(public speaking) Educators look to bolster Black History Month (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

Black history is often left out of mainstream history books, and some educators say they consider Black History Month — every February — a classic case of "too little, too late. Today's students face a gauntlet of race and culture issues, and they will never understand them fully until they can put them into a historical context, said Reginald Hickman, an assistant principal at Valley High School in New Kensington who taught a black history course to 23 seniors this fall. Part of the reason black history could be lackluster is that many teachers of the Baby Boom generation or older — the ones who would have been active in the civil rights movement — have started to retire, or are already long gone, educators say. Nick Polcha's history students will cover the Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Movement, MLK — the students will research influential black Americans such as Fredrick Douglass, George Washington Carver and Rosa Parks. read more

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