North Celebrated Black History Month with Annual Performance

“I think it [the Black History Celebration] is important because, even if it doesn’t really change anything socially as a whole, it’s a good outlet for the students to feel like we’re being recognized for our heritage and ethnicity,” said junior Chu-In Bonkougou.

Every February, the United States celebrates the achievements of African Americans. Parkway North contributes to this by having a Black History Celebration. This year, the celebration was held in the school’s theater on Feb. 2.

Twenty students made this show possible including students who participated in the past years and students who participated in the celebration for the first time.

This is senior Phanaysia Harrold’s first year participating in the Black History Celebration. She will be graduating this year but thinks that it is important that North continue to do this because “the celebration sends a message to everybody in the crowd, and it addresses a lot of stuff that goes on today.”

Students have been working since August to coordinate the show.

“We started putting stuff together in August. We would stay after school for a hour or two each day and then once we start rehearsing, it was about two hours after school on Mondays and Wednesdays,” said Bonkougou.

Students created performances related to Black History including singing, dancing, and skits. Twenty-four steppers from Supreme Royalty joined the celebration this year.

“My favorite part was how to play the game of life black edition because at the beginning it was the oppression we felt before and then it shifted into the middle of more encouragement and empowerment,” said Bonkougou.

Math teacher Joslyn Harris has been the coordinator of the celebration for eight years. She believes that “our school needs to have [the Black History Celebration] in regards to the knowledge and information that our culture has. Black history is really important because it’s a part of American history and a lot of schools and places don’t really talk about the contributions that African Americans have contributed to this country.”

Harris said, “I hope the audience will get more knowledge that there was more people than Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X that was involved in Black History. It’s so many people that we don’t know about.”

by Kayla Coleman, Social Media Guru