Like a lot of parents-to-be, Maryland mom Trish Lewis had grand plans for how she would raise her kids. A black woman hailing from Zimbabwe, married to an African-American man, she promised herself that her kids would be raised with an appreciation for the rich heritage of the African diaspora.
“When you think about raising kids you say, ‘Our kids are going to be culturally aware, they’ll know their history,'” Lewis said, laughing. “Just all these things you say before you have kids about how you’re going to be the perfect parents.”
Cue real life. A few years ago, as their daughter was turning 8, Lewis and her husband took the opportunity to give themselves a “report card” on their parenting. They realized that their daughter didn’t have the kind of knowledge of African history that they had planned to give her.
“We thought, ‘Wow, this is a real gap we had,'” Lewis recalled.
Talking with other black parents, they realized that they weren’t alone: others were also struggling with educating their children about their heritage.
That’s when Lewis came up with the idea for her business, Heritage Box. Now a year old, the subscription service delivers a box packed full of African and African-American history, souvenirs, games and activities right to a child’s door.
Their motto: “Rooted in our past, nurturing our future.”
“I noticed my kids really like getting stuff in the mail,” Lewis said. She figured a monthly package, she said, she could make an educational opportunity an occasion for anticipation and excitement.
The service debuted for Black History Month last year. Today, Lewis has over 100 subscriptions, and she’s hoping to double that number in the next few weeks.
“This is the month you definitely get a lot of people questioning, ‘Why are my kids only learning [black history] in February?'” she said.
The boxes come in different versions — you can specify whether you’re buying a box for a boy or a girl, an older or younger child. You can also buy a family box that more than one child can share.
Every other month, the Heritage Box teaches about a new African country, with games from that nation, children’s books and souvenirs that her friends in Africa source for her. (It’s especially important to her to represent how diverse and individual African nations can be). On the alternating months, the box will feature a theme from black history in the US.
Lewis found a lot of fans among black parents like her, but she also heard from a customer base that she wasn’t expecting: white parents who had adopted black children.
Often, these parents will want to make sure their kids have a sense of where their ancestors came from — but like the white mother who recently wrote a New York Times column about finding diverse books for her black daughter, they might not know where to start.
Since they know less about black history, Lewis said, white parents of black kids often tell her they feel like they’re “learning right along with their child.” She’s even heard from adoptive parents that the boxes provided them with an opening for their first family discussions about race and racism.
“It’s been really heartwarming to see their responses in particular,” Lewis said. “I hadn’t anticipated it was such a needed product for them.”
For both black and white parents, Lewis said that she hopes that her business will serve as a way to keep an interest in the cultures of the African diaspora going all year ’round.
“If cultural education is a goal for parents, we see ourselves a a tool to keep the whole family engaged,” she said.
