Story time for families honors Arab American Heritage Month at Field Museum
The University of Illinois Chicago is home to the first and only Arab American Cultural Center on a college campus, and staff members were at the Field Museum of Natural History on Wednesday to celebrate Arab American Heritage Month with families.
When CBS News Chicago visited, youngsters were sitting on the floor for story time. A story has the power to make the floor of a Field Museum exhibition hall feel like the center of the Arab world.
Nesreen Hasan usually works with UIC students, but she was the one reading to toddlers on Wednesday.
"I work at the Arab American Cultural Center and this month, April, is the month for Arab Americans," Hasan said.
Story time with toddlers at the Field Museum is now a three-year tradition during Arab American Heritage Month.
Reese Corey, 2, loves reading until she is distracted by a dinosaur — something that has a higher-than-average probability of happening at the Field Museum. But story time — no matter how long it lasts — helps Reese's mom, Anna Shea-Michaels, teach her daughter her own story.
"Reese here, her dad is part Lebanese and Syrian, and we don't have very much connection to the family over there," Shea-Michaels said, "so I just love to kind of broaden her world about her culture."
As Hasan read to kids Wednesday, she hoped to reach adults too.
"For many years, Arab Americans have been facing racism, bigotry, xenophobia — and we feel sometimes a heritage month, or Arab American Heritage Month, can broaden people's horizons," she said.
And whether they realize it or not, kids are learning how to listen to stories — and embrace their own.
"Even at the youngest of ages, having a narrative about who she is, is really important," Shea-Michaels said of her daughter.
At the Field Museum, the Crown Family PlayLab hosts free story time sessions, music and more on most Wednesdays.
