by Zachary Lozevski
February is Black History Month in the United States, while this article is a little behind the month, it is still important to recognize. Black History is important because until recently, most historians have only acknowledged our American history from a white person's perspective, frequently overlooking the many historical black American achievements that have contributed to making our country what it is today.
I had the pleasure to interview Mrs. Blackman via email, who is a teacher at Greenfield that teaches a high school civil rights class including other classes such as social studies.
I asked her about what made her most excited to teach the civil rights class, she said “My 7th-grade history teacher took 4 weeks of class and we watched and discussed the documentary, 'Eyes on the Prize' by PBS. It impacted me a great deal and showed me first-hand what the civil rights movement was really about. It got me excited to do the same for our students here at Greenfield.”
I then asked her to give an example of something she teaches about in her class, and she responded “I often delve into current event topics that relate to the experience of the minorities in America. We start off our class reading and watching interviews of American slaves.”
Lastly, I asked her to speak on what she thought were some of the most important things to teach about during Black History Month. She responded, “It's all important! Black history is taught all year long throughout my 5th-grade social studies classes and my Civil Rights course. I think it's a month where we dive in even deeper into educating ourselves about the struggles and celebrations of black Americans.” She told me the most important thing about solving racism is education and meaningful conversations.
Some other valuable information Mrs. Blackman gave me, were some reformers that are often overlooked in Black History Month. An example she gave me was James Armistead, an American Revolutionary hero, who was a slave who became a spy for America to earn his freedom and fought for civil rights. Other notable figures include Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Dorothy Vaughan who were the first women African American NASA astrophysicists.
We need to shed more light on African Americans and their achievements.
Greenfield School has done a lot for Black History Month, through its activities and commemorations.
In my English Class with Mr. Benoit, we completed group projects on prominent Harlem Renaissance black activists. We researched and completed a thorough presentation of each activist presenting brochures, games/interactives, powerpoints, essays, and posters. Furthermore, the middle school classes and civil rights classes in a joint effort created crayon-colored sketches of prominent black activists such as Frederick Douglass and MLK, which looked stunning. These drawings also included QR codes, when scanned, showed a virtual museum, and were a great collaboration exercise.
In addition to what was previously mentioned in the aforementioned paragraph, Greenfield offers a Civil Rights Class Elective.
Hopefully, next year will include more learning and awareness of our black American history. Greenfield did a great job gathering attention and awareness for Black History Month.
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