PHS came together to celebrate Black History Month in a way not possible since the onset of COVID-19. The high school hosted a variety of events in order to allow students to learn more about Black history and become more racially literate.

A newly-established Black History Month planning team composed of students and staff members from various racial backgrounds took the lead in the organization of these events. The team planned many events including a door-decorating competition themed around Historically Black Colleges and Universities as well as a T-shirt event where participants wore Black Lives Matter-themed T-shirts on February 28.“

It was important for me as a leader to not take over this, but rather to facilitate conversations and support [the team’s] vision [as to] how they want the month to be celebrated,” said PHS Principal Frank Chmiel, the organizer of the planning team.

Nonetheless, not all of the high school’s Black History Month events were organized by the planning team. Running from February 22 to February 28, an art exhibit organized for the Numina Gallery aims to help PHS students celebrate Black History Month through unconventional means.

“The [artist] brings together artifacts, costumes, visual aids, and posters, and will set up an exhibit with our team in the Numina Gallery that is going to be open for a week. It [will focus on] ... Black Americans and Black American events that you should know, that you maybe didn’t know about before,” Chmiel said.

One way in which PHS tried to ensure that students were able to fully appreciate Black History Month was by partnering with other organizations around Princeton.

“[Along] with several community partners, including the Princeton Public Library, we [did] something this year called the African American Reading, which [featured] stories about Malcolm X and his debate at Oxford Union, on February 22,” said Dr. Joy Barnes-Johnson, a teacher of racial literacy at PHS.

Barnes-Johnson believes that these events are beneficial as they help students learn about Black history in a way that they are otherwise not able to.

“I want more people to acknowledge and understand why it’s important to [learn about] Black history,” said Barnes-Johnson. “A lot of people treat Black history as distinct from American history. And well, that’s not actually true ... Black history in the United States is American history.”

In accordance with this idea, Chmiel tries to encourage the teaching of Black history in school, specifically the idea of “color brave activities,” where students can speak openly and honestly about race.

“If you don’t do color brave activities, you could leave your learners colorblind,” said Chmiel. “When you say ... ‘I don’t see color,’ it’s like, ‘OK, well, you know, what do you see?’ And it discounts the experiences of people of color, and the history and the discrimination and systemic racism that they experience.”

Charlie Kaswan ’23 also thinks that it is very important that the high school celebrates Black History Month. “The US has had a long history of systemic racism ... and it's important to take time to acknowledge what has happened and how that impacts ... the present,” Kaswan said.

Through the organization of events, competitions, and exhibits, PHS has tried to make Black History Month a more immersive experience for all students. Despite that, Barnes-Johnson believes that more can still be done.

“I think that [PHS could improve] not just how we approach Black History Month, but how we approach our diversity and our strengths,” said Barnes-Johnson. “I would love it if we could, as a whole school, challenge what we see as being merit-worthy, or productive, in a direction that supports social justice and equanimity.”

Barnes-Johnson hopes for PHS to become a place where people appreciate diversity and are aware enough to question when they don’t experience diverse learning environments.

“While we celebrate our heroes and our holidays, we [need to] actually work to go beyond just heroes and holidays and transform our school. So that it’s a place where everyone sees themselves and feels prepared to be their best,” Barnes-Johnson said.

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