It’s March 5th, 2016. Still no sign of Black History Month at Bob Jones. I waited all month. No special shout out, no artwork to be shown. February was just a month for Valentine’s Day.

In all fairness, African Americans shouldn’t have just one month dedicated to their culture and their history. We should be taught all year long about the excellence and the triumphs of our people.

It is hard for teachers to be able to teach everything that is required and incorporate something extra thrown on their plates. Honestly though, that is still no excuse.  There are teachers who find a way to cover what needs to be covered and make time for black history. There were several Bob Jones teachers who incorporated some aspect of black history into their lesson plans in February.

Shout out to Coach Runnion, a Marine Biology teacher. In his class they talked about Vivien Thomas, an African American surgical technician who developed procedures used for babies with blue baby syndrome.

Mrs. Huskey, the media specialist, set out a book display. A few of these selections were The Help by Kathryn Stockett, Black Pioneers of Science and Invention by Louis Haber, A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, and more. These books are still on display. When I asked her why she placed books out, she said “Representation matters.”

Mrs. Poarch, an English teacher, had her class participate in critical thinking activities while looking at clips from the movie Selma, and they listened to “Glory” by Common and John Legend and analyzed the song. They also read a Newsela article on Rosa Parks and talked about the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. In the future, she plans to talk about how hip hop is a branch of slave songs and a way for African Americans to voice their opinions about social injustices.

Mrs. Lawson, a bio-medical teacher, did a lesson on the story of Mrs. Henrietta Lacks and her cells and the impact they have had on the medical field. “I believe it is important for students to know about all ethnic contributions to health care.”

Mrs. Dauma, an English teacher, had her class read and analyze “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” and they also read an essay called “Hip Hop Planet.”

Compared to some Huntsville City Schools, Bob Jones could have done more. Columbia High School had an hour-long program celebrating Black History Month. Every department did something in the program. “I liked how they spoke about the significance of some of the people in history,” Jordan Parker, a sophomore at Columbia High, commented. Natalie Roberts, a sophomore at Lee High School shared that Lee will have an assembly in which the winner of the modernized “I Have a Dream Speech” contest will read their piece and someone shared a Black History fact each day on the daily announcements.

Some other teachers around the country made it fun.  Mr. Brian Mooney, an English teacher in North Bergen, N.J., used Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly album to teach his English class. He explains why. To me, this is a big deal. Also, Lamar Queen, a math teacher in South Central Los Angeles, wrote his own raps to help kids memorize math formulas. He also is the co-founder of Music Notes, which produces music videos to help engage kids in the material.

I said all this to say, it’s not hard to teach a class and incorporate black history. There are many African Americans that have made a contribution to this country, even if their names aren’t as well known as Martin Luther King, Jr., or Malcolm X.