Butterflies in Education
Teacher Makes Touching Video With Her Students To Reaffirm ‘Black Is Beautiful’
After hearing girls in her class complain about their looks, this teacher made a music video to boost their confidence.
Massachusetts teacher and singer Lovely Hoffman heard some of the female students at her predominantly black middle school bemoan their appearance. Aware of the damaging impact of constantly trying to measure up to European beauty standards, Hoffman created a music video titled “My Black Is Beautiful.”
Hoffman made the song as a testament to the beauty of young girls of color, who are sometimes insecure about their hair, weight and skin tone.
The video, which includes Hoffman and her actual students from Helen Y. Davis Leadership Academy in Dorchester, follows a young girl who doubts her beauty as Hoffman sings words of affirmation:
Who are you to say that I’m not beautiful
It’s your own insecurity
Because I know and believe
My black is beautiful
In one of the video’s most poignant scenes, the young…