Black History Month 2023

In the month of February, we celebrated Black History Month across the curricula at the Secondary campus, through Art, Music, Wellbeing, Literature and Language.

Wellbeing: Leading Figures in Black History and the BIS values

Across wellbeing lessons, students researched leading figures in black history across music, sport, literature, politics and maths with the aim of finding links and connections with our BIS values. Students matched writer and activist Maya Angelou with the BIS value of “reflection”, for sharing her own thoughts and experiences as a black woman in her writing. Mae Jemison, Engineer, Physician and former NASA astronaut was linked to the BIS value of “enquiry” for her contributions to science. Whilst Martin Luther King Jr was revered for his “perseverance” and dedication to the civil rights movement. 

Spanish: African Influence on Latin American Culture

In Spanish lessons, students have explored the influence of African culture in the Americas, especially with regard to food, music and dance. Chih Wei, a year 12 student investigated more about African influence on Latin American music, read her piece: 

“The European slave trade has had profound impacts on the global scale. One often overlooked impact of this is its influence on Latin American culture. Between the 16th and 19th centuries, the Spanish brought many Western and Central African into America to work as slaves on plantations. The African slaves brought along their cultures which mixed with Latino and Spanish influences, forming a separate community from the ones in Africa. One critical part of culture that demonstrates the influence of African culture in Latin America is its music. African musical instruments and signature percussive music were mixed with traditional Native American music.

Last week, professional salsa singer Ramy Falcón came to visit the Year 12 Spanish classes to present an example of a genre of music that arose from this blending of cultures: Salsa. Salsa originated from Cuban and Puerto Rican immigrants in the United States. In the Latino

 communities of New York, Latino musicians took inspiration from jazz and mixed western styles with African and Latino aspects of music to create Salsa. The diverse selection of instruments brought on by this fusion can be seen in this video. From Africa, there are the bongos, congos, claves, and other percussion instruments; from Latin America, the maracas and guiro; and from the US and Europe, the bass, piano, and woodwinds. The percussive drums dictate the pace of Salsa, with Afro-Cuban and Afro-Caribbean rhythms that have origins from Western and Central Africa. 

Through this experience, the Spanish students have gained a wider perspective on Latin American music and culture in general, discovering the surprisingly heavy influence of the continent across the Atlantic, and the wonderfully orchestrated unifying of Western, African, and Latin American music. Salsa presents the vibrant culture of Latin America, while also demonstrating how cultures can and have evolved throughout history.”

- Chih Wei, Year 12 student

Art:
Exploring the Self Through Basquiat

Year 8 focused on contemporary American artist Jean Michel Basquiat who rose to fame in the 1980s as the protege of Andy Warhol. Basquiat drew on his own Caribbean heritage for inspiration. He was known for his very expressive style and iconography including his trademark crown. In 2017, a Basquiat painting sold for $110.5 million making it the most expensive piece of art ever sold by both an American artist and a black artist. 

Our Year 8 students carefully researched his work and techniques and were tasked with creating their own self-portraits in his iconic style: