Throughout February, the Student Executive Council, social studies classes, and History Club hosted events and engaged in discussions to celebrate Black History Month.
This annual observance month honors the achievements and contributions of Black Americans in United States history. Before BHM was officially established, the contributions of African Americans to U.S. history were celebrated during “Negro History Week,” which was started in 1962 by the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History and was to be celebrated during the second week of February. This event eventually became BHM in 1976.
BHM is especially important to local history, as the first Black church in the Bay Area was built in Palo Alto. According to social studies teacher Laurel Howard, the University African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church was built during the 1920s in the downtown area, which was a hotspot of businesses, including ones that were Black-owned. Compared to other parts of the country, purchasing property as a Black person was less restricted in Palo Alto, especially on Ventura and Ramona Street, where a prominent Black neighborhood was located.
“(The neighborhood) becomes a center not just for Palo Alto residents but (also for) people who lived outside of Palo Alto to come in and find a community,” she said.
The Colored Citizens Club, a civil rights activist group opposing racial segregation and promoting equality, was formed in Palo Alto as well.
“When there were efforts to formally segregate Palo Alto, they spoke out heavily against those policies as an advocacy group,” Howard said.
This year, SEC held a BHM speaker event on Feb. 27 that featured Hurmon Hamilton, a lecturer and a preacher, to speak about his experience as a Black American. SEC Diversity Commissioner junior Elijah Williams highlighted the significance of holding BHM events.
“A lot of people just don’t know really about (Black Americans), and I think every group should express their own social identities as much as they can, as best as they can,” he said. “Black History Month is a great way of doing that.”
Williams hopes that SEC’s efforts will inspire attendees to learn more about the lifestyle, history, and contributions of Black Americans.
“I feel like there’s all those stereotypes and stigmas around certain groups, and it’d be best to eliminate the negative ones and really hone (in on) the positive things that have come from civil rights movements,” he said.
Social studies teacher Tara Firenzi’s classes celebrated Black History Month by focusing on African history. For instance, Firenzi’s classes discussed news stories in Africa and how Western media coverage of them leads to certain inherent biases and internalized perceptions. Her classes also completed a project that investigates an episode of decolonization in Africa.
The discussions in Firenzi’s classes extend to global-level issues in the Contemporary World History course.
“I want my students to understand that Africa is not a monolithic place,” she said. “There are, in fact, many histories, identities, cultures, traditions, and ethnicities that are so distinct throughout Africa.”
For the second half of the month, History Club delved into the “Scramble for Africa,” a phrase that refers to the European colonization of most of Africa during the 19th and 20th centuries. According to History Club President senior Abhivir Iyer, the club aims to inform and spread awareness of African people through discussions, open conversations, and presentations.
“We wanted to learn how the people in Africa unite around the culture, the motivations behind their independence movements, and their fight against unjust imperialism and racism,” he said.
Club Vice President senior Brian Lum emphasized the importance of recognizing the history of African people.
“We wanted people to have (an) appreciation for the struggles of the African people and Blacks across the world,” he said.
