By Colby Nicholson
Thursday February 28th marked the last day of Black History month. Benicia High School celebrated by hosting a reading in the Library for students to share their favorite pieces of literature from their favorite black artists.
A large group of seniors were present with a couple of lower classmen. Senior Rayiah Ross told The Paw, “It was an amazing opportunity to celebrate African-American literature; I greatly appreciate Mrs. Thompson for putting together a celebration of black history, as well as everyone that came to read.”
The event organized by Ms. Thompson featured the reading of works by Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, Margaret Walker, Langston Hughes, Malcolm X, and other prominent black artists. This was the school’s second celebration of black history month, making this year’s the most successful February in recent years.
Celebrating black history month allows Benicia High students to have a deeper understanding of their black classmate’s history, and is a great way to empower black students. The reading was a great way to highlight the importance of black literature in history, and create a discussion about black ideals throughout American History. With so much literature to examine in our english classes a lot of famous black literature gets overlooked. The reading was a perfect way to familiarize students with some of the biggest names in black history, important advocates for the rights of African-Americans, and black people around the world.
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