Earlier this year, before the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world and before protests demanding justice and police reform erupted in cities across the United States, a dozen students at Marion C. Moore High School created a children’s book about compassion.
Maybe, it can be a vaccine to ignorance and hate, starting with the youngest generation, said Matt Kaufmann, the Moore High School teacher who mentored the group.
From A to Z through the alphabet, students, and now graduates, wrote and illustrated the story to teach children about diversity and compassion, and engage their minds in difficult, vulnerable conversations. “United by the Alphabet” follows characters — one who wears a hijab, one who is transgender and one who is black — through the city of Louisville and several of its nonprofits, including La Casita Center, Americana World Community Center and Roots 101, the African American history museum with plans to open downtown.
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Beginning with A for acceptance, B for belonging and C for community, every page of the book includes questions for children to engage with and teaches about colorism, privilege and oppression.
Moore students began the project through the Aspen Challenge, a program launched by the Aspen Institute and the Bezos Family Foundation, which provides a platform and inspiration for young people to design solutions to some of the most critical and complicated problems the world faces.
The group from Moore High School won first place in the Louisville chapter of the Aspen Challenge and is already in talks with publishers to distribute the book. For now, “United by the Alphabet” is on sale at Carmichael’s Bookstore on Frankfort Avenue. The students said they have plans to create a book series or start a nonprofit in the future.
Meanwhile, some of the students behind the project are out in Louisville streets protesting, where they’re exposed to tear gas.
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The students said they wonder: If adults had learned compassion through a children’s book like theirs, would the world be any different?
“We decided to not sugarcoat the words we wanted to teach,” said Olivia Benford, a recent graduate of Moore who helped create the book. “It was difficult coming up with the concepts we wanted to teach because we were afraid kids might not know the definition, but that was the whole point. This is their time to learn.”
“United by the Alphabet” includes a glossary in the back to help define concepts like justice, social etiquette like using pronouns and cultural clothing like a hijab.
“A lot of these things, I didn’t learn in the classroom,” said Jaedyn Embry, a recent graduate from Moore and the lead author of the book. “I had to learn throughout my life what oppression meant to me and I had to figure out the real importance of pronouns, not just how to use them. They don't teach us these things, and some people have to learn it the hard way when it's like uncomfortable.”
As the students shared the book with their families, they realized that even adults could learn from its contents.
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“Racism and and prejudice are not something you’re born with,” said Josue Valesquez, a Moore alum who helped found the student group last year. “It has been taught through the education system and at home to the point where there are a lot of people who don't even realize that they're saying something racist or prejudice. And I think that the change is long overdue.”
Katelyn Nuckolls, a Moore graduate, said she hopes the book will encourage parents to educate themselves on diversity issues, too.
“I hope it helps adults realize that children are not oblivious to what's going on in the world,” Embry said. “It's better to get that exposure at a young age in a comfortable way.”
When the group of students from Moore read “United by the Alphabet” to children at Parkhill Community Center in March, they said the kids were sitting on their knees, hands raised and yelling "me, me, me," excited to engage in the questions.
They are the next generation, the students said, the only hope for change.
“We have to turn towards the younger kids, and we have to, you know, be the shield in front of them, the wind behind them,” Benford said, echoing the words that Kaufmann often tells his students.
United by the Alphabet
WHAT: An alphabet book created by Moore High School students to teach children about diversity and compassion.
HOW TO SUPPORT: GoFundMe for students' project
WHERE TO BUY IT: $16 at Carmichael's Bookstore, 2720 Frankfort Ave.
Savannah Eadens is a Culture & Diversity reporter for the Courier Journal. Reach Savannah at seadens@courierjournal.com, 502-381-9498 or on Twitter at @savannaheadens. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/subscribe.
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