Our school celebrated with a multitude of events, from students writing reports about not only famous African-Americans, but also those individuals we are well-acquainted with here in this country who have French or Spanish backgrounds, such as Alex Rodriguez, Soledad O'Brien and Zoe Saldana. Members of our multicultural committee, led by Ms. White and Ms. Gavin-Richardson, planned and executed events throughout the month, including a African-American Heritage Pageant, and a mural painted by our wonderful art teacher, Ms. Julia Smith. The program, "Parade of Stars," included performances by our dance group, band, and choir, including a sing-along of "Lift Every Voice and Sing," the African-American National Anthem. Our guest speaker was Dallas Commissioner John Wiley Price, who spoke about the contributions of several individuals who are commemorated by having schools named after them. The "Parade of Stars" consisted of a panel of students who dressed as, and spoke about famous people, including Diana Ross, Nikki Giovanni, Harriett Tubman, First Lady Michelle Obama, Malcolm X, Cornell West, Maya Angelou, and Al Sharpton.
The library also sponsored an event which featured books written by or about famous African-Americans and tested search skills. Each participant received a list of six book titles from the reference, non-fiction and fiction section. They then were timed to see how fast they could find them. Each participant received a copy of the Texas Historical Commission's "African Americans in Texas: A Lasting Legacy," available free from www.africanamericansintexas.com, but we received ours courtesy of Jokae's African American Books, located at 3223 W. Camp Wisdom Road in Dallas. Thank you so much for the booklets! We had teachers, staff and students participate. Congratulations to the fastest participant was Joshua Morrow, who collected all six books in 2 minutes, 36 seconds.
