Anti-Bias Activity

Just Like Me

Themes:        Alike and Different, I’m Me and I’m Special, Friends, Bodies

Objectives:    Recognize human similarities and differences.  Develop a positive attitude 

                                toward human similarities and differences. 

Materials:      A mirror and a variety of pictures of people that represent different cultures, 

                               gender, hair color, eye color 

Description:  Display the pictures on a wall or table.  Ask the children one at a time to 

                               pick out all of the pictures of people who look like them.  If a child seems unsure, 

                               encourage him to look in the mirror.  Describe the child’s physical characteristics.  Then 

                               ask, “Do you see any pictures of people with skin color and hair like yours?”  Pick out all 

                               of the pictures and show them to the child.  Talk about the common features between 

                               the people in the pictures and show them to the child.  Talk about the common features 

                               between the people in the pictures and the child. 

Variations:    1. Have the children pick out pictures of people who are not like them. 

                   

                               2. Ask the children to find a partner.  Encourage the children to look at their                      

                                   partner and find pictures who look like their partner. 

          Children may be able to find many matches or struggle to find one.  They may be 

looking for an exact match.  Children may be good at finding one for their classmate.  

Asking the children what color hair do you have? What color eyes do you have? And, 

what color skin do you have? Can guide them to finding a good match.  

Here is a display of pictures both boys and girls from multiple ethnic backgrounds.  There is also a mirror for self inspection.

This is my daughter Elena looking at herself in the mirror.

I then asked her to find a picture of someone who looked the most like her.











      I chose this activity because it starts with the basics.  The children may look at

themselves in a mirror to get a detailed idea of what they look like.  Knowing what they 

look like and who they are supports their self concept and self identity.  Having this 

concept will help them have confidence in accepting people who are different from them 

which is another goal to this activity.  Acknowledging that their classmates, who are their 

friends, have different physical features prevents stereotyping and prejudice behavior.  

The appropriate age for Just Like Me is from three to four years old.  

Preschoolers “get even better at noticing differences among people.  They can name, 

identify, and match people according to their physical characteristics.  Children are very 

aware of their skin color.  Four year olds may ask, Where do people get their color? 

Why are her eyes like that?  Am I yellow?  It is important that young children receive 

honest, simple answers to their questions because they believe there is an explanation 

for everything.  If they don’t know the answer or aren’t helped to think about it, they are 

likely to make up their own distorted answer.  Children can be helped to understand that 

many of their features are permanent by associating their physical identity with their 

biological parents.” (R&W, p. 17)

This is an appropriate theme because by age four, “children notice skin color, the 

shape of eyes, hair color, hair texture, body shape, the way people talk, and how people 

move their bodies.  There is nothing wrong with developing a greater awareness of 

differences, it is a very positive and necessary skill” (R&W, p. 25).   Preschoolers like to 

“classify things by color, shape, alike, and not alike.  Gradually, they learn to distinguish 

both people and things by their more subtle characteristics and differences” (R&W, p. 

26).  

The activity, Just Like Me, addresses three goals of anti-bias curriculum.  The 

first is to develop a positive, knowledgeable, and confident self-identity within a cultural context.  

It is to recognize, appreciate, and respect the uniqueness, beauty, value and 

contribution of each child.  The second is to demonstrate comfortable, empathetic interaction with  

diversity among people. This activity provides children with positive experiences exploring similarities 

and differences.  Both of these goals are seen with the multicultural approach which provides children 

“with the message that it is all right to be different and differences are good” (R&W, p. 134). The third 

goal is think critically about bias.  This activity helps foster positive self-esteem and a positive 

self-concept in children.  The human relations approach emphasizes the development of a positive 

self-concept and skills in forming and maintaining friendships.  Multicultural concepts young 

children can understand from this activity include: everyone is worthy, everyone is important, 

people are similar, some people are different, and some physical attributes stay the same and 

some change.

The book Children Just Like Me: A Unique Celebration of Children Around the 

 World by Anabel Kindersley and Barnabas Kindersley is a great book to go along with 

this activity.  Published to coincide with UNICEF's fiftieth anniversary, a celebration of 

children around the world is based upon interviews with young people from all walks of 

life and reveals their diverse cultural backgrounds and universal similarities.  

      Another great book is Just Like Me by Barbara J. Neasi.  This book focuses on how a child sees 

himself relative to his contemporaries, community, and family, by focusing on 

development of self, including self awareness and relating to others. 

An additional activity that would coincide with this activity is to have the class make self-portraits of themselves.  Keep the mirrors out and add paint, markers, crayons, construction paper in multiple skin tones, and yarn in many colors.  They can make a portrait of how they see themselves. 

In conclusion, I believe the anti-bias activity Just Like Me, is a great way to incorporate the anti-bias goals to a group of young children.  It is personal to them and relatable to others.  There are many discussions to be had and lessons to teach.  There are wonderful books with topics that branch off from the activity.  I had my daughter do the activity and she truly enjoyed looking at her face, searching through the cut out faces to find one that looked like her, and showing me her pick.  We also found a face for each member in our family.  This is a definite must do for a class!

Book Analysis Ten Little Niggers

    My original assignment was "Ten Little Niggers" by Septimus Winner.  I was not able to find this. Instead I found a story that was originally a song with a different title. I wanted to provide the history and adaptation to the words.
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"The Ten Little Niggers" was originally written by Septimus Winner in 1868 as a song and was originally called "Ten Little Injuns." This song was performed for "minstrel shows - a form of American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music" (Jennings, 2012).

Original Lyrics by Septimus Winner:
Ten little Injuns standin’ in a line, One toddled home and then there were nine; Nine little Injuns swingin’ on a gate, One tumbled off and then there were eight. One little, two little, three little, four little, five little Injun boys, Six little, seven little, eight little, nine little, ten little Injun boys. Eight little Injuns gayest under heav’n. One went to sleep and then there were seven; Seven little Injuns cuttin' up their tricks, One broke his neck and then there were six. Six little Injuns all alive, One kicked the bucket and then there were five; Five little Injuns on a cellar door, One tumbled in and then there were four. Four little Injuns up on a spree, One got fuddled and then there were three; Three little Injuns out on a canoe, One tumbled overboard and then there were two. Two little Injuns foolin’ with a gun, One shot t’other and then there was one; One little Injun livin’ all alone, He got married and then there were none.

 According to Jennings (2012) "Frank J. Green changed the song to "Ten Little Niggers" in 1869 and it became a standard of the black face minstrel shows, especially after the Civil War and later into the 1920's lampooning black people as dim-witted, lazy, buffoonish, and musical.  Eventually the song became widely known in Europe, where  it was used by Agatha Christie.  The song was included in the first film version of And Then There Were None (1945), which largely took Green's lyrics and replaced the already sensitive word "nigger" with "Indian" as African Americans began to score legal and social victories at the turn of the 20th century" (Jennings, 2012).
 

Original Lyrics by Frank Green:
 Ten little nigger boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine.  Nine little nigger boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were eight.  Eight little nigger boys traveling in Devon; One said he'd stay there then there were seven.  Seven little nigger boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in half and then there were six. Six little nigger boys playing with a hive; A bumblebee stung one and then there were five. Five little nigger boys going in for law; One got in Chancery and then there were four. Four little nigger boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were three. Three little nigger boys walking in the zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were two. Two little nigger boys sitting in the sun; One got frizzled up and then there was one. One little nigger boy left all alone; He went out and hanged himself and then there were none.

 

    This book is about 10 black boys that when left to do what they want to do, each do something wrong and are "killed" off.  It counts down from 10 until there were none.

    In the "Ten Little Niggers" song turned nursery rhyme stereotypes were used to perpetuate racism.  During the time of publication the United States was in great upheaval.  The Civil War and Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation to free the slaves was not the ideal situation for the white confederates. They felt blacks were inferior and not equal to white men. The author was white and shared these views. In the first publication of 1875 (could not find illustrator) the black boys are caricatures that all look alike, are not shown as individuals and do not show a variety of physical attributes. The illustrations do not show correct facial expressions for the trouble each boy finds himself in, they look like they are happy about it.  The story is an inappropriate portrayal of the minority characters.  These boys are late, stupid, get in trouble with the law, have no common sense, and each runs into trouble unable to help themselves.  They do not have power and face grave consequences from their actions.  There voices are not heard, just the narrator (white man). The words are written to a catchy tune easy for children to read.  It even helps children count.   I would not recommend this book.  It is racist.  It will have a negative affect on a black child's self-image and provide the wrong message to all children.  This story was written to serve an agenda for the time it was written.  It's message was wrong then and it still does not apply today.

    Anderson (2009) writes a compelling analysis explaining what each stanza truly means in "Ten little Niggers: The Making of a Black Man's Consciousness."  For example she writes:

Eight little nigger boys travelling in Devon;
One said he’d stay there and then there were Seven.

The character’s status changes from tourist to immigrant within the two lines dedicated to his journey. The character’s resolution to stay in the English county alarmed the contemporary listeners of the song: the decision marks an invasion by black people of white land. The former slaves’ freedom to travel and freedom to choose threatened the white audiences’ comfort zone. Migration of black males was acceptable if for the sake of slavery, but the migration of black freed males suggested equality that white people of this time were not prepared to face.

    The rest of her article can be found at http://folkloreforum.net/2009/05/01/“ten-little-niggers”-the-making-of-a-black-man’s-consciousness/

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Anderson, T. (2009, May). Ten Little Niggers: The Making of a Black Man's Consciousness. Retrieved March 22, 2013, from http://folkloreforum.net/2009/05/01/“ten-little-niggers”-the-making-of-a-black-man’s-consciousness/

Jennings, J. (2012, October). The History of Ten Little Indians. Retrieved March 20, 2013, from     http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/opinion/the-history-of-ten-little-indians-138993

Multicultural Children

                                         
 Happy and Affectionate Children at the Park!

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is a membership association that sets high standards for teachers and programs in early childhood education and embraces diversity in the classroom environment. Following is a link that states where they stand on diversity,
http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/diversity.pdf.