Choptank Elementary students show the importance of learning black history
Emma Pinkett, the principal of Choptank Elementary School says, “If not us, then who? Who is going to teach this to our students? They need to know.”
Pinkett has been the principal at Choptank Elementary for three years and is committed to all 399 of her students knowing their black history.
She continues, “If you don’t know history, you’re bound to repeat it.”
Pinkett and her team came up with a plan this year. All classes were assigned a person that is not as well-known in black history. They decorated their doors with the facts they learned. This is the first time this has happened with Pinkett as the principal. 47 ABC checked out the classrooms on Monday. The students knew their stuff.
4th grader Ta’korie Demby says, “Ella Fitzgerald was born in 1917 in Newport. Her father and mother got divorced. Her mother died in a car accident. She (Fitzgerald)) tried to make it on her own. She loved jazz.”
Jaden Ferguson, another 4th grader continues, “She was the first African American woman to win a Grammy.”
Those answers were given on the spot. The entire school is also reading the book Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges.
5th grader Savannah Geib says, “She went into the school which changed people’s minds about how they should be in schools and get the same privileges.”
3rd grader Shekinah Cephas continues, “They separated white and black kids. Now they don’t do that anymore because everybody is different colors. It doesn’t matter what color you are. You can be in the same class.”
Lessons like these come as critics like television star Stacey Dash argue it’s no longer necessary to have a black history month because segregation is over and we have a black president.
However, 4th grader Jeremiah Glover disagrees with that idea. He says it’s still and will always be important.
Glover goes on, “To know about how we got here and how far we have gotten.”
Choptank Elementary School is also having a contest for those decorated doors. The winner for the most creative and informative will be announced on February 29th.
