Black History Month Motivates Students at CHHS

Feb 25, 2007 02:02:00

A decades old tradition was marked at an institution creating a legend of its own; Clement Howell High in Blue Hills Providenciales, commemorated Black History Month with weeks of activities and lectures. Valarie Chutcon, visual arts teacher at Clement Howell High, led the devotion on the morning The Free Press showed up. Ms. Chutcon explained the intent was to entertain and educated, “sometimes you will tell students something, but they may not focus on it in certain settings. But when you have it in entertainment style, they will listen and so you will get through to them and you are able to get the information across so that they can stand up and be proud of these positive achievements. We wanted our students to be aware and knowledgeable in understanding about the different black leaders and heros that we have in the various countries around us.” Black History Month was established - according to Wikipedia.com - in 1976 by The Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History. The month-long celebration was an expansion of Negro History Week, which was established in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson, director of what was then known as the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. Woodson selected the week in February that embraced the birthdays of both Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. It is celebrated in the United States and Canada during February and in the UK in October. The aim is noble, and this teacher believes that the effort which involved dramatic performances, worked to motivate many students toward greatness. “It is working for students who are extremely confident and as a result of that they become more focused in their school work, and they take pride in what they do. There are others though, who are easily disillusioned and they will not do what they are supposed to do especially if somebody criticises them. As you know, students can be pretty critical.” Students saw renditions of world changers like Marcus Garvey, journalist, civil rights activist and National Hero of Jamaica; Bob Marley, prolific writer and world renown Reggae artist also of Jamaica and Maya Angelou, American poet, actress and author. These stirring performances captivated the young minds as eyes were fixed on the stage area, and thunderous applause and laughter accompanied each act. “For example Bob Marley; he underwent racial prejudice so much as was stated and he wasn’t very tall in stature, so when he went to live with his mother in Trenchtown, he was the butt of jokes; children were bullying him and he had to learn self defense in order to get along with the group. So he actually got that nickname “Tuff Gong” from his self defense classes and how he used to defend himself. He wasn’t white, he wasn’t black and nobody made him comfortable at that time but he was recorded saying it wasn’t about black and white, it was really about being human and what you are and who you are as a person and how you can get others to do the right things. It lifts your self esteem and builds your confidence.” Ms. Chutcon believes that this specialised learning should not stop at school as the entire community and parents can come on board to support these efforts. The Visual Arts teacher, who hails from Jamaica also expressed that this type of learning should go well beyond occasions like this one. “It is very important that we get them to first listen, let them understand that they need to know themselves, because if you do not know yourself you will be led - any and everywhere - like a leaf being blown around the place. Most of our students need to know that here, because some of them tend to follow the crowd and they are easily influenced especially in the things that are not positive. So we want to help them to be strong, be positive and believe in themselves and know who they are so that they can make their own decisions and positive decisions for themselves.”