LOS ANGELES — The social justice movement in recent months sparked conversations about Black history that some parents had difficulty navigating with their children.
One Los Angeles teacher is leaving her mark on the students she teaches using Outschool, a virtual learning platform that's seen a 400% increase in demand for Black history-related classes.
Moving to America from Ghana at just 5 years of age, Edwin Zigah couldn't read or write.
He started kindergarten just one month later at his father's Army base and his mother, Rita was terrified he'd get a teacher who wouldn't have the time or patience to help him catch up.
"Sending your kid to school, first child, [I'm] very emotional about him," Rita said. "We met Ms. Shaprow, she was incredible."
Ms. Jacqueline Shaprow taught Edwin how to read and write in just three months.
But it wasn't just that that made her so special to the Zigah family. Edwin was the only Black child in his entire class, and as an African American teacher, Rita said Shaprow taught him the beauty in his skin color.
"He didn't really feel comfortable playing with his mates, and that's where Ms. Shaprow came in, taught him about Black history and how everybody is equal," Rita explained.
Now Shaprow lives in Los Angeles and has shifted her lessons online due to the pandemic, teaching 800 students across 30 different countries using Outschool day in and day out.
Shaprow said raising her daughter as a single mother is what inspired her to educate other children about the Black heroes and prominent court cases that paved the way in their fight for equal rights.
"To educate our children about these critical cases gives them the language and the confidence and this feeling that they are powerful in our world and can also make changes and make it better than it is right now," Shaprow explained.
When the protests began after George Floyd was killed back in May, Shaprow said she saw the concern, stress, and worry in her students' faces, not just here in America but also across the world.
She thinks the steep increase in interest for Black history lessons is from parents searching for the right language to explain to their kids the social justice movement.
"In a way that they can understand and in a way that empowers them rather than making them feel stress, worried, and concerned," Shaprow explained.
For Edwin, learning Black history while feeling seen has laid the foundation for his success. Rita said the now 9-year-old continues to excel in his classes. She considers Shaprow a Godsend.
"Through that, Edwin felt comfortable and confident about himself," she said.