Nappy Hair Author, Carolivia Herron, Participates in Children's Studies Program at Brooklyn College

Spotlight Archive

March 12, 1999
Nappy Hair Author, Carolivia Herron, Participates in Children's Studies Program at Brooklyn College

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Alice Newcomb-Doyle (718) 951-5882

Brooklyn, NY - Dr. Carolivia Herron, author of the widely acclaimed children's book Nappy Hair (Knopf, 1997), will lead a discussion about her story during a Children's Studies Program class, Perspectives on Childhood at Brooklyn College. The class will meet in the Student Union Building on March 17, 1999, at 2 p.m.

Nappy Hair, winner of a Parenting Reading Magic award, uses the African-American call-and-response tradition, as a family talks back and forth about a little girl's hair --"the nappiest, the curliest, the twistiest hair in the whole family."

Dr. Herron will speak about the origin and creation of Nappy Hair as well as the cultural significance and controversy surrounding her book. Her comments will be followed by a brief question-and-answer period.

Although the 32-page story recently received a lot of attention, it was first published more than two years ago. Last year Dr. Herron spoke about her book as part of a Brooklyn College lecture series called "Imagination of Childhood." Perspectives in Childhood is a course offered by the Children's Studies Program, a unique interdisciplinary minor offered by Brooklyn College.

Brooklyn College in 1991 was the first academic institution to develop an interdisciplinary liberal arts Children's Studies Program. An interdisciplinary minor in Children's Studies was approved in May, 1994.

The interdepartmental program brings together knowledge about children and youth from infancy through the age of legal majority as seen from the perspectives of the arts, humanities, social and natural sciences, medicine, and the law. The minor in children's studies aims at providing undergraduate students with a holistic and comprehensive understanding of children and youth.

"Our students will benefit greatly from the opportunity to meet a noted children's author, such as Dr. Herron, and discuss what inspired her to write the book and what she intended readers to derive from it," said Dr. Gertrud Lenzer, professor of sociology and director of the Children's Studies Program. "This is a valuable learning occasion from many perspectives, including child development, the art of writing, and cultural issues," added Professor of English Roni Natov.

Dr. Herron, a novelist and multimedia developer, holds a doctorate in comparative literature from the University of Pennsylvania. She was a visiting scholar at the Harvard Divinity School and technology associate at Harvard's Graduate School of Education. Currently, she is assistant professor of English at California State University, Chico.
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