As Black History Month finishes, we look back at what East’s students and staff have done to commemorate diversity. Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, Katherine Ropp and Gabriel Ackall shed light upon influential black men and women through sharing inspirational quotes. Staff, AVID teachers and students organized an assembly celebrating Black history with a variety of performances centered around different aspects of Black history that are typically forgotten. One of the first things that many teachers and students did was decorate their classroom’s doors with quotes, pictures and stories about important African Americans.
“Some people think, ´History is history. Black history? What is that?´ It’s part of American history, yet it is marginalized,” said Kimberly Manning, a biology and AVID teacher, as well as one of the advisors for East’s BHM projects. “Unfortunately, we find it necessary to have a month designated to celebrate the contributions of Black people.”
Two open mic nights were held, along with a showing of the movie Just Mercy on Feb. 29 to wrap up the month. A festival called A Celebration of Black Excellence was also held Feb. 29 in Greensboro, featuring East and other CHCCS schools’ a capella and chorus groups performing songs and poems to honor black history.
“It’s important to know that we are all Americans, to know that we all have roots here. Whether you immigrated or not, you still felt the need to come to this country because you were looking to join a culture that should be a melting pot of ideas and a national atmosphere where everyone is welcome,” said Manning. “We need to make sure we acknowledge the culture, the people, the diversity of the group and just to celebrate all of the good things that we can about black people.”
