Passing the Torch: The Evolution of Black History Month for the Next Generation
With each passing year and with each new Black History Month Target Collection, I think I start to believe that Blackness has finally arrived and our stories are FINALLY being centered and heard. But then I am brought back down to reality. With fake outrage at the Superbowl over the singing of the“Black National Anthem”, and the outrage over AP African American History courses, I am ever so quickly reminded that we have ever more need now to continue to center the stories, culture and lives of Black people, especially this month.
As an educator and school administrator, I am grateful that I can help young students unpack their identity and what this month means to them so that we can create the needed space at school to center them and their voices. I know when I was young, every February I just heard about the same MLK stories and iconic leaders that became more mythical giants in my ethos than real people that I knew. We saw the same memorabilia and never spent time humanizing our Black heroes or hearing from the everyday ones that surrounded us all the time.
So this month for Black History Month, our Black Student Alliance created their own space to celebrate and center their stories and their Black Heros. PRO-TIP: THIS IS AN IMPORTANT STEP IN PLANNING! We started the month with a Black Business Panels of local Black Businesses. Quick pro-tip: Students were excited to share their parent’s businesses and it created space for them to celebrate and lift up their own parents as their admired Black heroes making history.
We also, had the amazing privelege and honor to learn from Lauren Tate Baeza, the first ever Black Curator at the High Musuem. She shared her personal story and her approach to curating African art to tell the important yet unheard narratives and stories of African artists. It was powerful to hear from her, but even more so, that she was a community partner that a student knew directly to invite to our school. In addition, we learned about Historically Black Colleges and Universities like Fort Valley State and Morehouse College. All of this was curated all by student leaders (with some adult communication support of course).
To continue this celebration, we culminated the month with a celebration experience with Black Soul Food, Musical Performance and the Atlanta Ol’ School Drum Line Marching Band. It was epic to say the least. But more than anything, this was curated by Black students and their vision of how THEY wanted to memorialize this important month. I deeply believe that with each passing generation, our Black stories and heroes get to evolve. But it is up to educators and school leaders to allow students to take the lead and center there experiences in this evolutionary process of history- making and telling. This is how we pass the torch.
Check out some of our amazing Black Businesses who support our students at The New School:
