I grew up in a house were being black was celebrated. As a black girl and growing up in a predominately Caucasian suburb, I didn’t see many examples of myself anywhere. Not the kids I went to school with, not my teachers or in the media. Heck, I was the only black girl in my whole elementary school for a few years until my friend Erika moved into my neighborhood. So my mom was very adamant about instilling a love for my blackness. She wasn’t a militant pro-black type but if there was a history report to do, she would encourage me to do it on someone black. Truthfully, I enjoyed doing my reports on people of color because that was the only way I was going to learn about my history and our contributions to society. It’s not like they were teaching it in my classes. Sure, when black history month rolled around we learned a little something something, but it would be about the standard notables like Martin Luther King, Jr. or Rosa Parks. Not to discount any of their contributions to the civil rights movement but there are other black people that have pioneered too.

While my classmates were wearing Barbie T’s or some other blond hair & blue eyed caricatures, my mother would find me shirts with a black Barbie or some other character of color. No clue where she would find them, but she would. Hence why when I was a varsity cheerleader I opted to custom design a black cheerleader patch for my varsity jacket instead of the standard Caucasian patch being sold.

Well I say all that to say is that today, I was browsing my Facebook page and came across the cutest Valentine Day cards for kids. But the kicker is that they are Valentine Day cards with little natural haired black girls on them. How cute and perfect for a little brown girl! What are the odds that you will be able to find Valentine Day cards for your kids with black people on it?  These are perfect for my munchkins too! Miss Zee created the cards and they are available for free downloads. So head over there and print you out some for the little girl in your life to give out on Valentine’s Day. Nothing trumps free. Tell her I sent you!

 

Image via Miss Zee