February is a month driven by ideals, from love on Valentines day to the changing of the seasons on Groundhog Day. But none of them are as important as Black History Month (BHM), a time for Black and African-Americans to express themselves, celebrate their cultures, and counteract historical oppression.
Skyline’s Black Student Union BSU has traditionally led these actions for their fellow students. “We want to do a variety of things to highlight the contributions of Black Americans/African-American’s experiences,” says science teacher and BSU advisor Lakesha Barton, ”along with their contributions, heritage, and experience.”
Throughout the month of February, BSU has sponsored themed activities for each week of the month, aimed at highlighting the contributions of Black/African-Americans.
- Week of Entrepreneurship (Feb. 3-7)
- Week of Music (Feb. 10-14)
- Music from influential Black artists was played over speakers daily
- Playlist
- Week of Power (Feb. 17-21)
- Week of Love (Feb. 24-28)
- Also Culture Tee week, where students are encouraged to wear BHM T-Shirts
- Guest Speakers Byron Douglas and Mia Long speaking about “Strength in Service” on the 25th at 3:00 PM in room C417
- The African-American Humanities class’ yearly show on the 27th during Skytime
According to Barton, “Every year, the African-American Humanities course does a show for the school.…As part of the class, one of their mastery projects is to put on the show about the things they’ve learned through the trimester. And usually students that are in African American humanities are in BSU, so we try to support that…It’ll be in the main auditorium during our assembly schedule. They also have a night show for parents that same evening.”
The theme weeks and the show are not the only things happening this week from BSU and African-American humanities.
“We’re also working on the collage for the month,” says Barton, “where staff members and students are asked to put different things up. …By the end of the month, the collage will be all together with different African American’s quotes and poems.”
Make sure to keep an eye out for the BSU posters located around the school and the events happening throughout the month.
