“Black history is American history,” said the OH Black Student Association sponsor Shaunise Thomas, making her message simple and clear.
February is Black History Month, a time to honor the achievements, struggles, and contributions of African Americans. This year, the OH community is emphasizing the importance of Black history by hosting numerous events and celebrations.
“Black history month is well celebrated because our community has lots of [events] planned,” said OH freshman Hadiya Lawal.
The OH Black Student Association, more well known as BSA, is a club that unites OH’s Black community and organizes events that celebrate black excellence.
“It’s… for us to celebrate their achievements, their honor roll, to celebrate black culture, and it’s just a fun time,” said Thomas.
BSA kicked off the month by serving breakfast at their Thursday morning meetings. Then they did community service by making blankets for babies in the NICU. Coming up is their visit to a junior college for a teen summit, their career panel, their spirit week, and their Black Excellence Ball tonight, which will be covered by WGN.
“I think we have come a long way,” Thomas said. “When I started, we didn’t even have off Martin Luther King [Day.] It was an in-service day for teachers, and that was hard for me, because I’ve always done community service on that day,” said Thomas.
Students can also find connections to Black History Month in the history they are learning. For example, English 3 classes are reading the novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston and studying the Harlem Renaissance as a literary movement in American history.
“We’re looking at the values of the Harlem Renaissance, like rebirth, self-expression, community, prosperity, things like that,” said KC Shuma, an OH Special Education English teacher.
Hurston’s novel was written during the Harlem Renaissance and follows protagonist Janie May Crawford who goes on a journey of self-discovery and returns to tell her best friend, Phoebe, about her experiences.
“It’s a great representation of Black culture throughout this entire novel, so it is a perfect time to be reading it during Black History Month,” Shuma added.
Additionally, to embrace this month, it’s important to recognize the Black-owned business that have shaped the Oswego community, such as A-Town Lemonade, which helps BSA with catering, and M&D Photos, which provides photo booths.
Overall, Black history has come a long way in Oswego through various celebrations and commemorations.
“It’s important to understand different cultures, to get different perspectives, to understand the value that all different groups of people bring to who we are as a nation,” said Shuma.
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