Students focus on local community during Black History Month

Students at Washington Junior High School celebrated Black History Month by creating artwork, poems, poster boards, maps, and other works honoring contributions of distinguished African Americans from the local area. According to an article in the Observer-Reporter, the project was led by teacher Erin Moore and featured four categories: the accomplishments of notable African Americans in Washington; the county’s Underground Railroad; the history of race relations – including stories of segregation and the presence of the Ku Klux Klan in the area; and activism, from equal rights champion Louis E. Waller’s participation in the Civil Rights Movement to recent Black Lives Matter demonstrations. Moore plans to display the completed projects permanently around her classroom.

In addition to completing their own projects, the eighth-graders also participated in a forum with members of the NAACP and Black Lives Matter movement, who talked about the importance of getting involved in order to make positive change.