Around Campus News

At Media-Providence Friends School (MPFS), Black History Month is not a standalone event on our calendar—it is a vibrant, intentional extension of the work we do every single day. While February provides a beautiful opportunity to amplify our celebrations, our commitment to Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) is woven into the very fabric of our curriculum and our community values year-round.

Guided by the Friends values of Equality and Integrity, we believe that Black history is American history. To relegate it to the shortest month of the year would be a disservice to our students and our mission to "awaken the passion and potential of all individuals."

Our JEDI Mission in Motion

Our approach to honoring Black history is rooted in the "Windows and Mirrors" philosophy. We strive to provide our students with mirrors that reflect their own identities and windows that allow them to see and value the experiences of others. This pedagogy ensures that Black excellence, joy, and struggle are not "special topics," but essential threads in the tapestry of our collective story.

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In the Classrooms: A Glimpse of our Curriculum

Kindergarten: Honoring the Inner Light
In our youngest classrooms, we celebrate Black history as part of an ongoing commitment to peace and justice. By honoring the Inner Light in every person, students are introduced to heroes of the social justice movement like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks, alongside global changemakers like Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai.

Beyond history, we lift up examples of Black excellence in science and the arts. From reading Mae Among the Stars (the story of astronaut Mae Jemison) to performing a class play based on Oge Mora’s Thank You, Omu, our students learn that community and mutual aid are universal values. In Kindergarten, fairness and belonging are the building blocks of a caring community.

Fifth Grade: Researching the Trailblazers
Our Fifth Grade students took a deep dive into the lives of influential Black figures, practicing their research and synthesis skills to create detailed fact sheets and visual displays posted around campus. Students highlighted a wide range of icons, including:

• Dorothy Dandridge: The groundbreaking stage and film star who became the first African American woman nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.

• Langston Hughes: The prolific "poet laureate" of the Harlem Renaissance whose work gave a powerful voice to the Black experience in America.

• Thurgood Marshall: The visionary civil rights lawyer and legal architect of the desegregation movement who made history as the first African American Supreme Court Justice.

Middle School: Redefining the "Founders"
Our Sixth Grade Humanities students recently engaged in a deep dive into the many Black "founders" of the United States. This unit challenged traditional historical narratives by recognizing the Black individuals whose labor, intellect, and activism built the foundations of this country.

The culmination of this work is the "Founders' Wall" in the Humanities room—a vibrant display of student-led artwork and poetry. This project intentionally overlapped with studies on Indigenous communities, allowing students to explore the intersections of environmental justice and racial equity. By seeing history through this lens, our students become critical thinkers who understand that the story of America is incomplete without every voice.

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A Commitment to the Future
At MPFS, we don't just teach history; we empower our students to make it. By integrating these stories into our daily rhythm, we ensure that every student graduates with a deep respect for the diverse leaders who have shaped our world and the confidence to follow in their footsteps. As the poet Langston Hughes—a figure our Fifth Graders have been studying closely—once wrote:

"O, let my land be a land where Liberty / Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, / But opportunity is real, and life is free, / Equality is in the air we breathe."