This grant supported pre-kindergarten to 2nd grade educators across the state of Illinois towards developing culturally sustainable and developmentally appropriate cross-disciplinary curriculum unit plans that explore the lineages, stories, and histories of Black community members utilizing primary sources from the Library of Congress and oral history interviews. In this virtual fellowship, fellows participated in ten virtual workshops that explored how engagement with primary sources from the Library and oral histories gathered from local Black community members disrupt curricular and pedagogical anti-Blackness often found in hegemonic early childhood curriculum, while also supporting young children’s exploration of African diasporic literacies, histories, and cultural heritage. The fellowship culminated with an in-person conference focused on culturally sustainable and inclusive early childhood education pedagogy and praxis and the creation of a publicly available online repository of the curriculum unit plans. 

*This fellowship was sponsored in part by the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Midwest Region Program, located at Illinois State University. Content created and featured in partnership with the TPS Midwest Region does not indicate an endorsement by the Library of Congress.