As the crowd packed into the filled auditorium, the band played, welcoming everyone to the Black History Month assembly. Black History month takes place through the whole month of February and has been an annual celebration since 1926. Now, 83 years later, we still honor the tradition.

The assembly not only touched on the history of the African-American culture, but it also recognized the achievements of some students, including the Martin Luther King Jr. contest winners. The two categories were for writing and art. The runner-ups for art were sophomore Emma Weymouth, junior Joel Watkins, and sophomore Kathryn Mayes. The winner was sophomore Via Copp with her art entitled Free at Last.

“I did the project for graphic arts and to be honest, I didn’t think it was that good, so I was surprised when I won,” Copp said.

The writing portion was won by Max Holland. The runner- up was junior Dana Mason, who found out about the competition from the flyers around school and wrote her essay in about 30 minutes.

“I wrote about how Martin Luther King Jr. changed our lives and what a difference he made. He won equal rights for everyone. The best part of the assembly was Max`s speech. I really enjoyed it, because the way he addressed it was really powerful,” Mason said.

The assembly was sponsored by the W. E. B. Du Bois Honor Society. The club members were senior Alexis Rodgers, junior Chelsy Harris, junior Dara Randall, sophomore Renee Salinas, sophomore Kayen Wilborn, and sophomore Kristin Wilson. The club presented awards to winners and introduced speakers. The group also gave a brief background on W.E. B. Du Bois and explained why Du Bois was a model African–American. They explained that Du Bois was a civil rights activist and wanted to improve African–American life. Du Bois believed that everyone should be offered the same education. “I should recommend for the average colored child the same course of study as for the average white child.” -Du Bois, 1926.

“I think overall it went really well. Because it is a student run club, we had to plan it on our own. We had been planning since December and next year we hope to plan earlier. The club does wish we had more people and you don’t have to be African-American to join,” Wilson said.

“I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character,” Martin Luther King Jr. once said. The United States has come a long way since then; with integration and equal rights laws, we are now all created equal. The Black History Month assembly was to remind everyone how far the United States has come, but also to remind us the right way to go.