KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Black history is American history, and two local teachers shared how they integrate Black history lessons throughout the school year, not just during Black History Month.
A February morning in Mrs. Roys’ art class is just like any other month. Students recently recreated the work of famous artist, Charles McGee. It’s one of the lessons Roys intentionally saves for Black History Month, but her second graders seemed more excited about the fact that they got to play with a variety of different sized Sharpie markers.
“Please don’t draw on your neighbors,” Roys said, while handing each student a black marker.
Roys never mentioned McGee’s race while teaching her class how to use their tools to make patterns, replicating the black and white line work McGee uses in some of his artwork. Instead, she approached the lesson how she would any other, because she makes it a point to celebrate all cultures, no matter the time of year.
“I try to incorporate diversity and different cultures in my everyday lessons,” Roys said, “it helps the kids feel more included and part of their school community to be represented in these lessons.”
From Mexican sugar skulls to depictions of the Selma-Montgomery Marches, Roys’ classroom walls showcase her effort to let her students know that they don’t have to wait for special holidays, or Black History Month, to feel included.
“I introduce it to them as if it’s just a natural part of our day, this is part of our community, we all have different ethnicities, we all have different cultures, and it’s important to celebrate all of those cultures. When I’m talking about Vincent Van Gogh, I don’t specifically say, ‘Oh, this is a white artist,'” Roys said.
Just a few doors down is Roys’ colleague, Mrs. Swinehart’s class, who takes a similar approach to Black History.
Swinehart reads a poetry book to her class, who sits ‘criss-cross applesauce’ on the carpet in front of her. Her planned English lesson included pointing out the author’s use of symbolism and other writing tools, and the poems just so happen to be telling Black stories.
“True freedom is a song we should all be able to sing,” Swinehart reads, “discrimination will no longer be tolerated, hate will have nowhere to hide.”
The poetry standing as a hidden message of lessons learned. Swinehart told News Channel 3 she yearly provides an activity to students where they investigate Black poets and recite the poetry to their families.
“Last year, we had an African American boy, and he’s like, ‘Well, I’m African American, I’m a poet, I’m an author!’ So, he wrote his own, and that was really cool,” Swinehart said.
Swinehart, like Roys, has been teaching for over 2 decades, and pulls from her experience teaching in Detroit. Swinehart shared how that experience showed her the importance of year-round representation in schools.
“We’re so diverse as a country, that we want to make sure they [students] understand that we’re all in this together,” Swinehart said.
Along with efforts to celebrate Black culture throughout the school year, Comstock STEM Academy has a handful of events scheduled for Black History Month. Students will participate in a variety of classroom activities, and partake in virtual field trips to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.
“I still feel like it’s important to celebrate [Black History Month], because it is it is great to have African American people recognized,” Roys said, “It’s great to have that, but it should also be done all year long. I don’t think we should move away from Black History Month, I think it’s still important to recognize that,”