Black History Month Inspires Students to “Be Great”

Measures of a Man students at Wilkerson Middle and Washington K-8 School have spent the entire month learning about athletes, inventors, entrepreneurs, writers, actors, and slaves, all of whom had more in common than just the color of their skin; they all changed the landscape of the future by being great.

“Be great,” is a mantra we often repeat to our students. While many of our students are categorized as being “at-risk,” we push them to believe they are destined to be great, because simply put, they are. However, there is more than just believing one is destined to build on the leaders and innovators of our past. Repeatedly, our students are taught that being great comes at a cost; they have to work for it.

Program Manager Justin Williams is often reminding his middle school boys at Washington K-8 School, “People who are great are great on purpose. You, are supposed to be great.” Williams uses Booker T. Washington’s autobiography, Up From Slavery, as an example for his students of what it takes to be a leader. He shares with them how Washington, born a slave, was later freed because of the Emancipation Proclamation. “He wanted an education so bad and nothing stopped him. As a young boy, he worked in salt and coal mines and went to school. When he was in college he worked as a janitor to get through school. There are no excuses,” Williams tells his class.

While reviewing Black history leaders like Harry Belfonte, Aliko Dangote, Medgar Evers, Fred Shuttlesworth, along with many others, Williams reminds his 8^th grade students, “People laid stuff on the line, not to make life easier for you, but for you to take what they’ve done and make it better.” Williams adds, “But, you gotta put in the work. No one can cheat success.”