The Dormouse performed in her school's Black History Presentation/Play yesterday morning and I took a few hours off work to attend.

We've had a couple of incidents in the past few months where The Dormouse came home with some obviously wrong information about Martin Luther King, Jr. - some stories that came so far out of left field, I had a talk with the teacher to figure it out. And then I had to sit down with her and tell her that Martin Luther King did not, in fact, turn green and die as a ten year old boy. Turns out she has a friend in class with... I'm gonna go with... a gifted imagination as the alternative is that her parents are teaching this stuff to her and I simply can't accept that. So we've had several discussions, The Dormouse and I, since the beginning of the year about the civil rights movement and what it was all about. Which is all to say that I was anxious for February and Black History Month so they would formally address some of this stuff in class for the kids who don't have moms that are willing to look up civil rights march videos on the YouTube to prove that Martin Luther King, Jr. lived a few years past ten and didn't drown in a bog.

Each of the grades was responsible for a portion of the program.

The third graders held a game show wherein they read short bios, asked the audience "Who Am I?" and then waited for audience response. I was pleased to observe that my daughter was not able to identify Michael Jackson from his description but she was the only kid in the room who knew Rosa Parks by her description.

The second graders sang "We Shall Overcome" and "Ebony and Ivory." Both hilarious and wonderful.

The kindergarten kids dressed up in various costumes to emulate famous African Americans in history. The funniest was the little boy (Louis Armstrong) who for some reason had access to an actual tuxedo in his size and a real trumpet.

The preschoolers presented the "African Alphabet," which included hand colored pictures of all things African, like L-Lion, Z-Zebra, P-Pyramids, and F-Fashion.

The Dormouse's group, representing the first grade, held letters that spelled out "I Have a Dream!" and recited the following poem by Esther Yost:
We're gonna make that dream come true.
Let freedom ring, said Martin Luther King,
It's up to me and you.
It's not the color of your hair,
It's not the color of your skin,
It doesn't matter what you wear,
It's the character within.
I have a dream, said Martin Luther King
We're gonna make that dream come true,
Let freedom ring, said Martin Luther King
It's up to me and you.
It's up to me and you.

They each held a letter that spelled out "I Have a Dream!" and inexplicably announced their letters before their line in the poem, even though the letter didn't start their line of the poem as you would expect and, in fact, had nothing to do with the line whatsoever.

"I. We're gonna make that dream come true."
"H. I have a dream, said Martin Luther King."
etc.

It perplexed me, but, eh, whatever.


Then when they were all done, the girls (who were asked to wear their best dresses) curtsied and the boys (shirt and tie) bowed. Unbelievably cute.

But I have to say that the most memorable moment for me was when they all walked up on stage and The Dormouse, who has seen too many red carpet retrospectives on TV I guess, got to the stairs, stopped, and daintily picked up the hem of her dress to avoid stepping on it as she ascended to the stage, then lifted that hem up over her head and flashed every one in the room.

Wonder what she'll do for Women's History Month?

I'm in love with the fact that the only thing in focus in this photo is her head.