Living history and legacies: Teaching Black history in Sacramento classrooms

By Srishti Prabha | OBSERVER Staff Writer Cassandra Jennings explains the ‘Moment in Time’ assignment to students in her senior year advisory class at Sacramento Charter High School. Srishti Prabha, OBSERVER. It’s Black History Month and schools, like Sacramento Charter High School, are shaping their curriculum to include the rich Black history of Sacramento. And Cassandra Jennings, the Chief Executive Officer of St. HOPE Charter Schools, reminds students at Sacramento Charter High School of exactly that.& “The history goes even further than what you’re reading in the books. We got our own history right here,” she told the seniors in her advisory class. Her curriculum for the month is centered on Black History and one of their assignments – a moment in time – had students choose a Black or Latin figure whose iconic image they would recreate through photography. “History is conveyed through photographs and it’s important to have them so you can tell the real truth to combat racism,” explained Jennings.& On the list were names like Colin Kaepernick, a former 49ers quarterback and civil rights activist, Ida B. Wells, a journalist and civil rights activist, and Benjamin Banneker, a mathematician and astronomer.& One student was quick to...