The group started the week of action with a celebration of Pura Belpré on her birthday, Friday, February 2, in the library led by Tere Marichal, a study group member and storyteller. She integrated each of the 13 guiding principles with a book written by Pura Belpré. Marichal said, “Pura Belpré is one of the most important people who collected our African stories from Puerto Rico.”
On Monday, Dr. Rafael Aragunde, former Secretary of the Puerto Rico Department of Education and faculty member at Interamerican University, hosted a guided student-and-faculty discussion about racism and the story “En el Fondo del Caño Hay Un Negrito” by José Luis González. Margarita Marichal, study group coordinator and teacher education program director, said, “The exchanges between students and faculty were extraordinary. Our study group is transforming perspective, paradigms, conversations, and attitudes.”
On Tuesday, Tere told the Afro Caribbean story “El Tigre y La Liebre” utilizing the Kamishibai technique. She said, “I explained how you can draw and tell the Puerto Rico African stories so children can learn them. The majority of people in my country don’t know the stories.”
