Archmere Voices: What Does Black History Month Mean to Me?

Icyss Hitchens ‘23, Staff Reporter

As you may know, February is Black History Month, an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time of recognition for central roles of blacks in U.S. History. To me Black History Month is a month where my ancestors and other important African-Americans’ achievements are acknowledged and honored.

February is also a month, where men, women and children learn information that schools don’t teach. For instance, did you know that Rosa Parks was not the first African-Americans woman to refuse to give up her seat to a white passenger? On March 2, 1955, nine months before Rosa Parks’ incident, a 15-year-old girl named Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

Analyzing how the Archmere Community responds to Black History Month, I have noticed that there are not many events already in place for recognizing influential African-Americans. Due to this discovery, I’ve decided to take action and try to start traditions for Archmere. For instance, we are reading one fact a day for the month of February about Black History over the announcements. Also, we are playing music at lunch by African-American artists about the struggles that they have gone through. I hope to take this issue to our administration and aspire to include Black History in the school curriculum for History and other subjects.