to hope that one of you will be able to identify...

[SE13Mummy]

...an influential, black female who has been/is involved in the world of chocolate production/confectionary?

Bit of background - I'm a primary school teacher at a school that uses the International Primary Curriculum. The current topic for my year group is 'chocolate'. As it's Black History Month we've been asked to identify an influential black female as a focus for this month. If possible, I'd like to link this learning to our learning about chocolate but I've not been able to find anyone who meets my criteria.

I'd like to avoid studying people that the children will have already looked at i.e. Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Mary Seacole, Maya Angelou but am having no luck searching for a chocolatier .

Any suggestions? Please?

Did I imagine it, or was there some kind of Naomi Campbell Cadbury scandal?

Lorraine Pascale?

Is it just me, or is this going to end up seeming a bit racist? Maybe it's the Naomi Campbell reference that has pinged my memory about her bringing a court case about being described as chocolate. I don't recall the details, but I'm wondering about the associations you could be setting up.

Oprah was involved in eating a lot of it!

You may find some stories on the fairtrade foundation website of African women who are now getting fair payment for their cocoa and investment in their communities: www.fairtrade.org.uk/resources/default.aspx Not celebs but quite possibly heroes.

Hotel Chocolat talk about "engaged ethics", perhaps they have someone suitable involved?

there an ex model who is now a chief, not quite a chocletier but does use choc rather a lot cant remember her name on tip of my toungue is louise or lucy something starting with l

Sock it's Lorraine pascale, mentioned uptnread

[[http://theconsciencecollective.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/film-nothing-like-chocolate.html Nelice Mott] runs her own organic chocolate farm in Granada and there's been a film too.

She seems amazing. A mother and a business woman...and in the world of chocolate.

PROPER link

I'm usually the one person who goes mad when people see racism and the like in EVERYTHING, but this seems a bit even to me.

Lorraine Pascale is a great suggestion - thank you!

The class have already been learning about chocolate and there haven't been any incidences of 'chocolate' being used in an offensive way to describe skin colour so I'm fairly confident that learning about a black female who happens to have some link with that topic won't seem racist to them.

Also, the school has a mixed intake e.g. my class is made up of children from Ghana, Jamaica, Brazil, Columbia, Thailand, Somalia, Algeria, Turkey, Spain, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Italy, Dominican Republic, Morocco, Mauritius plus 4 who describe themselves as being English and one who says he is Team GB-ish. Like most schools, racism isn't tolerated and the children know it - they tease each other about all sorts but it's much more likely to be about putting a sweatshirt on back-to-front after PE than it is about skin colour.

Bloody hell - you're very advanced for a primary school in your topics! Are we talking year 6 children here though?

And yes, agree with bof... the connotations my mind made when I read your OP were exactly as she said.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

etc

^

:o

I think it's national chocolate week or something. So that's probably why the topic is chocolate.
I don't think it seems racist to be looking at influential black people involved in chocolate production while black history month and chocolate week are coinciding, it would be a bit to not do it if you have been doing something similar every other week tbh.

milepost 7-9 then click on chocolate - it's nothing to do with national chocolate week, the Y3/4s do it every year.

Not strange to me. My friends do are very child led in their curriculum and give the pupils a choice in their topic. My friends year 2 class voted for choclate as a topic! They are doing food and she included Handas surprise to bring in some diversity.

I didn't even relate choclate with black skin when I read the OP tbh.