As a child in the 1980’s, I learned the word ghetto from the Mac Davis composition/Elvis Presley song “In the Ghetto.” Even as a teenager, I believed the word referred to a simple impoverished neighborhood. I was incredibly sheltered–book smart but real world stupid. I was much too old when I finally understood the word and the song, and I fear the family who introduced the song to me still don’t grasp the meaning of the lyrics.
I started off today’s history lesson with a discussion about the meaning of the word. And then I played the song, specifically the lyric video so my child could understand every word.
Then we watched this video.
We talked about life in the ghettos, and I explained that on this day just 83 years ago, 300,000 Jews were sent to the Treblinka extermination camp. My child is 12 and incredibly sensitive, and although she knows what an extermination camp is based on previous lessons about Auschwitz, I ultimately decided not to go further down this path today. She asked me about the differences between concentration camps and extermination camps, and we discussed those. We also discussed the facility in the Everglades and being on the right and wrong sides of history.
Instead, I reached back to one of our favorite books–I Survived the Molasses Flood, 1919–and talked with my child about the vulnerability of immigrant communities, both in the past and again today. We watched this video.
We also talked about how the corporation at fault in the molasses flood blamed “anarchists.” History may not exactly repeat itself, but it will definitely rhyme.
This is my “weave.” I interweave history and literature and music on a daily basis. We have no actual history textbook, just a bunch of books from the actual libraries in our area as well as a family library of hundreds of books I’ve pieced together from library sales and yard sales and off eBay. I use all of these books and YouTube and credible sources on the Internet to come up with what I hope are jaw-dropping, thought-provoking life lessons that focus on history and people.
Never stop learning,
Erin
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