BGISD students celebrate Black History Month

BOWLING GREEN, Ky.- Students of all ages are celebrating Black History Month, learning about the triumphs and understanding the tragedies of African Americans in the past. Fifth grade students at Parker Bennett Curry Elementary traded out their school clothes to become Historical African American wax figures for the day.

Reading and writing fifth grade teacher Kaetlyn Moore says, “It’s all been student choice but it’s really about learning about our history, while also reading and researching about our people.”

Each group chose an influential Black American to research and present to their classmates and younger students at school. Moore says, “All of the younger kids look up to our fifth graders because they are our oldest kids. It has just been really important for them to learn about how we got here, because it hasn’t always been this way, and it was really a good way for the school to learn about how we’ve gotten here.”

Across town, the celebration continues with members of WKU historically African American sororities and fraternities sharing videos, art and dancing with students at Bowling Green Junior High School.

Member of WKU Omega Psi Phi Laquan Richardson says “I feel like a lot of the things we get from the media these days are negative, so we like to try to come out and instill hope into some of the younger kids and also give them something to look forward to.”

Black History Month is inspiring to students of all ages and allows them to see the progress made and injustices overcome. Laquan adds, “Back when I was in their position, I didn’t really see much representation of the Divine 9, so coming into college it was new to me, but it’s not new to them now, so hopefully this is something they liked and excites them for the future.”