Seeing My Identity, Seeing Me

GRADE LEVEL: Elementary School

Overview

In April 2021, seven-year-old Morgan Bugg of Tennessee was using a popular educational gaming app called Freckle, which gives students a chance to win coins while completing math and reading activities. Freckle has an online store where you can buy items for your avatar. Morgan wanted to buy a hairstyle for her avatar, but she noticed that they didn’t have any hairstyles for Black girls, like an Afro or braids. This felt unfair and upsetting to Morgan, so she and her teacher decided to take action. They wrote to the Freckle company and expressed their concerns. As a result, Freckle added more hairstyle options as well as other inclusive aspects of identity.

In this activity, students will:

• Students will learn about a young person who took action when she saw bias and lack of representation.
• Students understand what identity is and reflect on the aspects of their own identity that are important to them.