Southwest Campus conducts two-day celebration of Black History Month

Southwest Campus generated excitement in the cafeteria last week by celebrating Black History Month over two days.
 
On the first day, February 25, the Kucheza Ngoma Dance Company entertained kindergarten-2nd grade students, parents and Varnett staff in a drum-and-dance duet performance. Since being founded in 2008, the company has performed at a number of events throughout, including Houston International Festival and a prelude performance for FELA! the musical. Kucheza Ngoma is a KiSwahili phrase meaning "dance to the drum."

See the Kucheza Ngoma Dance Company in action!

The program featured students launching into a Motown dance music concert and performing the Freedom Walk poem and song. They also provided biographical timelines of President Barack Obama and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  and sang Glory. The students also honored Ruby Bridges, who in 1960 at the age of 6  became the first African American child to integrate a white Southern elementary school, having to be escorted to class by her mother and U.S. marshals due to violent mobs in Louisiana.

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The image of this small girl being escorted to school by four large white men inspired Norman Rockwell to create the painting "The Problem We All Must Live With," which graced the cover of Look magazine in 1964. Coincidently, Ms. Bridges was born in 1954, the same year the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision declaring state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. 

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On the second day, February, 26, students in grades 3-5 celebrated the evolution of African American dance from the 1950s to 2016 and danced to the sounds of radio host Tom Joyner. Students also performed a skit honoring Houston’s African American legends.

Dozens of parents attended the events and we thank them for coming.

 

 Photos by Mr. Peter McConnell and Ms. LaShanon Hollis

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