BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2021
With the pandemic presenting challenges for us all, the ones that especially resonated with me were from former students and colleagues navigating virtual school. For three months I worked the local community of Nashville and students to produce a virtual Black History Month program.
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Local Legacy is a 2021 virtual Black History Month program produced by Project Youth. With student voice and a community focus, the program consisted of 10 sessions hosted by Nashville’s very own entrepreneurs, creatives, educators and students. The sessions were followed by an afternoon screening of The Past is Prologue, a documentary detailing the lost history of a civil rights case of the all-black Cameron High School in Nashville, TN.
The documentary and sessions were available on the Project Youth channel on Locally Grown TV throughout the month of March.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2020
As the director for the 2018 and 2019 school year, I oversaw the Black History Month Program in its entirety, including student and staff recruitment, marketing, community engagement, design and production.
This year’s theme was all about going back to determine where we want to go in the future. It was crucial that students know their history, and the truth – starting with their local community – and the very building the walk in and out of every day. The month’s events were about celebrating, honoring and instilling pride for the students.
MURAL
HONORING THE CAMERON CLASS OF 69’
Each day, students walk in and out of their school building without unaware of the historical significance the building played in Nashville’s Black history. Sixty-three years prior, from 1957 to 1971, the brick building on 1st Avenue was home to Cameron High School, one of Nashville's black high schools. Today, located on the far side of the school building, is a small room dedicated to this historic location.
As you walk through the Alumni Room, you are greeted with graduating class murals, memorabilia, championship trophies, vintage jerseys and letterman jackets. The Alumni Room also serves to mark the not-so wonderful times, detailing an incident that occurred during a championship basketball game where a fight broke out, resulting in the suspension of all athletics for the class of 1969. In a case of injustice, the school and neighboring community protested and while the case eventually reached the Supreme Court, they lost their fight and the class of 1969 never received the true senior year experience that was rightfully theirs.
To commemorate the history of our school, and honor the class of 1969, we decided to create a mural in their honor, revealing the art at the conclusion of Black History Month. With a team of students assisted by two local visual artists, we spent about 60 hours conceptualizing the design and executing the mural.