PLAYLIST: Protest Songs For Little Ones

• Posted on 24 June 2020
• By Susannah
• Posted in Fun with Kids, The Foundry At Home
• 0

Children are listening.

In the wake of the upheaval that has gripped our city and country after the police murder of George Floyd, as we have been reckoning with the true history of our nation and our complicity in it, as we've been taking to the streets or mobilizing to the polls or having hard conversations during dinner, at work, over zoom (or, tragically, not), as we've all been navigating the new normals of pandemic life and stepping up to pull our weight in the ever-changing iteration of what is required from our social contract...children are listening.

They're most certainly always listening, but what is said (or not) in the long, quiet spaces of this exact moment can make or break the long game of this exact movement. We have the power to empower our next generation to be the blinders-off agents for change we so desperately need and want in the world. NBD.

They're also listening to what's on in the background. We put together a playlist of our favorite protest and activism-inspired songs to grease your wheels and get your family grooving and talking. Music is power. Our own Susannah, her husband Andrew, and their three-year-old daughter Lois have been "teaching" a weekly kiddo music class throughout the pandemic, and they've been rolling some of these into the gentle curriculum. After all, what makes a good protest song also makes a good children's song. Walk the walk, talk the talk, chant the chant, dance the dance, and sing the song.

We are by no means experts, parenting or otherwise (understatement of the year), we're just a bunch of fellow humans searching for a better way forward. Looking for more? From beautiful books (both those that give frameworks and create literacy and opportunities for discourse around complicated racial histories and ongoing issues AND those featuring heroes and heroines of color doing, just, like, "normal" hero and heroine book stuff!) to brilliant educators, there are tons of amazing voices and Black-led resources for raising race-conscious children. 

We'll be adding some #OwnVoices books to our Foundry Family Children's Library with our next shipment, but here is a list of Black-owned bookstores where you can buy any of them now. If you have any favorites to recommend, let us know!