This discussion reminded me of the many children's books that were previously shared with us that broke the tropes of primitive, one-note ideas about the people of African countries.  I have incorporated using universal celebrations with my students this year. We started by discussing birthdays and are expanding it to talk about birthday celebrations in Hispanic/Latinx culture for this month.  

It is my plan to have a shorter unit about birthdays again with students later in the year and incorporating the book, Happy Birthday, Jamela! by Niki Daly which is set in a diverse community in South Africa.  I feel like starting with a universal celebration like birthdays is very accessible to even my youngest students and hopefully helps them realize that people have more things in common than they do different and that the differences deserve respect as well.