DETROIT – An academy in Detroit is celebrating Black History Month by showing students the culture and cuisine of several African countries.
Wednesday was count day, which happened to land on Black History Month, so the Detroit Service Learning Academy staff came up with the idea to celebrate and educate students.
The students at the academy have been learning so much about Africa and the history Africa has to offer. The academy’s principal, Winifred Nwankwo, was born and raised in Nigeria and said that this celebration gave these students a more realistic view of what Africa really is.
“We want them to learn what goes on because everything they see on television is not what happens,” said Nwankwo. “We have a lot of good things in Africa that our students don’t know about.”
Each classroom throughout the academy adopted a different African county showcasing the area’s traditional food, arts, climate, and culture.
“You learn more by touching, by feeling, by being other than just reading about it. So now, they can really like this classroom right here,” said Nwankwo.
Superintendent DeAngelo Alexander stopped by to see what his students are learning for this year’s Black History Month.
“A lot of times we want to talk about the same historical facts Martin Luther King and Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks, but there’s so many more African Americans and African history to know,” said Alexander.