A spotlight on Black culture

Students work towards embracing Black heritage

Veda Thangudu thangved000@hsestudents.org

Black history month is celebrated in the month of February, set to recognize and honor the history of the Black community. More speci cally, to celebrate the accomplishments of Black people who fought for the Black community. For di erent people, the month can mean a variety of things.

“[Black history month] is important to me because there’s a lot of signi cance within history that involves what Black people have done, especially in this country,” co-chair of the Black Heritage celebration junior Myla Cantrell said.

According to junior James Gray, co-chair of the service committee of Future Black Leaders (FBL), learning about Black people’s signi cance in the society is upli ing and unifying.

“I think that Black History Month creates the opportunity to learn about parts of American history that may be overlooked or deemed not as signi cant to teach,” Cantrell said. “I feel that as we get older, school becomes a lot more demanding which o en leaves less time to explore things of social and historical importance that could enrich our adult lives, especially if we are not used to interacting with people who are di erent from us.”

Cantrell also believes that it is very important to have the month set aside to highlight leaders who impacted the community in ways they usually are not highlighted, especially in a classroom setting. She feels that many people are unaware of most of the important gures.

“If we are not knowledgeable about our entire history, then we’re missing out on education,”

FBL sponsor Renee Isom said. “And that’s what this is, an educational institution. So, it’s important in school to put a spotlight on Black history because o en it is not included in the curriculum.”

Black Heritage celebration is an annual event hosted by FBL in the school building. Black owned local businesses are invited to be highlighted and to unite through the common grounds of Black heritage. is year, it is being held on Feb. 15, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

“We reach out to di erent community members, mainly the Divine Nine fraternity and sororities, HBCU alumni that are local and di erent community members that can engage in interactive activities around black heritage,” Isom

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Joy. According to Cantrell, the intention is to highlight black experience, especially in a more predominantly white area.

“ e hope is to have a celebration of Black heritage and to show how black heritage is worthy of celebration and fun to celebrate,” Isom said. “It’s not divisive. It’s uniting. e theme is ‘tribute to the black experience’ because they want to honor the black experience from the past, the present and the future.”

Gray believes that unity within the community is the key to accomplish goals and make a di erence in the society.

“Take pride in who you are,” Gray said. “You’re Black and there’s a lot of things. I mean, we’re artistic, we’re smart. We’re hoping to express and hopefully motivate some other black people that ‘If you have a dream, you have a goal, you can go get it. It doesn’t matter what you look like,’ If we stick together, we can accomplish these goals. We want to be excellent, but also just strike down stereotypes, show that we can contribute, if you really give us a chance.”

Black Heritage Celebration

Feb. 16 2022

4. Attendees get a chance to interact with multiple Black owned businesses and connect with each other. Two visitors hug and show a ection towards one another at the Black Heritage Celebration. 5. Junior Isaiah Webb performs a rap, and includes FBL members. 6. As a part of Webb’s rap, FBL club members hold up signs for peace. 7. Visitors browse through the Black Heritage celebration. 8. Junior Bailey Liner, along with Fishers graduates Niah Cantrell and Samirah Crawford, sing the Black national anthem to start o the celebration.

Photos by Veda Thangudu.