Historic house in Flushing holds its first read aloud program for Black History Month
Janet Caraisco is reading a story about a girl escaping slavery, a journey told through the eyes of her doll. Parents and children alike sit rapt with interest.
It’s the first Black History Read Aloud program held at the Bowne House, a museum in Flushing, where Caraisco is a trustee. It’s one of many events the museum’s trustees are hoping will improve visibility for this institution located at a historical site that has barely changed since the 1700s. Not many people know it’s open for visitors. “Even my own family, we grew up here in Flushing, and they’re oblivious to it,” Caraisco said.
Caraisco and Kathy Sciortino, another trustee of the Bowne House, are using their combined decades in public education to provide children with a solid learning experience at the same time. “If we had a 1st or a 2nd grade child here, the reading material is much too high of a reading level for them, but when they come and hear us speaking about it, they’re better able to incorporate that into their lives,” Caraisco said.
Programs like this one are especially relevant as public schools face budget cuts on both the city and federal level. Museums like the Bowne House offer a way to supplement students’ learning. “To see the artifacts, perhaps to touch the artifacts, is so valuable,” Sciortino said. “That provides background information for students, so when they go back to school, they understand what it’s about.”
In 2016, a letter was discovered in the archives that proved that the Bowne House helped at least one slave make it to freedom. The significance of this being the place for the read aloud program was not lost on Susan Carman, who came to the event with her mother and 11-year-old daughter. “Just walking up here, I was just like, ‘Oh my God, this is where an enslaved person came, probably couldn’t even read the letter that they had, and gave it to someone,’” she said.
Carman hopes that her daughter will leave the read aloud with a better understanding of the history of black people in the U.S. “To be a kid to hear it, to know, you don’t have the weight of everything else,” she said. “You can have the compassion and understanding to move forward in the direction of what this country is supposed to be.”
This read aloud program will be one of many to come as the Bowne House increases its outreach to local schools.
Vincent Jiang was born and raised in New York City, moving between Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan in his childhood. He’s written about politics, technology, and climate issues, and is covering education for City Newsroom.
