Schools across our district are celebrating Black History Month with a wide range of activities related to this year’s theme of health and wellness, including author visits, research into famous Black artists, scientists, and politicians, and visits by prominent Black artists and professionals.
Otis Elementary School, for instance, is holding a career panel of Black health professionals later this month. Paden Elementary School has invited author JaNay Brown-Wood to read her new picture book, This Hair Belongs, aloud to first, second, and third graders, while fifth graders will be reading One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia.
Students in the Health and Wellness Seminar at ASTI are interviewing prominent Black people in the health and wellness industry, as well as creating posters that highlight and celebrate unsung Black and African-American heroes in the health sciences.
Love Elementary School is taking a holistic approach to the health theme by focusing on a variety of activities at different grade levels. TK, kindergarteners, and first-graders are learning about body wellness through hip-hop, line dancing, and other types of joyful movement. Second- and third-graders are learning about spiritual wellness through poetry and self care. Fourth- and fifth-graders are focusing on the mind by studying Afrofuturism, mutual aid, and ubuntu, a Southern African philosophy of community and interdependence.
A number of elementary schools are also inviting parent volunteers to come read to their students, holding poetry slams and oratoricals, studying Black artists, and having art gallery walks around their campuses.
Meanwhile, last weekend the Office of Equity’s Black History Month event celebrated the same themes with a paint party, dominoes contest, salsa lessons, bike repairs by the Alameda Bike Mobile, and free fresh produce.
We thank our school leaders and teachers for finding so many creative ways to celebrate Black History Month and Black health and wellness!
Lincoln Middle School is also teaching about Afrofuturism, as well as taking a field trip to the Black Panther Party Museum in Oakland, while Wood Middle School is hosting Black informational videos or slideshows about lesser-known Black inspirational figures.
Alameda High School is featuring weekly guest speakers, informational displays related to African-American history and culture, and food and culture fairs. Students in ASTI’s Health and Wellness seminar will interview prominent Black professionals in the health and wellness industry and create posters about unsung Black heroes in the health sciences.
We thank our administrators and teachers for coming up with so many creative and informative ways to celebrate the past and current contributions of Black people in our country.
Susan Davis is the Senior Manager of Community Affairs for the Alameda Unified School District. Reach her at [email protected].
