History should be taught accurately

Dear editor:
“Kid Scoop” in the Feb. 25 issue of The Town Crier (pg. B2) shows a picture of Madame C.J. Walker, not Mary Ann Shadd, the 19th century Delaware-born free woman, abolitionist, lawyer and newspaper publisher.
While Shadd and Walker are accomplished in their respective fields, they are not interchangeable, and they don’t particularly look alike judging from published photographs of the two. Google them and take a look.
Madame Walker was born free in 1867 in Louisiana. She became a wealthy businesswoman, philanthropist and political and social activist in the early 20th century. Like many African Americans, I recognize her image from past Black History Month programming, plus her haircare products were a fixture in my childhood home.
The “mistaken identification” is regrettable, even more so as Kid Scoop (in Sonoma, California) will not issue a correction. I telephoned the nonprofit and was told that it would take a month before a correction could be published, and by then, probably no one would notice or remember seeing the feature.
Well, what other history — Black and otherwise — is being mischaracterized, omitted, lost in the telling — casually dismissed? It is not OK to let the Kid Scoop failure slide. According to its website, the feature “appears in more than 300 newspapers with a combined circulation of more than 7.5 million.”
I laud Vicki Whiting, Kid Scoop’s founder for her goal “to provide resources to parents, schools … foster academic success, a joy of learning and family discussions” but her organization should acknowledge and promptly correct its error and be more diligent in the future. Don’t “draw children into the page … stimulate their interest” with falsehoods and sloppy editing.
African American History should be taught accurately, broadly and in-depth as a part of regular school curriculum, beginning at an early age — not crammed into 28 days, then ignored for the next 337.

Debra Varnado Tobias
Pine Cove
Editor’s note: Kid Scoop issued a correction printed in last week’s issue in response to an email sent by Publisher Becky Clark upon receipt of this Letter to the Editor.