Black History Month offers lessons, excitement for young Chicago students

The hallways of Willa Cather Elementary are using images of Jay-Z, Ruby Bridges, Stevie Wonder and Denzel Washington as decor.

The artwork done by students is for Black History Month and includes other legendary people as well.

The East Garfield Park public school that has around 300 students from pre-K to eighth grade is among many schools that devote extra time in February to study and share lessons about Black history.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

The students present what they’re learning through art, speeches and skits, and their teachers ensure what they learn has practical value.

For example, on Tuesday, Cather students took part in the first African American Greek Affair, which included read-alouds from books and presentations by members of the Divine Nine, a group of nine Black fraternities and sororities. These organizations, founded on college campuses, include such luminaries as Kamala Harris, Martin Luther King Jr., Jesse Jackson, Stacey Abrams and Langston Hughes.

Cather Principal Lakeya Poston, who is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, hopes the event will encourage students to go to college and also to learn about mentorship opportunities.

“Our Divine Nine has played such a critical part in our Black history,” Poston said. “I thought that it would be great for our African American scholars to see the difference in the organizations and to be able to understand what programs that each organization may offer.”

Cather — which has a 99 percent African American population — is also set to hold its annual assembly Thursday dedicated to historical and present-day Black excellence. The students will offer performances that celebrate Black history.

“I don’t want to spoil it,” whispered Tyshawna Jordan, a 12-year-old sixth grader. “Our play is about what Motown did, and how they paved the way for different artists like the Jackson Five.”

Unable to recall the name of the Supremes — another Motown favorite — Tyshawna breaks out into a rendition of “Stop! In the Name of Love.”

“We’re gonna showcase performances, different dance moves, different tricks and stunts,” she said.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Storytelling about many struggles African Americans have endured pepper Cather’s Black History Month lessons.

On Tuesday, in one first grade class, Divine Nine member Jeremiah Bundy spoke about the Black fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha, reflecting on the hardships students faced trying to attend colleges like Cornell University, where Alpha Phi Alpha was founded in 1906.

He also read from, “Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America,” by Carole Boston Weatherford.

Along the way he paused to explain some weightier subjects — like racism and segregation, which Parks saw up close in different shops.

Bundy made it plain for the students.

“Anybody, what’s your favorite store?” Bundy asked.

One student raised her hand: “My favorite store is Target.”

“Imagine this,” Bundy said. “If you go to Target and it says, ‘whites only’ — you can’t go in. How would that make you feel?”

She appeared dismayed at the idea.

Next door, Dorothy Town-Thompson’s third grade class learned about Jennifer Hudson and Coretta Scott King from a book Thompson wrote, “A Handwriting and Black History Book: Practice Activities for Intermediate Grades.”

Poston, 45, went to school in Aurora and doesn’t remember studying much Black history in class.

“Every year we would have to do a Black history presentation, but I don’t remember really learning about Black history,” she said.

But at Cather, each door — and nearly every inch around each classroom — is papered with art and assignments done by students about Black cultural icons such as Chadwick Boseman and Nipsey Hussle.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

They also feature Muhammad Ali, Madam C.J. Walker, Barack Obama and Jackie Robinson.

Falon Choice, a seventh grader, said she remembers learning about Harriet Tubman when she first started at Cather. This year, her class tackled the Stono Rebellion.

“The slaves were rebelling against their [owners], and people died during it,” she explained.

For a lighter topic, Falon will perform in a play Thursday as Oprah Winfrey. The play features a kid who doesn’t want to study Black history.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

“People from Black history come in and tell him about themselves and why he should celebrate Black History Month,” she said. “There’s people from the past and from the present,” like Oprah.

She doesn’t think she’d know nearly as much about Black history if not for her school.

Jamila Edwards, a third grade teacher, said she also learned only the basics when she was in school.

”I learned about the classics — Martin Luther King, Maya Angelou, Harriet Tubman ... staples of Black history,” she said. “[Our curriculum] is elevated and immersive; it has more detail. It’s looking for all contributions.”

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

But Tofoyia Howze, a 32-year-old special education classroom assistant, said she thinks she learned more when she was in school.

Jamirah Holman, an 8-year-old third grader, said the favorite person she learned about was Kizzmekia Corbett, who helped lead a team that developed Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.

“I like that she spread the [vaccine] to make people not sick,” Jamirah said.