Celebrating African American Accomplishments and Culture Using a Set of Flashcards

Did you know Sequoyah School Theater Specialist Leilani Brooks has created a set of flashcards celebrating African American accomplishments and culture? And that after the uprising in Ferguson (Missouri), Leilani gifted every elementary school in the Ferguson school district with a set?

“I originally made them for my son after the Trayvon Martin verdict. I wanted him to see himself the way I see him. An amazing, and powerful young Black man who comes from a legacy of people who were and are brilliant scientists, artists, inventors, philosophers, etc. The project began after I happened to pick up a deck of presidential flashcards with Barack Obama as the final card. That imagery was so powerful for me. I wondered if I could find a whole deck of cards that would uplift me the way that one card did. It didn’t exist. So I began sketching and then hired an illustrator to complete the work. I got a good friend on board to do the write ups with me and I had a great gift for my son. Other people started asking for a set for their children, and @abcmeflashcards was born,” Leilani says.

Designed to be used in a myriad of ways, @abcmeflashcards are illustrated in vibrant colors with easy to understand wording on the back. They begin with the alphabet but A isn’t for apple. This time, A is for Africa. And so from A to Z or from Africa to Zora Neal Hurston, younger children can learn their ABC’s and older children can use the same cards to learn about their history.

Leilani is currently working on a curriculum to go with the cards and perhaps an app.

Go to www.abcmeflashcards.com.

Sequoyah School (High School), 301 N. Orange Grove Blvd., Pasadena, (626) 441-2076 or visit hs.sequoyahschool.org.