Yvette Cole Presents: Harriet's Dinner Party

About

Introduction to Yvette Cole

 

Author of Harriet’s Dinner Party and kindergarten teacher in Stamford, CT   

 

Yvette Cole Headshot

“Be proud of who you are.” That is a saying that Yvette Cole often heard from her parents while growing up in Harlem, New York. It has now become one of the kindergarten teacher’s daily mantras, both personally and professionally.

Yvette’s parents both attended segregated schools until they were in high school and experienced discrimination growing up in the south. Because of this, they instilled in Yvette the power of education, self-love, and perseverance that ultimately led to the young woman’s deep love for education.

Growing up, Yvette viewed school as an outlet. She says, “School has always been a safe place for me. School gave me a sense of purpose, hope, and peace.”  That love of learning led Yvette to pursue a career in education. After earning a bachelor’s degree in public health from Syracuse University, she obtained a master’s degree in early childhood education from the University of Hartford. She then became a certified kindergarten teacher in Connecticut where she has worked in the school system for almost ten years.

Influenced by her upbringing in Harlem, Yvette is a major advocate for culturally responsive teaching and implements diversity, equity, and inclusion into her school’s daily curriculum. Yvette was inspired to write her first children’s book, Harriet’s Dinner Party after struggling to find a book to read to her class. She was looking for a book that would teach younger audiences about black history in a fun and engaging way. There seemed to be very few books that did this and thus, Harriet’s Dinner Party was born. The book tells the engaging yet educational story of ten-year-old Destiny who unknowingly steps into a new world where she has dinner at Harriet Tubman’s house alongside other prominent African Americans. After learning about Tubman throughout the years from both books and film, Yvette was affected by her story. She knew Tubman would be the perfect person to write about and was determined to share the importance of her story with others.

Yvette hopes that readers walk away from the book feeling entertained, inspired, and with a newfound appreciation for Tubman’s work in American History. Through Harriet’s Dinner Party, she hopes to help parents and teachers educate children about significant historical figures, including people like Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Sojourner Truth along with their prominent roles in American History. She hopes that this will help enlighten some people and the way that they view African Americans. Going into this writing process Yvette knew that Harriet’s story would not be an easy one to tell; however, she believes it is a story worthy of being shared.

“I want my book to be a conversation starter between children, families, and teachers. If my book changes someone’s view on Harriet Tubman or brings awareness to what she symbolized in history, I’ll be happy,” Yvette says. “I think that Harriet would be proud to know that I dedicated this book to her. She was so much more than a slave and the greatest conductor of the underground railroad. All odds were against her, but she overcame every obstacle that stood in her way and persevered.”