Or Joseph, Mary, Baby Jesus, the shepherds or the wise men, for that matter?
Santa visits my school every year (a school that is about 90-97% African American depending on what school year it is) and every year I love that Santa is African American- just like the vast majority of the kids. But every year we have a discussion about whether or not Santa is Black. (and these are 3, 4 & 5 year old kids so don't tell me "kids don't notice color"- but I digress)
Why should the people who feature prominently in both our secular and religious Christmas traditions be white. Let's be honest- There is NO. WAY. that Mary, Joseph and the Baby Jesus were white (and especially not fair, blonde and white) Bethlehem is in the Middle East and people 5000 years ago and 2000 years ago and last week who are genetically tied to that area of the world are not white. So the real live Jesus was not a white man, his parents were not white and he certainly wasn't a blonde fair haired baby in the manager.
And Santa- well he is magic so he should be able to be any old way he wants.
But you wouldn't know it to look at Christmas books. As my children are getting older it is becoming increasingly frustrating to find diverse HOLIDAY books (regular children's literature is improving steadily) but holiday books haven't caught up with the rest of the world. Not to mention that the books you can find with Black characters tend to be about Kwanzaa, rather than Christmas as if those two holidays are reserved only for the people who "match" the media assumptions about who celebrates. And after reading book after book of white characters talking to white Santas or worshiping white Baby Jesus- it really began to bother me. So I went on a quest to find some GOOD holiday books that more accurately represented the Holy Birth and books that showed families and children and Santas of color engaged in holiday celebrations.
Here are some I found
The characters are all have dark hair and darker complexions with some variety- they are not all the same. Baby Jesus appears darker than Mary. The big drawback is you have to say "rum pa pa pum" about a million times.
Grace at Christmas by Mary Hoffman
Already well known for her books about Grace that deal with racism and sexism directly, Mary Hoffman weaves another tale of Grace's adventures as she and a house guest cope with being away from some of their families during Christmas. In true Grace fashion, the girls put on a production of Jesus' birth in which all the participants are Black
There is not much "story" to this book, making a great choice for young kids. The pictures are each feature a different child (representing a wide variety of African Americans) with a 1-2 sentence description of what they like about the holiday
A simple retelling of the Christmas story. With the exception of the angels, who appear to be white, all of the other characters are darker, ranger from an olive to a deep brown. The Baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph are all a medium brown tone with black hair and in a few of the pictures Mary almost appears to be Black. One of the wise men appears to be Asian as well.
A simple counting story following a family as they get ready for Christmas, including setting up a manager with Black figurines.
The traditional words that kids are familiar with, but set throughout Africa. One of the highlights is the 7 swans a'swimming are black swans. The book is also a rebus so that early readers will be able to read independently as well. The one caution would be that the people are depicted very traditionally feathers and masks and body jewelry so that for younger kids (who don't have the cognitive skills to recognize the "traditional" aspect- it could potentially create/reinforce stereotypes)
The classic story, set in Africa, but without the traditional dress that could presented an issue in 12 Days of Christmas. Santa is Black, including white locs with a few Christmas beads in his long hair. This is one of my favorites.
Other holiday books featuring characters of color
Calvin's Christmas Wish by Calvin Miles.
A story set in past about a boy who wants a bike for Christmas. Touches on issues of poverty
Do you have any favorite holiday stories that represent all families?
