By Haneen Alkabasi, TBE intern
Among the organization providing programs during Black History Month were Bristol schools, the public libraries and the local branch of the NAACP. The city’s Diversity Council was not among them.
Bristol Library Assistant Director Scott Stanton said the library had a showing of the movie, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” with 60 people in attendance.
Stanton said experimenting on African Americans was a practice done in those days. He said the library showed the film and had a discussion based on all of the issues.
“It’s a social justice issue,” Stanton said. “It’s an ethical issue.”
He said they had a woman there who knew the Lacks’ family and a representative from Howard University.
“It was a good discussion and it brought some of these issues to the floor,” Stanton said.
Black History Month is an annual observation that takes place in February. It is a time where people in the United States celebrate the achievements and history of African Americans.
Jillian Romann, elementary STEM supervisor for Bristol Public Schools, said an African American read aloud was held in the Bristol Eastern High School library.
“Bristol-Eastern started this celebration in 2009,” Romann said. “They are going close to 15 years of doing this.”
She said classes come in to read poetry, prose and lyrics that are written by African Americans. This year the event was presented in a poetry slam style with 243 students in attendance who read 188 different pieces.
Kris Woods, K-5 Library Media specialist at Greene-Hills School, said they have particular celebrations of Black History Month through different lessons and activities just like any other celebratory month.
Woods said they also work very diligently to make sure they have diverse collections which helps when it comes to displaying different books in the particular months.
“We also participate in the [The Black Caucus of National Council for Teachers] African American read in,” Woods said. “In our read in, the way we celebrate is each teacher…reads work from a black author.”
The Bristol Diversity Council fell short of its goal of participating in Black History Month.
“With our panel being pushed back until March, we will be planning a series of informative social media posts, as well as collaborating with other organizations,” Bianca said.
Bianca stated last week that the council would post soon on their Facebook page, Bristol CT Diversity Council. No posts were made in February and the last post was on Jan. 31.
“I’m currently in discussion with other members about our social media projects for this month,” Diversity Council chair Jaymie Bianca said.
According to Bianca, the diversity council said they would highlight influential people and events for Black History Month, as well as attend events by the Greater Bristol NAACP.
The local branch of the NAACP held a program, “Honoring Local Activists of Our Time,” on Feb. 24 at the Carousel Museum. The program celebrated the contributions of 11 local activists including Pastor Daniel R. Collins, Anthony Floyd, the late Johnie M. Floyd, the late Barbara Hudson, Jay Maia, Laura S. Minor, Frank Robinson, Ellen Zoppo-Sassu, Dayna Snell, the late Pastor Eddie C. Whitehead and Gail Williams.
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