Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools is celebrating Black History all February long, and on Wednesday, hundreds of elementary school students presented a sampling of what they’ve learned this month.
Walkertown Elementary School kicked off the morning with a parade around the school featuring singing, drumming, and flags from nations throughout Africa. They followed up with choral performances and dances in the school gym, as well as live readings of poems from famous Black poets. Fifth Grader Hezekiah Clark recited multiple poems by Langston Hughes, whose themes of perseverance in the face of overwhelming circumstances Clark finds inspiring.
“It was meaningful to me,” Clark said of Hughes’ poems. “I figured if I just put it out there, maybe it would be meaningful to somebody else, too.”
Over at Hall-Woodward Elementary School, the hallways, library, cafeteria, and gym were packed with presentations on Black historical figures. Fourth and fifth graders shared stories with their underclassmen about civil rights activists, scientists, entrepreneurs, athletes, artists, politicians, and more. Many of them were personally moved when they learned about the impact their research subjects had on the world.
“I really appreciate Ruby Bridges. I read books about her, and I know everything about her,” said Fourth Grader Keiyrah Trimner said of Ruby Bridges, one of the first Black students to integrate a previously all-white southern school. “She made the world a better place.”
Parkland High School got in on the festivities by sending a team of dancers to Hall-Woodward to perform both traditional and modern routines for the students. Senior Jada Johnson said that dance is an essential part of Black culture that helps she and her teammates express their heritage artistically, and she was pleased to see the elementary schoolers getting into the performance.
“Dance is baked into our culture, and it’s a good way to express our culture in a visual way,” Johnson said. “The energy they gave us while we were on stage made it even better.”
Black History Month is a chance to shine a spotlight on the many ways that Black trailblazers have left a mark on the world that don’t always get highlighted. There are plenty of stories to tell about Black excellence and plenty of different ways to tell them, and the next generation of Black scholars is happy to tell those stories to whoever is willing to listen.
“Not a lot of people paid attention to her, even though she was a huge part of her community,” said Fourth Grader Kattelaya Tate-Smith during her presentation on Ella Baker, a human rights activist who worked alongside revolutionary figures like W. E. B. Du Bois, Thurgood Marshall, and Martin Luther King Jr. “It’s important for us to remember these people because they got us where we are today.”