Career, Technical and Agricultural Education department teacher Jaclyn Brown holds a poster for Clarke Central High School’s Black History Month program outside Room 383 on Feb. 24. Brown pitched the idea for the Black History Month program last year, and after organizing the event and working behind the scenes she is enthusiastic about the program. “I am honestly just waiting for Tuesday to get here. I’m excited,” Brown said. “I’ve seen the individual pieces and I’m waiting for them all to come together and for everybody else to see them.” Photo by Aza Khan
Multiple CCHS fine arts programs will come together on Feb. 28 to present a program about Black History for the CCHS community.
Solo performances, dances, songs from choir, monologues from the drama department, a guest speaker, displays of artwork and presentations about Black history will all be showcased in the 2023 Black History Month program.
Fine arts department teacher Dr. Tony Rucker sits at a piano on Feb. 13 in Room 261. Rucker has taken part in numerous CCHS Black History Month programs through the years and is directing the choir for the Feb. 28 program. “It’s a recognition of Black American culture,” Rucker said. “It’s very important because it has to do with people being people, but it also recognizes that people can recognize similarities. It’s just amazing how similar we are in different cultures.” Photo by Victoria Garland
Clarke Central High School has not held its yearly BHM program since the pandemic happened. To continue the tradition after its hiatus, the program will be held from 9 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. in the Mell Auditorium on Feb. 28. Career, Technical and Agricultural Education department teacher and CCHS alumna Jaclyn Brown organized the event because she remembered attending the program as a student at CCHS and felt it was important to bring it back.
“I wanted, and other teachers wanted, every child to be exposed. As a previous student at (CCHS), we always had a Black History program and I remember what that was and what it meant to me as a student,” Brown said. “It was a time for us to celebrate our ethnicity. Everybody came together regardless of what race you were and we just had a good time singing gospel songs, singing spirituals, learning about the history of African Americans at that time and still today.”
“(The program is) just a refresher of what teachers have been trying to teach, a refresher of what parents are trying to teach the kids, not only just behavior-wise, (but) an understanding of each other and an acceptance of each other.”
— Dr. Tony Rucker,
fine arts department teacher
To prepare for the program, Brown has worked with a planning team to hold meetings and brainstorming sessions, coordinate with teachers, oversee rehearsals and more. Among the many people involved in the program’s planning is fine arts department teacher Dr. Tony Rucker, who is in charge of the choir.
“(The choir) will do (the song), ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing.’ Then I’m gonna do spirituals, those songs that were handed down from generation to generation that may not have been written down,” Rucker said. “We will do one spiritual and then we got to something a little modern called, ‘Hold on, Change is Coming,’ written (and) performed by a group called Sounds of Blackness.”
Freshman Irelynn Lemay stands on the third floor breezeway on Feb. 16. Lemay painted a portrait for the Black History Month program and based it on influential figures. “Originally, I wanted to do a diptych mural, but I thought it might be better to uplift some specific voices, like local artists, so that we can particularly spotlight a few people,” Lemay said. Photo by Victoria Garland
To prepare for the celebration, freshman Irelynn Lemay painted a mural with portraits of important Black figures such as Broderick Flanigan and Jason Reynolds.
“I’m glad I got to work on it. I think having a role in (creating the art piece) is gonna be very beneficial for me,” Lemay said. “I’m usually not the type of person to take on big projects, so I think it’s really big.”
Overall, Rucker hopes the program will teach students to be more accepting and understanding.
“(The program is) just a refresher of what teachers have been trying to teach, a refresher of what parents are trying to teach the kids, not only just behavior-wise, (but) an understanding of each other and an acceptance of each other,” Rucker said.
