City schools celebrate Black History Month

Students at the AAA School in Long Branch were backup singers for the "Can You Be Like Dr. King" portion of a celebration held in celebration of Black History Month.

LONG BRANCH - The city's public school system held a celebration at the end of January to honor the late Rev. Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. The event also acted as a kickoff to commemorate the start of February as Black History Month.

The event featured several performances from students within the school district. The students ofMorrisAvenue School performed "Freedom," which was followed by Audrey W. Clark students reciting "He Had a Dream." Gregory Elementary School students sang "Lean on Me," and the West End students sang "This Little Light of Mine" at the event.

Quincy Sutherland of the Amerigo A. Anastasia School recited Dr. King's speech during a portion of the show titled "CanYou Be Like Dr. King."

Joseph M. Ferraina, superintendent of Long Branch Public Schools, said the school district will hold monthly celebrations to honor those who have had a key impact on American culture.

Americans have recognized Black History Month annually since 1926, according to a press release from the Long Branch school system.

It was first known as Negro History Week and was later identified as BlackHistory Month. The celebration of Black History Month and the study of black history is owed to oneman, Dr. Carter G.Woodson, according to the release.

Woodson was born to parents who were former slaves. Woodson worked in the coal mines in Kentucky and enrolled in high school at the age of 20. He went on to earn a doctorate from Harvard.

Woodson decided to take on the challenge of writing black Americans into the nation's history books. He established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, which is now called theAssociation for the Study of Afro-American Life and History. Woodson founded the Journal of Negro History in 1915, and in 1926 he launched Negro History Week as an initiative to bring national attention to the contributions of black people throughout American history.

Woodson chose the second week of February for Negro History Week because it marks the birthdays of two men who greatly influenced the blackAmerican population: Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.