Just because only about 2 percent of the students at Hinsdale Central High School in Chicago’s near-western suburbs are African-American doesn’t mean the school can’t put a lot into celebrating Black History Month every February, The Doings in Oak Brook reports.
One African-American instructional aide, in particular, and a white sophomore student helped organize this year’s celebration. In 2005, when Deborah Powell started working at the high school, she was one of only a few African-Americans on the staff, but she began organizing a day in February to celebrate Black History Month anyway. Since then, the festivities have grown to include at least six days of celebration this month.
Talia Sankari, the student who helped organize the celebration, said Ms Powell is a “huge force at this school. She says hello to everybody. … She sees teenagers are sometimes lost, and she sees them for who they really are and what they can become. … She loves them and brings out the best in them. I have so much respect for her.”
The International Business Times reported six “facts” about Black History Month, which is proclaimed every February in the United States:
- Black History Month started as a weeklong celebration
- By the 1960s, Negro History Week had evolved into a monthlong celebration
- President Gerald R Ford officially recognized Black History Month in 1976
- Every year has a theme, from “Civilization: A World Achievement” in 1928
- Every president since 1996 has called it “National African American History Month”
- Canada also celebrates it in February, but the UK celebrates it in October
In Hinsdale, Ms Powell noted that inclusiveness is a big part of African-American history in the struggle for civil rights. In calling on all Americans to mark February 2014 with “appropriate programs, cermonies, and activities,” President Barack Obama said:
Every American can draw strength from the story of hard-won progress, which not only defines the African-American experience, but also lies at the heart of our Nation as a whole. This story affirms that freedom is a gift from God, but it must be secured by His people here on earth. It inspires a new generation of leaders, and it teaches us all that when we come together in common purpose, we can right the wrongs of history and make our world anew.
The celebration this year was capped off by a ceremony on Feb 17 in the school’s auditorium that included spiritual dancers, performance poet Billy Tuggle, and the “M.A.D.D. Rhythms” tap dance troupe. M.A.D.D. Rhythms has dancers of all nationalities, “and that is the message I want to leave,” Ms Powell was quoted as saying.