FLUSHING TOWNSHIP, Michigan — Flushing Middle School teacher Robert Filter has found a unique way for children to learn black history — through music.
The eighth-grade history teacher’s students are writing a research paper and making a 10-slide PowerPoint presentation about legendary black musicians, including from Michigan natives Thad Jones and Berry Gordy. Each student will give a presentation to the class.
Filter said the class usually studies U.S. history from the 1600s to 1900.
“It’s important that we take about three weeks out in February and add this to the curriculum,” he said.
Black History Month is part of the curriculum for every grade level throughout the school district.
The musical aspect has engaged students.
“I think a lot of what happens in a culture comes from music,” said Carson Smith, 14, who is researching jazz singer and trumpet player Louis Armstrong in Filter’s class.
Carson, also a trumpet player, said he didn’t know much about Armstrong before the project.
“He was a really charismatic person, a real show person,” Carson said. “He worked really hard, and he got out of it what he put into it. He had to live through segregated New Orleans and he was still successful — that was amazing.”
Sheania Bacon, 13, is researching Patricia Louise Holte, better known as soul singer Patti LaBelle.
She said most students probably don’t know anything about LaBelle and will learn from her presentation.
“It’s nice because kids can learn more about people through history,” she said of the class project.
Chelsea Thomas, 13, now has more “respect” for the woman who sings the song by the same name. Chelsea learned that Aretha Franklin had a child at age 13 and another at 15 before she persevered to become the queen of soul.
Tyler Snover, 14, was enthusiastic about studying Robert Johnson, a blues artist from the 1930s.
“He’s considered the grandfather of rock ‘n’ roll,” Tyler said. “He inspired Eric Clapton and Angus Young.”
He is taking away something personal from the project.
“I play guitar, and he inspires me to write,” Tyler said.
Learning about black history starts in kindergarten in Flushing, when teachers read books about Black History Month to students.
At Central, Elms, Springview and Seymour elementary schools, children are making PowerPoint presentations, writing essays and watching videos about famous leaders, such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Middle school students start their days with black history trivia during morning announcements, and along with class projects, some students have gone on educational field trips, including the Opportunity for All Conference on Jan. 30 in Detroit.
Along with several class projects, high school students created a wall of quotes made by famous black people.
Ciara Hunter, 16, paused in front of the wall outside the cafeteria and pointed out her favorite quote: “If you want to lift yourself up, lift someone else up,” said Booker T. Washington.
Shelby Brooks, 17, liked, “Hold fast to your dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly,” by Langston Hughes.
“You need to do what you want to do — life isn’t life unless you fulfill your dreams,” she said.
Shannon Lee, 18, liked President Barack Obama’s quote, “Change will not come if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change we seek.”
“Everyone said we needed a change, but we needed to help him make the change,” she said.
