Black History Month Assembly celebrates African American history, achievements

Cara Martinez

Staff Writer

Costa’s Black Scholars Union Club held the Black History Month Assembly on Wednesday during second period to spread awareness about African American achievements that have impacted history.

The purpose of the event was to celebrate all of the accomplishments that African Americans have achieved over the past few centuries, BSU Club President Siara Davis said. The BSU Club chose the theme of famous black musicians because black culture has influenced much of the music today, Davis said.

“This assembly was focused on all of the positive things about us, not the negatives such as segregation and how we have been subjected to discrimination,” Davis said. “It is a time to ignore that and celebrate all of the good things we have achieved.”

During the assembly, speakers including English teachers Diana Sieker, Quincy Howerton and Stacy Cabrera and Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale gave speeches about famous African American musicians’ accomplishments and lives. Black Scholars Union also showed a video about black history during the assembly.

“[We want] to show people that African Americans can be successful and are successful,” Davis said. “We accomplished a lot of things and people think that isn’t possible for us, so it is a way of celebrating.”

Senior Nathan Brandford and junior Victoria Edwards also shared spoken word pieces they wrote themselves titled, “Illustrate” and “Free.” In the poem “Free,” Edwards spoke about her ancestors and relatives rising up above all of the suffering and pain they encountered.

“So many students at our school are sheltered from a reality of what our life is, not just the oppression, but the growth we have made.” Edwards said. “In this poem I wanted to show how much we have risen above the social construct that we were told to belong in.”

The BSU Club started brainstorming ideas for the assembly in December and club members prepared their speeches a month before the assembly. Club members then selected teachers and students who wanted to participate, chose videos for the assembly and collaborated on speeches outside of school.

“I think Black History Month is so important and I think it should be an actual assembly that every student attends,” Sieker said. “It is such an important part of history and education.”