Every morning, students hear a short announcement of an important person in Black history. These announcements represent a small portion of a larger movement towards greater equity and activism in the PHS community and beyond.

The tradition of honoring African-American history within a specific time period of the calendar year began with Carter G. Woodson when he started the celebration of Negro History Week in February of 1926. Woodson, a noted Black activist and historian, felt that African-American history should be particularly honored given that it was insufficiently prioritized in many American school districts. The week was eventually extended to encompass the entire month.

PHS has been celebrating Black History Month since 2006, and traditions such as making announcements are being kept, while new activities have been formed over the years. Being a thoughtfully planned and diverse celebration of history, it is no surprise that the PHS Regional Educational Support Staff Association officer Olive Giles, who helped organize Black History Month, hosted conferences in order to get opinions from the community on how commemorations should manifest themselves.

“It’s like, how do we tell all these stories…the team put together comprehensive announcements for the entire month that show examples of Black excellence in the sciences, government, politics, military, history, [and] the arts, and it’s laid out [in a way that] makes it easy for me to be able to include that in my announcements in the morning,” said PHS Principal Frank Chmiel.

The Black Student Union (BSU), which had been inactive since 2016, has also recently made a comeback at the February club fair. Many students, not just Black students, are excited to contribute, celebrate, and commemorate Black history every day.

“Something that’s very exciting to me is the revitalization of the Black Student Union… They’ve had 90 students sign up at the club fair, all [with] different cultures and backgrounds, including Black American students, and so they’re going to be having meetings and getting really active. And to me, as a principal, that’s exciting,” Chmiel said. King-David Ndubisi ’23, who is the president of the Black Student Union, believes that the comeback of the BSU will be an overall benefit to achieving racial equality at PHS. “I believe the purpose is to reform, revive, and expose the hidden Black excellence in our school. By reviving the club, I ‘m giving an opportunity to the upcoming class of Black students,” Ndubisi said. Other new events include Black film screenings that will continue into March, a celebration of activist Paul Robeson, and a Black history program that will run later in the spring. “We have a series of Black films that we’re going to be showing over the course of the next six to eight weeks, one of which is called ‘1776’… The last big thing we’re doing is celebrating Paul Robeson, who was born in Princeton, and this year is his 125th birthday, making 2023’s Black History Month particularly special and close to home. Then we actually hope to do an actual Black History Month program once the pressure of testing for APs and other graduation requirements are out of the way,” said PHS science supervisor Joy Barnes-Johnson.

“I get to see lots of different things which helped me understand why we still need to have Black history, and it’s kind of just like any other cultural celebration to humanize children; humanize people who identify as Black whether they are African, Caribbean, African-American, or just identify as Black. [We’re] so diverse,” Barnes-Johnson said.

Today, Princeton spearheads N.J.’s efforts toward affordable housing and equity and is home to the Not in Our Town initiative, which offers classes and lesson plans to schools and hosts meetings for people in the community to voice their grievances. The organization has heavily awarded PHS students and staff, notably PHS Racial Literacy supervisor and history teacher Patricia Manhart, and Barnes-Johnson. This push, which was started by a few trailblazing students and teachers, has snowballed into a greater attempt to expand to a wider audience at not only PHS, but also the entirety of Princeton.

While Princeton currently strives to be a state leader in equity, diversity, and inclusion, its history casts a jarring shadow. Throughout the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, the practice of segregation was exhibited in its schools, institutions such as the YMCA, and businesses along Nassau Street.

While segregationist outlooks continued to maintain traction in Princeton during the post-Civil War era, integration was finally able to be realized in the 1947 Princeton Plan. This vision aimed to eliminate racial segregation in education through the clearing of biased border lines; for example, it created the first integrated elementary school in Princeton. Although the transition was bumpy, the anti-racist trend continued into the 21st century.

“The Princeton Plan of 1947 was basically the beginning of school integration here in New Jersey. We realize that here on the East Coast, most people think about Brown v. the Board of Education. But [the Princeton Plan] is a big deal … this is the 75th anniversary of the Princeton Plan here in Princeton … It’s like how do we tell all these stories about who we are; this is what we want to do. And so Black History Month is about telling a bigger story,” Barnes-Johnson said.

In America, Black History Month honors the hardships and successes of African Americans who have contributed to the success of the nation. At PHS, Black History Month also represents a spotlight on cultural diversity and social acceptance. Black History Month may only be during February, but it emphasizes that Black culture and accomplishments should be acknowledged and celebrated all 365 days a year. Everybody has achievements and stories, whether that is expressed through words, art, literature, or ideas; BHM is just one of many ways of passing down Black history.

“But really, Black history is American history. And that’s a quote from Morgan Freeman, the famous American actor and civil rights activist. [Black history] should permeate all aspects of education,” Chmiel said.