Many prominent African Americans, including Harriet Tubman, Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King Jr. and Jackie Robinson, were honored last week at a communitywide program put together by the students of North Chicago District 187.
The two-hour program, held in the Novak King School auditorium, concluded the district’s observance of Black History Month. About 200 students from kindergarten through high school appeared on stage before an audience of more than 400 people.
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“I want to remind you that these are children, and they’ve all worked very hard to put this together. If anyone makes a mistake, it’s from the head, not the heart,” said Curtis Dorsey, Novak King principal and the program’s master of ceremonies.
Dorsey’s plea seemed unnecessary, however, as the audience responded enthusiastically to the students’ efforts. What the youngsters lacked in on-stage polish they made up for with a healthy dose of pride and energy.
Forrestal School students chose a mock television talk show as a format to discuss the achievements of Malcolm X, Joe Louis and Frederick Douglass.
Green Bay School students profiled botanist and chemist George Washington Carver, Martin Luther King Jr. and poet Langston Hughes.
South/Yeager School students chose to profile African Americans who, while not household names, still achieved prominence in their respective fields. Among them was Dr. Charles Drew, who pioneered methods to store blood plasma for transfusions, but who bled to death from injuries suffered in an auto accident because he was denied treatment at a “whites-only” hospital in North Carolina.
The evening concluded as the audience joined in singing “We Are The World,” written by two contemporary African Americans, Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie.