Raising Race Conscious Children

Welcome to Raising Race Conscious Children, a resource to support adults who are trying to talk about race with young children. The goals of these conversations are to dismantle the color-blind framework and prepare young people to work toward racial justice. If we commit to collectively trying to talk about race with young children, we can lean on one another for support as we, together, envision a world where we actively challenge racism each and every day. Many of the blog's posts are geared toward White people but a community of guest bloggers represent diverse backgrounds and the strategies discussed may be helpful for all.

It starts one conversation at a time.

Quick Links


Interrupting Whiteness with my White family

by guest blogger Shannon Cofrin Gaggero I am a White, cisgender woman, married to a White, cisgender man and we have two White children. I started naming race with my kids about two years ago, when my son was three and…

Using books to jump-start family conversations on race

by guest blogger Andrew Maraniss When my kindergartner learned our family would be marching in Nashville’s Martin Luther King Day parade, she knew just what she wanted to carry: the MLK poster she had created in her art class. We…

Join Raising Race Conscious Children for our first podcast, a conversation with Dr. Brigitte Vittrup, whose research (featured in “Nurture Shock”) we “sit on” quite literally, regarding the power of explicit conversations about race with young children. The podcast includes conversation…

Trump and the Muslim ban: A conversation with my eight-year-old

by guest blogger Michael Loeb My daughter is eight years old and lives with me, Michael Loeb, a NYCDOE administrator, and Julia Davis, a civil rights attorney, in Brooklyn. This conversation was part of an ongoing attempt to help my…

Lessons on Social Justice Parenting and Protest from My Kindergartener

by guest blogger Jardana Peacock The morning after the election of Donald Trump, I remember the heaviness in my body and heart. I had to tell my five-year-old, River, that Trump had been elected. River has accompanied my partner and…

My daughter asked me what Black Lives Matter meant. Here’s what I said…

by guest blogger Allison Kenny I am a White woman married to a Black woman raising a mixed race girl. We adopted her through the foster care system as a six-year-old. Conversations about race are something I am learning to…

Parenting for Liberation: Interrupting the school-to-prison pipeline

by guest blogger Trina Greene Brown Yesterday, I went through my second-grader’s folder to review his homework and sign my initials on his daily agenda. In his folder, I was shocked to find a form with a personal note written…

Raising Race Conscious Children is launching a podcast series, “In conversation with Raising Race Conscious Children.” Dr. Brigitte Vittrup, whose research is referenced in the best-selling book “Nurture Shock” will honor us as our first guest. Dr. Vittrup, whose work…

by guest blogger Kesa Kivel  Never Give Up! Ama’s Journey to Freedom on the Underground is a free, coming-of-age historical fiction film set in the 1850s. The film provides excellent, well-researched content on slavery in the United States as well…

“Slavery was a long time ago;” An awkward moment at the grocery store

by guest blogger Sara Leo My daughter turned four a few months ago and we have recently begun talking about this country’s racial history in more specific terms. We have been using the book “Heart and Soul: The Story of…