019! She says,...
read more
Edmonia Lewis, Black American Sculptor
Mary Edmonia Lewis was a sculptor in America at a time when it was difficult for any woman to be a sculptor, and significantly more difficult for a black woman to do so. Author Kirsten Pai Buick, author of the book Child of the Fire, about Edmonia Lewis, says that...
read more
Women Inventors Placemat!
Have we mentioned the placemat is here? It's here! One day at breakfast, over a year ago, my daughter looked up from her Inventors of the World placemat asked sadly, “Why is there only one woman on this?” I said “There are more than that! I have a whole book of them...
read more
#1000BlackGirlBooks founder Marley Dias
Representation Matters! Have you heard about Marley Dias? When she was in 6th grade, she wanted to read more books with black girls as the main character, so she started a champaign and set out to find 1000. “I knew I was frustrated by the lack of diversity in the...
read more
Recent Comments