During Black History Month, the Black Student Union (BSU) is preparing for the Black History program on Feb. 28 in the Commons. It will include speeches and performing arts to celebrate Black history and culture.

`Black History Month sprouted from ”Negro Spirit Week,” which was created by a distinguished historian named Carter Dodwin Woodson and other renowned African-Americans. It is a month of acknowledgement and celebration of the contributions of Black people. “Black history is important because it allows us to remember the struggles of Black people and African Americans. It also lets people gain an insight into our lives,” BSU junior representative Aneela Shemsu said.

BSU is preparing for their first in-person celebration since 2019. The program contains performances such as dancing, singing, poetry, spoken words and senior speeches. “The Black History Month Program is important to me because it gives our club an opportunity to showcase the talent and passion of Black students at Wootton while highlighting the significance of Black history and culture,” BSU president Ona Olisa said.

At school, Black students/African-Americans make up 8.3 percent of the population. This program allows everyone to be able to learn more about culture. “African-Americans are not very represented at Wootton. So it’s very important to me,” world languages teacher Cristina Maass said.

Theater student Nwamaka Aniagboso is preparing to read a monologue at the program. Aniagboso said that the monologues she was looking through were generally Black playwrights and actors. ”I’m just really recording myself, saying the monologue and then watching it back and seeing what I can fix about it and make it sound better,” Aniagboso said.

Another speciality of the program is the fashion show where Black/African-American students wear their traditional clothing and attire. BSU members are voting for which topic they like better for the fashion show. “I’m ready for the traditional outfits for the fashion show, I’m excited for that. My sister has performed in that in previous years and I’m ready to see everyone’s outfits this year,” Aniagboso said.

The fashion show’s purpose is to show the diversity of the Black community, not only to those who don’t know Black people’s clothing, but also those who love Black/African-Americans’ attire. “I have fabrics from Ghana and jewelry from Rwanda. I’m absolutely nuts about arts and crafts fabrics designers that come from Senegal,” Maass said.

`There is also visual arts inspired by the theme that was suggested by Shemsu, beauty in resilience. There were disputes about what the theme should be, but a lot of the members like the theme. “I chose beauty in resilience because of where we are in the world today, like post-pandemic and all the things happening with Black Lives Matter. You see Black people holding a lot of resilience. I think that is really beautiful to see,“ Shemsu said.

As the program is at the end of the month, BSU has created spirit week days on each Tuesday of this month as a way to keep BSU members engaged. ”The Black History Month spirit days are our way of building unity as a club and celebrating Black History Month,” Olisa said.

The Program begins at 6:30 pm on Feb 28 at the Commons. “Overall, it’s a great way to celebrate yourself. It’s a great way to celebrate your peers as well. So people who might not be African-American or they might be African-American, but they’ve never come to BSU. It’s a great way to see what BSU is about,” BSU 12th grade chair Yule Pieters said.