The CMI tribute

Biography

Growing up as a biracial child, Nicole often felt between two worlds. She knew too well the longing to belong and the isolation that comes from not seeing yourself represented around you. However, books—especially poetry—at a young age offered her comfort and connection. Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Sonia Sanchez echoed in her head as she skipped off to school feeling less alone.

Thankfully, Nicole’s Black family was consistent in teaching her and educating her on her culture and history, filling in the gaps of her subpar public school education, as well. She grew up knowing where she came from and that was important. 

Fast forward to when Nicole began homeschooling her own children, she was almost immediately struck by the homogeneous curriculum choices. She felt discouraged, but knew the vision she had—the question was how to fulfill that vision. Then she discovered Charlotte Mason’s philosophy and knew it was an answer. From that time on, she became committed to infusing her home education, using Ms. Mason’s philosophy, with diverse living books—books that both reflect her family heritage and invite us all to learn and embrace other cultures, as well.

Contribution

Inspired by Charlotte Mason principles, such as her key first principle that all children are “born persons,” Nicole Cottrell launched Stories of Color on June 18, 2021 in celebration of the first federal observation of Juneteenth. Her mission? To provide diverse living books for children of all ages and to encourage, equip, and empower homeschoolers to offer a more diverse feast of untold and undertold stories for children. At the time, she had only 200(ish) living book titles and a couple dozen of lists to pick from, but Stories of Color quickly expanded the scope of its features and reach into the community in the months that followed. Since then, the catalog has expanded to thousands of titles strong—and it continues growing every season. In just the last few years, Stories of Color has served:

• 147.2k students
• 24.8k families
• Educators in over 100 countries

Behind the scenes, Nicole has poured herself into this labor of love, spending hours of time scrolling on Amazon and reading books (33 are on her night stand at the time of publication). Visit her website to explore the incredible work she is doing. Nicole shares, “As a biracial homeschooling mom of three, I struggled for years to find high quality, representative books. Homeschooling is hard enough; teaching a diverse curriculum shouldn’t be. Let’s turn the page on homogenous, status quo book lists. Together.”