Since 1970, Black History Month has been a national observance every February in honor of African American contributions to American history, according to NPR. The observance originally lasted a week and was created by historian Carter G. Woodson, according to NPR. There are several ways to commemorate this month, but at MHS, not every classroom has activities geared towards the month.
“As a kid growing up BHM was inspirational,” School Board President Chris Norwood said. “I learned things about Black People that weren’t being taught in schools. I saw amazing cultural celebrations and enjoyed lots of great food. BHM is an inspiration and also a reminder to me that my ancestors were queens, kings, astronomers, mathematicians, inventors, and more.”
In the English department, there are no current schoolwide plans to incorporate Black History Month awareness into the curriculum, according to English teacher Heidi Shannahan. However, individual teachers take the initiative to incorporate Black History Month awareness into their own classrooms, Shannahan added.
“The Honors English teachers are going to start a unit on ‘Song of Solomon,’” Shannahan said. “We do that in February.”
She believes that the school does put some effort into honoring Black history, such as the Martin Luther King Jr. seminar that took place in January, Shannahan said. However, she still thinks there is more work to be done, she said.
“For the last couple of years, (the English department) has really focused on incorporating diverse authors and diverse kinds of literature into our curriculum,” Shannahan said. “It’s a process that we continue to work on, and especially in the English department, we highlight that.”
In the history department, there are no current no school-wide efforts to incorporate additional African American history into the curriculum beyond state standards during February, social studies teacher Paul Harrison said.
“The state standards try to incorporate African American history into the curriculum,” Harrison said. “There isn’t anything separate in addition to the state standards, but we have created an ethnic studies class to be more inclusive and look at different ethnicities,” Harrison said.
While the current state standards are included to deal with African and African American history in most social studies classes, there are no additional plans by the district to incorporate Black History month awareness into the MHS curriculum, Harrison said. However, MHS is working on its diversity in the curriculum by having an ethnic studies course available to students, Harrison said.
“We want the curriculum to reflect the students, and there’s a lot of ways we can do that, but sometimes it’s hard,” Harrison said.
Ultimately, while there are efforts by individual teachers and student-led events such as those put in place by the BSU in honor of Black History Month, the school could do better, Shannahan said.
“There is something we can all learn during BHM that connects us,” Norwood said. “I hope more students, parents, and teachers invest the time to find their connection and for those who have already found their connection.”