For the second year in a row, the Columbia CoDE team partnered with H. W. Porter School to celebrate Martin Luther King/Black History Month. On January 21st, a school-wide assembly showcased each grade’s projects related to Dr. King’s value of “courage.” Pre-schoolers sang a song about Dr. King, freedom and living in harmony. Young students displayed lion masks they made, recited affirmations about courage, and described what courage means to them. Older students displayed art projects including pop-art images of Dr. King and murals related to quotes from his speeches, and shared research about important contributions of lesser-known Black historical figures.
CoDE arranged for Pat Wilson Pheanious, executive director of Stopping Stones, to speak to the students in celebration of Martin Luther King Day and as a kick-off for Black History Month. A former State Representative and Commissioner of the State Department of Social Services, Ms. Wilson also served as executive eirector of the Witness Stones Project. She shared that she is the sixth great-granddaughter of two people brought to America from Africa in 1727 and enslaved in Guilford, and that her family’s history is part of American history, both shaping who she is. She also shared stories about her father who was a Tuskegee Airman in WWII, one of the brave “Red Tails” whose success lead to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s order to desegregate the armed services.
CoDE volunteers are following up the assembly with presentations to each grade this week. Each grade will hear the history and accomplishments of a one of the people chosen by the school to highlight: gymnast Simone Biles, singer Aretha Franklin, Jackie Robinson who broke baseball’s color barrier, Bessie Coleman who paved the way for Black airplane pilots, Ruby Bridges who was the first Black child in a previously all -white school. Katherine Johnson whose mathematical skills were crucial to Apollo 13’s safe return to earth, Dr. George Washington Carver who revolutionized farming, Rosa Parks whose refusal to give up her bus seat inspired a movement to desegregate buses, and Dr. Charles Drew who organized America’s first large-scale blood bank.
Many thanks to Principal Kara Levenduski and Assistant Principal Amy Stino, and to all the students and teachers for their work to make this project a success!
And of course, kudos to CoDE members for making it possible! The project committee is comprised of Rhonda Kincaid, Carol Coley, and Sue Hudd. Leslie Poulos, Susan Spiggle and Pat Shimchick are serving as presentation observers. Classroom presenters are Althea Carr, Carol Coley, Nikki Collins, Amy D’Amaddio, Carol Geyer, Rhonda Kincaid, Christi Moraga, and Sue Smallidge from CoDE; also Melanie Greenhouse.
