Students research historical persons for inaugural Black History Month biography fair

ADRIAN — Black History Month for 2023 began Feb. 1, and the Boys & Girls Club of Lenawee kicked off the annual month of recognition with its inaugural biography exhibit fair.

More than 25 club members participated in the educational and historical project, which is planned to be the first of many upcoming projects at the Boys & Girls Club to have some form of community involvement, Jeremy Fetters, director of programs, said. The biography exhibit fair was open to the public last week.

The club is working on implementing programming into its curriculum that drives home the importance of community and community-mindfulness, he said.

“It’s about building passion, building autonomy and building kindness and responsibility,” Fetters said. “Every one of these kids knocked it out of the park. And we had 100% participation.”

The biography fair allowed for members of the public to interact with the participating students and to inquire about what important figure in the Black community they chose to present on. Students created poster boards and informational diagrams about each person they selected.

Students were given autonomy to research whoever they wanted as their subject, Fetters said. They were given a 100-year span in history of important members of the Black community. From there, such names as Jackie Robinson, Kobe Bryant, Muhammad Ali, Rosa Parks and Harriet Tubman were highlighted by the students.

“Our kids found these people and they found interest in them organically. It was awesome,” Fetters said. “It’s so fantastic that we are able to share that with the community, and that the community was able to come in here and look at it.”

In 2021, when the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday came about in January, the club asked its students to share what they knew or didn’t know about the iconic civil rights leader. This year, to piggyback off that same type of theme, club leadership asked students to share what they knew about Black History Month.

The backbone of both projects, Fetter said, is for students of all ages to think about and understand the culture and history of the United States.

“We started looking at Black history as history,” he said. “We were trying to understand why we weren’t celebrating some of these people for 365 days, and why we needed to wait for the 28 days of February to say who was important and why, especially when we have a club that wants to celebrate diversity and inclusion across the board.”

Educational endeavors at the club will continue through the remainder of Black History Month, Fetters said. The club will continue to research and study important figures of the Black community.

“Even if some of our students are not Black or don’t come from an African-American heritage, this is their history,” he said. “This is their history as an American, as they live here in this country, in this state and in this community. This is their history so let’s learn about it,” he said.

Black History Month is celebrated in February. It pays tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in the United States. It honors all Black people from all periods of U.S. history, from the enslaved people first brought over from Africa in the early 17th century to the those living in the U.S. today.

Taking the time to honor Black History Month and the legacy of influential people throughout history helps with inspiring club youth, Sara Herriman, director of development and community relations for the Boys & Girls Club, said, so those students can build an equitable world where everyone can thrive.

“This is a mission that Boys & Girls clubs care deeply about,” Herriman said in a news release. “At the club, all youth are empowered to be themselves, share their stories and learn from each other in safe spaces with positive role models.”

Participating students in last week’s biography fair were fifth through 12th grade students. First, second, third and fourth grade students completed their own project called the “I Am Me” collage, which, Fetters said, is an artistic representation of accepting different cultures and body images.

Six of the biography fair students held public presentations about their subject during a gathering in the club gymnasium, which featured guest speaker and Boys & Girls Club of Lenawee alumnus Chris Carter, sharing inspirational messages with the students.

Those six club members were Leland McPherson, who presented on Harriet Tubman; Collin Mathis, who presented on Jackie Robinson; Orlando Rembert, who presented on Kevin Hart; Nigel John, who presented on Mae Jemison and was the youngest person to work on a biography project; and sisters Annabel Ramirez and Alexis Ramirez, who presented on Rosa Parks and Tubman, respectively.

Carter, a 2002 alumnus from the Boys & Girls Club of Lenawee, shared about his childhood, family, struggles, perseverance and reaching for his dreams while addressing the students.

Such messages he shared during his speech included “This is my dream” and “This is my family.”

“Even though things get tough, guess what you have? You have help,” he said. “Your help is in the form of the staff here at the club, your help is in the form of teachers at school, your help is in the form of your parents and those who are taking care of you. They would do anything they can to support you, if you let them.

“Don’t quit on yourself, don’t quit on your dreams and don’t quit on your family,” he stressed.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Students learn about history during Black History Month biography fair