Succeeding in Schools program puts on first Black History Month program

For the first time, students with the Succeeding in Schools program housed at the Wheatley School put on a Black History Month program Saturday.

Charter member Kathern Harris said the event came out of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day event it housed and students took part in.

“We let the kids be hostesses and they enjoyed that so much I thought ‘this can grow into something else,’” she said. “This is what it grew became. It became the Black History Month program. We just took a look at ‘what can the kids do in a short amount of time?’”

Harris said while designing the program, they considered what the students could do that wouldn’t wear them out or last so long that they grew uninterested.

During the program, students led prayer, and shared famous quotes and stories from black historical figures.

Artwork by students and local black artists decorated the hall and students designed the cover of a program for the event.

Mixed in with the students’ artwork was pieces by local black artist Daronda Robinson that celebrates black women and the community, and her brother Alan R. Robinson, a Vietnam veteran who designs ornate birdhouses. Daronda Robinson also performed “Am I Not a Woman” by Harriet Tubman during the program.

The event theme, United We Stand, came from one quote the students shared. “United we stand, divided we fall” is attributed to many people over the years including Founding Father John Dickinson, Former Virginia Gov. Patrick Henry and President Abraham Lincoln. The Missouri State flag also bares the motto.

Harris said this motto echoes why Black History Month programs are important for not only the students, but the community as a whole.

“It actually is going to be the only way any community is going to make it is if they stand together and unite themselves,” she said. “That’s really what we’re doing. The little kids could see how everything goes together. They work on it, we work on it, the community works on it. Then we end up with something like this where everybody has decorated, everybody has come in (to participate).”