Celebrate good times: Black History planning committee holds ‘Celebration Day’ in honor of Black History Month
The cafeteria served cornbread, spinach, mac n cheese, and catfish in honor of Black History Month.
Last week, Feb. 16-20, was Celebration Week in honor of Black History Month. This month, planned by a committee of at least 15 teachers and several students, included events such as poetry, a DJ at lunch, a performance by the Jazz Band, and a Soul Food Celebration Day on Wednesday, Feb. 25.
The Black History Month planning committee covered everything from jazz music to an inspiring black American journalist, Merri Dee. Mrs. Deborah Powell said, “We select one day out of that month to call Celebration Day.”
On Feb. 25, there was a special menu in one of the lunch lines in order to share a different aspect of the culture – soul food. The dictionary definition of soul food is traditional southern African-American food.
Powell said, “When you talk about soul food, you do want to talk about it as a traditional black American cookery. It originated in the South. It was food, that in the South during slavery, they could put in their pocket while in the field, like sweet potatoes and turnip greens, whatever was left over from the ham. It often might have been the pig knuckles or the chitlin or black eyed peas, rice and gravy.”
The final menu included catfish, mac n cheese, gumbo soup, and spinach with cornbread. It was served in only one of the lines.
“If you wanted to taste some of the soul food, it was your opportunity to taste it. If you wanted to wear the pin or put it on your bookbag or hat, it was an opportunity for you to do that,” Mrs. Powell said. Any student in the school was allowed to submit a design, and this year’s pin was designed by Nadia Mahmoud, sophomore.
The committee also utilized the fact that Wednesday was a part of Spirit Week with the dress up day of “Black Out” so they encouraged students to participate in Celebration Day by wearing red, black, and green. “Red is the blood, green is territorial- the geography,” Mrs. Powell said. “We were going to offer people the option to wear red, black, and green, but when we found out it was also going to be Spirit Week, we thought well, we’ll just blend in with them and that too shows how we can all blend together.”
“I think it’s important as we continue to portray character counts for this school that we’re also able to share a diversity of cultures,” Mrs. Powell said.
