Rockwood Schools Celebrate Black History Month

February is Black History Month, and schools around the Rockwood School District are celebrating with a variety of events, programs, hallways displays and other recognitions.

The libraries and Black Literature classes at Lafayette and Rockwood Summit high schools are commemorating Black History Month with multimedia projects about influential African American figures.

At Rockwood Summit, students in Noelle Rocklage's Black Literature class, the school's Gateway Book Club and staff members combined to create a video highlighting their favorite Black authors and works.

Senior Kamauri Fowler spoke about Angie Thomas for the video, while classmate Asmaa Osman highlighted Renee Watson, Jason Reynolds and Thomas.

"I read a lot, and I enjoy Black literature and urban fiction," Osman said. "I felt like this (Black Literature) class was right up my alley. I’ve taken Humanities classes at WashU and other classes of the like, so it seemed like something I would enjoy.”

Rockwood Summit librarians Margaret Sullivan and Dr. Greg Baum helped organize the project and produce the video to share with the school community.

Sullivan said the library led a similar project four years ago and wanted to repeat it now that the students who took part in the previous project have graduated.

"I hope our community gets at least one book suggestion they’re excited about," Sullivan said. "I hope they become more aware of the important contributions Black authors have made to American literature, whether it’s classic or contemporary.”

At Lafayette, students in Sophia Beasley's Black Literature class researched and narrated audio clips about 20 influential African American figures. The project is displayed on a bulletin board in the library, with QR codes available to scan for visitors to hear the students' work.

Throughout the month, Selvidge Middle students are presenting about the lives and accomplishments of notable African American figures during morning announcements to celebrate Black History Month.

Sixth-grader Catherine was one of the first students to present, during the first week of February.