NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — As February comes to an end, throughout Middle Tennessee, people have taken time to look back at the past and see how it has shaped the future. Inside LEAD Southeast Middle School in Antioch, it’s no different.
Black History Month has taken on a deeper meaning. The school is adorned with bold colors and vibrant sounds and the thirst for knowledge pulls you in — but this February has been extra special.
“[We’ve] learned more about Black History Month — important people like Martin Luther King, Jr.,” 8th grader Austin Johnson said when asked about his favorite part about the month.
News 2 sat down with several students, hearing notable names like Harriet Tubman, Malcolm X and Maya Angelou as some of the student’s favorite people to learn about.
“Maya was born on April 4th, 1928, and I was surprised because I thought she was born in like 1950,” said Taylor Maclin, a 6th grader who did her project on Maya Angelou.
Legacies like Angelou’s have been engraved into the classrooms, and even on the walls of the school’s hallways, which display key figures in Black history.
“I feel like that’s important for the future: to teach us kids, and our generations to keep on passing that lesson on — not just to stay quiet,” 8th grader Anfal Elseed said. “Don’t let yourself get walked over. Stand up.”
“He standed up for us. He was a brave person, yet they still shot him because he wanted to protect us all Black people,” said 6th grader Gold Matondo, as he described why he believes Martin Luther King, Jr. is important to history.
“People should learn to be creative because those Black people were creative and if you learn more about them, you can see all their creative ways,” 5th grader Evelyn Matthews said.
It’s taken learning to a new level, and it’s a level dean of culture Stacia Hanneman believes is necessary, considering the middle school’s diverse makeup.
“[We are] making sure that our kids are educated about what has happened in the past and how that affects the future and their everyday-to-day with the people they interact with,” Hanneman said. “It’s just very powerful and it’s important to our school culture.”
Black History Month means different things to different children, but they all agree: this time of year is vital.
“It’s definitely a hard thing to speak about because they have been through such things, but it definitely needs to be speaking about and it is really important to learn about things,” said 8th grader Fatima Alkhafaji.
“To see our kids grow empathy for each other and understanding and love and care for the person who is sitting next to them that is from two different worlds from them — that’s what our work here is all about,” Hanneman said.
