What do fears and negative ideas about the dark have to do with racial prejudice? More than many adults might think! The dominant culture constantly emphasizes darkness as bad and lightness as good. Children internalize these ideas and connect them to commonplace racist ideas of Black people as scary, dangerous, and ugly, while categorizing white people as safe and beautiful. The good news is that parents and educators can challenge this pre-prejudice when we celebrate darkness with children.
In this post, you’ll find five ways to celebrate darkness with children, including colors in everyday life, the night sky, faith teachings, and the beauty of the darkest skin tones.
This post may include affiliate links. If you purchase items through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional charge to you. You can read my full disclosure policy here.
Celebrate darkness in your spiritual tradition
As a Christian minister, I’m aware of how my religious tradition is used to demonize darkness. So when our church’s children and youth minister posted a picture on Facebook of a new children’s book titled God’s Holy Darkness, I was thrilled!
With moving, poetic language, the book points to passages of scripture and Biblical stories that celebrate darkness. Alongside stunning images of the night sky, children hear that “creation is God’s work done in holy darkness.” Jesus’ words that a grain of wheat must fall to the earth and die before it bears fruit are accompanied by illustrations of brown seeds sprouting in rich dark soil. People from Biblical stories are depicted with various shades of brown skin, from rosy brown to russet tones.
Another spiritual possibility to celebrate darkness is pagan traditions related to winter solstice (assuming that adults highlight both the goodness of winter and dark nights alongside the coming longer hours of light.)
If you have ideas about how to celebrate darkness within your religious tradition, I’d love to hear them! Share in the comments.
Find creative ways to address children’s fear of the dark
In the multicultural education guide What If All The Kids Are White?, Louise Derman-Sparks and Patricia G. Ramsey share creative ways one group of preschool teachers worked to overcome children’s avoidance of dark colors.
They had observed children repeatedly refer to dark spaces and objects as scary. The teachers provided lots of examples of positive and comforting images of darkness, such as the shade under a tree, black and brown puppies, and art activities that focused on brown and black paints.
My favorite idea that they used was painting a large cardboard box black and filling it with soft pillows. Once someone thought to punch a few holes to allow a bit of light in, the “house” became a favorite place for children who wanted to be alone so they could emotionally reset.
All of these activities came first, over a significant period of time, before the teachers began talking about skin color and race. Because of the previous work positively representing dark colors, the children (all of whom were white) were curious about the many shades of skin people come in.
Related Post: How to talk to children about race – a guide for white parents
Name beautiful things that are black and brown
If you have young children (ages 3 – 7), I highly recommend keeping a copy of the book Black is a Rainbow Color in your home or classroom.
The book is a beautiful celebration of all things black. Many diverse images celebrated in the book are things that are the color black and are also expressions of Black culture. Black dirt that grows sunflowers, the black braids of a child, and the black of Thurgood Marshall’s robe are all celebrated.
Adults can also point out or help children brainstorm beautiful things that are black. One of my favorite things in my kitchen, for example, is the sturdy and sleek cast iron skillet that belonged to my great grandmother.
A garden, with its rich, dark, warm soil is another place to celebrate darkness. Gaze at black and white photos and talk about how they communicate something different than full color photos.
The book Black All Around! by Patricia Hubbell and Don Tate could also be used to jumpstart your conversations.
Related Post: 15 picture books filled with Black joy
Tell stories that lift up both night and day as important
In the wonderful book Sulwe by Lupita Nyong’o, a young African girl regrets that her skin is “the color of midnight,” while the other members of her family are “the colors of dawn, dusk, and high noon.” It’s not until a shooting star appears and tells Sulwe the story of the sisters Night and Day that her perspective changes.
Because of how people talked about Night as scary and ugly, she left the earth. As Day grew too long, people could not get the deepest rest they needed. They missed the “elegant and fine” silver sheen that Night gave to everything she touched.
Another book that is out of print, but you may be able to find at your local library is the Afro-Brazilian tale How Night Came from the Sea.
The goddess Iemanjá (pronounced ee-mahn-ZHAH) is important in Afro-Brazilian culture. This tale explains how Iemanjá’s daughter, who lived with her in the sea, was responsible for bringing the cool of night to the land. Iemanjá’s daughter settled in the land of daylight after she fell in love with a man who lived there.
She loved the shimmering, sparkling sights of the daylight, but eventually her eyes became tired from so much daylight. When she told her husband that night is like a “dark, cool blanket that covers everything,” he sent his faithful servants to ask Iemanjá for some of the night.
Go on a nighttime exploration
An exploration that celebrates the unique gifts of darkness could simply be in your backyard. If you live in an overly-lit city like I do, you might want to seek out a campground or other Dark Sky Places. There’s nothing like being in a place that is dark enough to actually see the stars to make a child appreciate the beauty of darkness and night.
Look at beautiful books of constellations, and the names and stories that Native nations have given to them.
Before, during, or after your exploration, talk about all the benefits of darkness to animals, plants, and peoples. For example, human’s fondness for having bright electric lights at night is interfering with the migration of baby sea turtles. They need darkness on the beach to find their way back to the ocean after hatching.
Let’s be real: most young children are not going to say they appreciate how night’s darkness helps them sleep. However, you can still celebrate dark, cozy moments like cuddling together in bed, reading a book by flashlight, or hiding out in a shadowy fort together and telling secrets.
Conclusion: celebrating darkness with children lays a foundation for antiracism
While we might not think much about the many negative connotations of darkness and blackness that kids are exposed to, they add up. They can lead white children to false feelings of superiority, and undermine Black children’s positive self image, and non-Black Children of Color to embrace colorism. Finding ways to celebrate darkness in nature, spirituality, and everyday life is one part of a healthy antiracism practice with children.
What other ideas do you have for celebrating darkness with kids? Share in the comments!
