Students, staff celebrate Black History month through art and history lessons
February is Black History Month and UCPS is honored to recognize the momentous contributions of African-Americans.
In honor of this month, students across the district learned about and celebrated heroic and iconic African-American men and women through art displays, classroom door decorations, research, and history lessons.
Sheila McManus’ kindergarten class at New Town Elementary learned about African-American inventors such as: Elijah McCoy, L.C. Bailey, Dr. James E. West, and Lewis Latimer.
Teachers and students at Marvin Ridge Elementary created an impressive art mural on display in the school’s hallway. The display showcases African-American heroes including: Thurgood Marshall, Harriet Tubman, Fredrick Douglass and Serena Williams. The students also showed off their writing skills with information on each hero.
At Marshville Elementary, students and teachers celebrated Black history and heritage by holding a classroom door decoration contest. This year’s theme was leadership, and teachers worked with students to brainstorm ideas. Fifteen classroom doors were decorated, and the winning classroom was Marty McEwen’s second-grade class that displayed historical figure Ruby Bridges.
When asked why this door was chosen as the winner, Lucia Downer, a school counselor at Marshville Elementary said, “The importance of Ruby Bridges, and what it means for elementary school students to know how courageous and brave she was, and how much she shaped history for students.”
Forest Hills Black Student Union
The newly formed Forest Hills Black Student Union at Forest Hills High School, has planned an activity for each school day during Black History Month.
Founded last fall, the group is student-led comprised of about seven students, from various races and backgrounds. The organization’s purpose is to create a safe space for students of color to have discussions and guidance, as well as plan events that highlight and showcase the achievements of African Americans. All students are welcomed to join the Black Student Union.
“I think it is good to have this organization because it gives black students a safe place to speak about things that are impacting them. It’s also great because we have students who aren’t black but are sensitive to the black struggle and want to learn more and want to be an ally,” said Jared Gatewood, assistant principal at Forest Hills High School. “It gives me hope for the future, that some of the things we see currently will start to cease to exist if we continue to work together.”
Due to COVID-19, the group created a virtual Black History Month celebration taking on a different theme each week and shared the information with their peers via social media and the school’s announcements. The first week of February was focused on higher education and learning more about Historically Black Colleges and University’s (HBCU) and scholarship opportunities. The second week’s focus was Union County and North Carolina black history. On the third week, black-owned businesses in Monroe and Union County were highlighted. This week, the group is honoring black staff members at Forest Hills High School.
“I’m really proud of the student’s engagement at this time, because I know with everything going on with remote learning and certain restrictions it can be discouraging, but the core group has branched out and gotten more kids involved. The kids are excited and we are excited,” said Dawn Jordan, one of the advisors for Forest Hills Black Student Union and a family and consumer science teacher at Forest Hill High School.
Follow @UCPSNC on Facebook and Twitter to see more examples of how schools celebrated Black History Month.
Published February 24, 2021