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Now in its sixth year, the event put on by the Mount Vernon Community That Cares Coalition pitted eight teams of middle school and high school students against one another to test their knowledge of African-American history Tuesday afternoon. The challenge is a way to celebrate black history while also giving students a chance to learn about the past, said Arthur Muhammad, who served as the event's host.
“Learning needs to be fun,” Muhammad said. “What better way than to compete over something very positive like black history. It’s unfortunate that a lot of the history of African-Americans is not included in the school curriculum. Our history includes inventors and people who created new industries. The courage displayed by civil rights workers under duress is motivational.”
It is important to know the history of African Americans because it is positive and it can help improve the people’s lives, said Diamond Sills, a senior at Nelson Mandela High School. It is also important to know your roots and where you came from, classmate Angela Reid said. The competition shows how positive a place Mount Vernon can be, fellow senior Shydasha Davis said.
“It’s positive to compete, and we are learning, too,” Davis said.
Kids should know their culture and learn facts that aren’t taught in school, seventh-grader Precious Jordan said.
“Our culture comes from a lot of places,” Jordan said. “It’s good to learn new things because you can deal much better with the future if you know the past.”
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