Who Do You See?
Nothing you make here is stored or sent anywhere.
A true story from the 1940s about young children, dolls and the Supreme Court. Nobody takes a test here: read what happened, then think about it together.
Separate schools
In each of the Brown cases, Black children had been denied admission to schools attended by white children, under laws “requiring or permitting segregation according to race.” The cases came from Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia and Delaware. Source: National Archives, “Brown v. Board of Education (1954)”
Talk about it
What does “separate” mean here? How might it feel to be kept out of a school near you because of the color of your skin?
Arrow keys, Page Up and Page Down (a presentation clicker) move between steps; N shows the notes.
For the whole class: everyone picks a book (or a toy, a show or a game). Ask each question, count the hands, and set the count. The chart grows as you go. Your counts stay in this browser.
Ask the class
Hands up if the main character in your book is…
- Black/African
- Indigenous
- Asian
- Latine
- Pacific Islander
- Arab
- White
- More than one
- Animal or not a person
- Can’t tell
Compare: books published in 2025
Of the 3,638 children’s and young adult books published in 2025 that the Cooperative Children’s Book Center received, 491 (13.5%) were about Black/African people, and 398 (10.9%) were by Black/African authors or illustrators. Source: Cooperative Children’s Book Center, University of Wisconsin–Madison, “Books By and/or About Black, Indigenous and People of Color 2018–” (updated April 24, 2026)
Talk about it
- Who did you find the most of? Who was hardest to find?
- Did anyone in your class not find someone like themselves?
- Which books would you add to make your shelf look more like the world?