'Black history is American history.' Concord Middle students examine what Black history means to them – Independent Tribune

Concord Middle School students Khimya Purvis, Hayden Anderson and Zahnylah Pharr spent last month examining what Black history meant to them. They were helped by ISS coordinator Deborah Caldwell and art teacher Noel Ali.
Eighth grade student Khimya Purvis described what Black history means to her the most effective way she knows how — by reading a portion of a poem called “One Day,” which she wrote.
“One day, I hope as a union we can come together and look at each other and lift each other up. I hope people can stop calling us ‘those people,’ ‘them people,’ ‘your kind,’ ‘your people,’ but we are still people. See us as Black and beautiful and not just Black.”
Purvis was one of three students at Concord Middle School recognized as part of a school-wide competition aimed at getting students to think critically about what Black History Month means to them.
Khimya Purvis is an eighth grader at Concord Middle School.
Art teacher Noel Ali and ISS coordinator Deborah Caldwell came up with the idea partly out of certain students’ concerns that Black History Month would somehow be canceled or minimized, given the current political climate.
The competition’s theme focused on “hope and resilience,” Ali said.
At a time when Black history — which in America dates back to 1619, with the arrival of the first enslaved Africans to the British colony of Virginia — and culture are being minimized and whitewashed in certain parts of the country, Ali and Caldwell gave students like Purvis, who secured first place, the freedom to openly express what Black history means to them.
“You can’t make diversity illegal,” Ali said of part of a broader effort in the United States to restrict so-called diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. “You can’t cancel culture.”
Hayden Anderson, a sixth grader, created a poster board where he wrote that for him, Black history represented “hope and the enduring spirit of a person.”
He also drew a Black raised fist, a historical symbol of Black power that evokes the enduring spirit of people like Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who, after finishing first and third respectively in the 200-meter dash at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, famously thrust their black-gloved fists high into the air during the medal ceremony.
Hayden Anderson is a sixth grader at Concord Middle School.
Another sixth grader, Zahnylah Pharr, researched Marian Anderson, a 20th Century singer who performed a wide range of music, from opera to spirituals.
In a moment of defiance after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to let Anderson sing to an integrated audience in Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., Anderson, with help from President Franklin Roosevelt, performed an open-air concert on Easter Sunday on the Lincoln Memorial steps in 1939.
Pharr heard about Anderson through her mother and grandmother. She enjoyed learning that Anderson, who was born in 1897, graduated from South Philadelphia High School in 1921, during a time when Jim Crow laws legalized racial segregation.
Zahnylah Pharr is a sixth grader at Concord Middle School.
Purvis, Anderson and Pharr were selected as having the top three entries from judges, including the Rev. Donald Anthony of Grace Lutheran Church and Amos McClorey, former president of the Cabarrus County NAACP, last week.
The efforts to celebrate Black history have been impactful not just for the participating students but also for instructors like Ali.
“It’s just been extremely meaningful,” she said. “It has relit my reasons for why I teach.”
Despite heavily promoting the event, only five students took part, which helps explain the need for more students to engage with and be informed about Black history, which has always been a critical part of understanding American history.
“Black history is American history,” said interim principal and former history teacher Mike Drye.
He stressed that for a long time, much of Black history was largely unknown, as African American stories were often not documented or widely taught in schools.
But that has changed in recent decades as more information is available, especially online.
Black history is dynamic and constantly evolving, he said, adding: “We’re finding out more today than we knew yesterday.”
In her poem, Khimya Purvis wrote that “my dignity is what I stand for,” before concluding:
“And my shade is as beautiful as yours, so don’t compare, just beware of the damage you have done if you make fun of ‘those people.’”
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Concord Middle School students Khimya Purvis, Hayden Anderson and Zahnylah Pharr spent last month examining what Black history meant to them. They were helped by ISS coordinator Deborah Caldwell and art teacher Noel Ali.
Hayden Anderson is a sixth grader at Concord Middle School.
Zahnylah Pharr is a sixth grader at Concord Middle School.
Khimya Purvis is an eighth grader at Concord Middle School.
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