The M. family are newcomers to Mt. Airy from Texas. They moved to the neighborhood to find a vibrant Black community where their children could grow up knowing other kids and grown ups who look like them. 

Two of their daughters – Langston and Yarah – were struggling to learn to read when they started summer camp at our Holman Field literacy camp last summer. For the first time, the camp expanded to include afternoon sessions nearby at the Johnson House, a historic site on the Underground Railroad where the girls learned about African drumming and other aspects of the culture.

Their mom, Destiny, recalled an impactful lesson they experienced about the history of African Americans in the US. It started in Ghana and re-enacted the raids on villages, the Middle Passage, and traced the journey to Philadelphia, where people’s names were changed and they became enslaved. The children also learned about Harriet Tubman and the freedom seekers who passed through the Johnson House. 

As for reading impact, both girls had weaknesses going in, and camp helped build their confidence and pique their interest and curiosity about books. Both girls started making connections to things they had learned at home and in school and started pointing out letters and trying to read signs they saw in the neighborhood. 

Destiny says: “Not only did they avoid the summer slide between school years and improve their reading, they did so on sacred ground.”

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