March 1, 2019

I remember conversations from years ago around Black History Month. The FCS community has a long tradition of putting considerable thought into celebrating the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday both in school and in the wider community. Together, our Meeting Partners learn about Dr. King through readings, videos, peacemaker posters, and our own protest march. Our school’s chorus has participated in College Park’s annual MLK celebration for over 20 years. But what about the larger picture of exploring African American history intentionally and in much greater detail in February?
Over the last few years, we have added a significant number of curricular and extra-curricular activities to appreciate centuries of African American history. Last week, the middle-school Student Diversity Committee hosted an evening celebration with shared stories, poetry, and music. An African American Read-In of curated poems followed on Monday. Storyteller and musician Uasuf Gueye presented two assemblies this week with live music and audience participation. Finally, as you probably heard from your FCS student, homerooms and advisory groups decorated their classroom doors to celebrate aspects of African American history.
 
Walking down the hall of FCS this week, thanks to the work of our students, I’ve learned about Ralph Bunche, Mae Jemison, Fritz Pollard, and Ida B. Wells, among many other African American leaders, scientists, athletes, and politicians who have changed history. 
 
 
In Peace,
 
Larry
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Located in College Park, MD, Friends Community School is a progressive Quaker K-8 day school, founded on the belief that every child is a valued member of our community. We offer a challenging curriculum imbued with strong values of equality, integrity, community, environmental stewardship, simplicity and peaceful conflict resolution, rooted in our Quaker heritage.
Friends Community School
5901 Westchester Park Drive
College Park, Maryland 20740
301-441-2100