Working together to plan out meetings for Black Culture Club, president and senior Ava Adam and co-vice president and senior Niah Maduakolam, set a meeting on Jan. 24 to figure out the participants for the Black History Month door decorating, in addition to the bulletin boards around the school. Other clubs and teachers joined in on creating different messages and themes in relation to Black History Month. The decorations highlight different Black inventions or creators throughout the years. Along with decorations, BCC uses other methods to spread awareness of the month by having officers do morning announcements on Mondays and Fridays to give facts and mention the spirit days for the end of the week.
“If we are consistent every year, that’s how people get acknowledged with BHM,” Adam said. “Spirit Day culture is kind of going down, but I know a lot of people still participate in it—that’s really simple, but impactful, because it reminds people that it’s BHM.”
In 2021 with not much diversity around the school as there is today, junior and event coordinator Arroya Mongerie’s older sister, Aleena, planned with her friends to find a way for black people to come together and educate other students about the history. Eventually, with the idea of BCC and a follow-through, the club came to be and is welcome to anyone.
“I’m going to carry on her legacy by trying to make the club grow and make sure that before we graduate, it’s in good hands to continue to go on,” Mongerie said. “My younger sister will be a freshman after I graduate, so she’ll be able to spread it around as well.”
The fact that there is a month, secretary and junior Kaitlyn Bowman believes the history and impact can be acknowledged by everyone.
“It’s important to talk about the things that most or don’t realize Black contributors have done for America or people in general, it’s sometimes overlooked,” Bowman said.
Not only can understanding why there is a month bring acknowledgement, having the deeper conversations within classrooms can bring recognition too.
“We should acknowledge the true horrors Black history, what’s happened to us in the past and celebrate our current accomplishments,” Maduakolam said. “I feel most of the time we just learned about the Martin Luther King and Malcolm X stories, but I think we could really go deeper into how we originated, how we’ve been able to build up wealth and all to get to where we are now and celebrate the accomplishments because there are so many inventions that Black people have done and put into this world that are used today.”
While the club continues to live
on with the message that anyone can join, this year there has been a noticeable turnout in students joining whether Black or not. Students are able to express themselves in a comfortable space with others.
“I’m proud that we do have a turnout that’s not just Black kids, we’ve always tried to advertise that this is a club for everyone to learn about Black culture,” Maduakolam said. “I’m also proud of the comfortable space provided. When I came to Munster, I didn’t have any Black friends coming from an all-Black middle school. It was hard for me to adjust to that environment, but with the created space, kids can be themselves and not feel scared of their blackness or be worried about what other kids are thinking of them.”
