February 24, 2021
Happy Black History Month! This February, we celebrate the vibrancy of the Black community as we honor the people, events and accomplishments in Black history. At MPA, Black History Month includes both celebrating the amazing accomplishments throughout Black history (for example, the third graders learning the music of Dizzy Gillespie), and simultaneously examining, acknowledging, and remembering both contemporary and historic anti-Black racism and the struggle for justice (for example, the Racial Justice and Equity Club’s discussion on the Black Panther’s Ten-Point Program).
Most of all, we recognize the tremendous accomplishments of Black people throughout history, and in turn, honor our Black, African American and African community members at MPA. In Mr. Cunningham’s Middle School Social Studies Classes, students have begun each class period during February by highlighting and profiling amazing African-American heroes whose stories are sadly not as well known as they should be. These people are artists, activists, inventors, politicians, aviators, and so much more.
“It should go without saying that learning of Black history and Black stories is not exclusive to the month of February, but instead they are taught the entire school year. I hope by teaching about some of the lesser known figures, that we can begin to ask whose narratives are heard and whose are not,” says Mr. Cunningham. “Black history is imbued in, and is a crucial part of Social Studies the entire school year, not just in February, so I have made sure my students know that Black History Month is an added spotlight and celebration of Black history and stories.”
Mr. Cunningham’s Middle School Social Studies classes highlighted Shirley Chisholm’s historic accomplishments.
We also see tremendous value in ensuring that Black voices and stories are represented in our curriculum. Examples of literary works taught at MPA include:
- “Lions of Little Rock” By Kristin Levine (an account of the integration of Little Rock schools in the 1950s)
- “Thurgood” by Jonah Winter and Bryan Collier (biography of the first black justice on the Supreme Court and a giant of the civil rights movement)
- “Storm in the Night” by Mary Stolz and Patt Cummings (A Coretta Scott King Honor Book that tells the story of an African American grandfather and grandson)
- “Ikenga” by Nnedi Okorafor (a novel about a teenage boy’s struggle to figure out his life in the Nigerian town of Kalaria)
- “The Stars Beneath Our Feet” by David Barclay Moore (a novel about an African American family finding community and creativity in Harlem)
- “The Fire on High” by Elizabeth Acevedo (novel in which an Afro-Latinx teen discovers a new talent)
- “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston (life in an African American community in Florida in the 1930s)
- “Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison (Ellison’s journey across the racial divide gives incomparable insight about the nature of bigotry)
- “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry (an award-winning drama about the hopes and aspirations of a working-class family on the South Side of Chicago)
- “Fences” by August Wilson (A play about Black American life in the 1950s)
- “Beloved” by Toni Morrison (a novel about the life of a former slave in Ohio in the 1850s)
This Black History Month, we uphold our community’s steadfast, ongoing commitment to promote antiracism. With that in mind, MPA is adding a Director of Equity and Belonging to provide strategic leadership, guidance, and support for widespread integration of, and accountability for, diversity, equity, inclusive, and antiracist policies and practices at MPA. Aspiring always to be truly equitable in racial diversity, socio-economic diversity, gender identity and equality, and religious understanding, the director will lead and collaborate on initiatives built to foster an environment where all are more embraced, valued, and included than they are today. This position will begin in July.
