PBJHS Living Museum celebrates black inventors

The Black History Month program presented at Poplar Bluff Junior High School on Thursday aimed to educate both students and community members about the role African Americans have and continue to play in society.

The students’ program started Thursday morning with Poplar Bluff alumnus Cortez Higgs encouraging them to make the most out of life. In the late morning, community members were invited into the school for the living museum of black inventors.

Higgs, a PBHS class of ‘96 graduate, now travels the country speaking to young people. He’s also founder and CEO of The Catalyst Effect, which offers empowerment training to youth and adults.

Eighth grader Makyra Mead presents information Thursday afternoon about Lyda Newman at the Poplar Bluff Junior High School’s living museum of black inventors. Newman is credited with inventing the hair brush.DAR/Michael Shine

“I love to see young people walking with a purpose,” he said.

He encouraged the students to get involved in school and activities outside of school to find success later in life.

“If you don’t engage, you’re going to be living in a box,” he said. “Get out of the box.”

Higgs, who is part of the black community, also touched on the importance of African Americans throughout time.

“History is full of amazing men and women who stood in the trenches for African Americans,” he said.

That sentiment translates into the second part of the program, when the students took center stage to teach about some of those figures.

This was only the second black history month program for the school and the first time part of it welcomed community members to attend.

Principal Candace Warren said a group of her teachers came up with the idea for expanding the program and did research into living museums.

In a living museum, participants present about a person ­— usually, but not always, a historical figure — while pretending to be that person.

For instance, eighth grader Makyra Mead presented on Lyda Newman while dressed in clothing inspired by the early 1900s. Newman was born in 1898 and grew up to invent an improved hairbrush and worked as a hairdresser.

Mead said she wanted to participate in the program, which was optional for students, because she still sees a lot of racism in society and wanted to help raise awareness of the impact African Americans have made in history.

“I wanted to represent and honor them,” she said. “I chose Lyda Newman because she invented the hairbrush and fought for women’s rights. She had a lot of bravery to do that.”

Warren said each academic lab, or study hall, asked for two student volunteers to present in the project. They were supplied with a list of black inventors they chose from and the students worked at home to research, build a presentation board and practice before the event.

“Some wore costumes, which is fine, we told them they could do whatever they want to,” Warren said. “They’ve done such a fantastic job and there’s been so much interest.”

Several of the students also brought props for their presentations, such as eighth grader Lillith Beedle, who presented Charles Drew — inventor of the blood bag — and brought examples of bags filled with Gatorade to show while she talked.

Classes came through the living museum and community members were given the opportunity to visit as well.

Those going through the museum touched a button either on the floor or the student’s hand to trigger their presentation.

Seventh grader Angel Johnson presented as Charles Orren Bailiff, who invented the shampoo sink used in hair cutteries, and said she wanted to participate because it allowed her to tell the history of her culture.

Warren said the culture aspect is a large factor in what they do with this kind of event.

“In my experience, if you do it (teach black history) where it’s a community feel, it’s not an isolation, it builds your culture and your community,” she said. “We’re all one big family and we need to respect each other’s cultures and see each other’s differences and embrace those differences.”

Paraprofessional LaRonda Mack, who helped plan the event, said it’s important to teach black history because the students need to know.

“They need to know of the struggles that took place before now,” she said. “We have to start somewhere with teaching these kids ... and that will alleviate some of the problems, some of the racial issues that may arise in the schools (and society).”

Mack said it’s important for these students, as young ambassadors of the world, to know about the history.

“They need to know that there used to be slavery,” she said. “They need to know how whites used to treat blacks, and I can say that now ... and not have any animosity because that was back then.

“Some of these kids were saying ‘I’m white, I can’t do this, I can’t do this.’ This isn’t just for black kids. It’s for black kids, white kids, yellow, purple and blue. If you want to be a part of this and you want to know about the history of African Americans then you do it.”

Both Warren and Mack touched on the main figures of black history such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. that have a place in the conversation, but tend to dominate the conversation. With the theme of inventors, they believed they were able to narrow the scope some to highlight figures that don’t get talked about as much.

Warren said conversations are already in the works for next year’s program to make it something bigger and broader.

“This is one of the funnest things I’ve done in school,” Mead said.