African American girl, 9, brings attention to diversity through her ‘More Than Peach’ project
Article By Laila Evans // EEW Magazine // Diversity
Bellen Woodard is a 9-year-old change-maker who is bringing attention to the need for diversity in art and American culture in general.
The innovative and inspiring youngster is making national headlines for her “More than Peach” project which provides children with art kits that include Crayola’s Multicultural crayons, emphasizing that peach—usually the default skin color crayon—isn’t the only option. The multicultural box includes colors like burnt sienna, mahogany, sepia and tan-colored crayons too.
Credit: More Than Peach Project/Instagram
The Washington Post reports that Bellen started “More than Peach” with $200 she saved from modeling, after a personal experience left her feeling excluded in her own third grade classroom in Loudoun County, Virginia.
“My friends were asking for the ‘skin-color’ crayon,” she said, meaning the peach one that did not represent her brown skin tone, and it bothered her. After returning home that day, Bellen told her mom Tosha Woodard what happened in class—something her mother said had occurred previously.
Tosha told People that “hearing peach referred to as ‘the’ skin color” made her daughter “feel weird.” So, understandably, the protective mom wanted to do something to “protect and empower” her African American daughter.
Tosha suggested to Bellen that she give her schoolmates the brown crayon the next time they asked for the skin color crayon. But Bellen, who was 8 at the time, had a different idea.
Photo Credit: Tosha Woodard
“No, I’m going to ask them which color they want because it could be any number of beautiful colors,” Bellen said, rendering her mom speechless.
“I knew in that moment that her response was exactly the way to approach her dilemma,” the mother of five told People.
Bellen went forward with her plan, and the rest is history. Her bold act changed her peers’ mentality as well as her third grade teacher’s.
Bellen told Fox 5’s Tisha Lewis, “My motto is ‘Be You. Brilliant.’ And it means that… you are brilliant, so just be yourself, and [you] don’t have to change for any other people.”
Bellen Woodard with Fox 5’s Tisha Lewis, host of ‘The Good Word’ Podcast (Credit: Twitter)
The ambitious diversity advocate, who is being herself unapologetically, is spreading her message to preschool, elementary and middle school students in Loudoun County. Her “More than Peach” project is giving youth a $5 kit with a sketchbook, personalized postcard, box of crayons or colored pencils, and a box of Crayola’s Multicultural crayons or colored pencils.
But Bellen’s movement has spread even wider than she expected. Since launching last spring, already, Bellen has received donations from people around the world who are impacted by her movement. Additionally, she has been honored by politicians, invited to speak before her school board, and will have one of her kits displayed at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture.
Bellen’s mom said her daughter “hopes that kids across the country can see through this movement how much they add, and can add, to their classrooms and the world.”
