The Heavy Burden of Teaching My Son About American Racism
If my black child has to learn that society will hate him, he should hear about it from someone who unconditionally loves him.
This article is part of Parenting in an Uncertain Age, a series about the experience of raising children in a time of great change.
When I saw the sign for the Emmett Till Museum, I knew I had to take the next exit. As a Ph.D. student in American history studying the civil-rights movement, it felt almost like an obligation. My only hesitation was that my 7-year-old son was in the car too.
Was he ready to learn about one of the most notorious lynchings in the nation’s history? Could I bear to watch his eyes lose some of their glow?
The road that led from the highway to the one-street town of Glendora, Mississippi, was barely more
