Beyond the Textbook: How One Class Redefines Black History

By Brianna Bielak

Editorial Assistant 

Black History Month is important in the community due to 62.3% of students being black in the school, according to U.S. News, as well as honoring the heroic acts and triumphs of African Americans who worked to end segregation and racism. What other way for students to explore and educate themselves on this topic than by taking African-American studies?

African-American Studies is an elective in which students can research black history, focusing on how black people came to be, their origins in Africa, and their experiences in America.

“The course analyzes the American experience through the lens of African Americans, including an analysis of the unique historical, cultural, and social developments of African Americans from the arrival of enslaved people from Africa to the present day,” Mr. O’Connor said.

Students begin learning about several aspects of the culture, starting with the migration of Black people to the U.S.

“I think students do like it mainly because of the projects. We’re gonna have more later on, but we had to make African masks and do research into different tribes and what parts of the mask mean,” Senior Cadence Argue said.

The class also plays a crucial role in introducing black history from a different perspective, underscoring the importance of being educated about cultural migration, lifestyle, and values.

“It also helps me understand my personal culture and a better point of view as well, not just based on what society sculpts it to be, but in a deeper way,” senior Roman Nelson said.

It’s also important for other classes to teach black culture to broaden the effectiveness of being educated on it, avoiding undervaluation. 

According to Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy from alreporter.com, “Removed from the classroom, two-thirds of Americans look back and say they were not taught enough about the struggles and the triumphs of African Americans.”

Aside from acknowledgement and awareness, it’s important to understand the difference between what society perceives the culture to be and what it actually is.

“Modern society portrays the early African culture as like ‘oh, they were poor, they were savages, they were this’, but truth be told, they had their own way of living based on their heritage and just their own natural culture,” Nelson said.

There are many crucial aspects that symbolize diverse cultures, especially in resilient communities such as the black community, including acknowledging and representing the culture itself.

“I think that if this is our month and our month to celebrate, that we should be the ones making it bigger than what it is,” Nelson said.