Juniors visited the Museum of African American History Tuesday. Students had the chance to observe several exhibits and tie their learning into their history and English classes this year, examining aspects of American History and how it impacted the lives of African Americans. Their summer reading was the science fiction graphic novel Kindred by Octavia Butler, a fictional evaluation of the modern scars left by slavery. In the first quarter, students read excerpts from the narratives from Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs, and poetry by Phillis Wheatley, and learned about Harriet Jacobs and Thomas Jefferson. They also analyzed the film 12 Years a Slave. In the fourth quarter, they are reading Song of Solomon, a sprawling story by Toni Morrison stretching from slavery through the Great Migration and the Civil Rights movement. In March Washington Latin parent Judge Robert Wilkins of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, spoke at our school about the century-long struggle to establish a museum honoring African American history. He was Chairman of the Site and Building Committee of the Presidential Commission established by Congress in 2001 and authored a book about the path to making the museum a reality.
History on Our Minds
