WHS Students Get Educated in Civil Rights
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By Jessica Brown
The nation celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday January 20th and though students received a day off school for the federal holiday, one local teacher makes sure her students know why.
Leevia Barnett has been teaching History at Winchester High School for 21 years and said while it’s important that Dr. King’s legacy be remembered, she wants them to see another side of him. “I think it’s important for students to also remember that he was human,” she said. “Dr. King was just a young preacher who was propelled to a position of national leadership,” Barnett said. “He shows how it is ordinary people who change history.”
In addition to exposing students to a deeper understanding of Dr. King, Barnett makes sure to educate them about the importance of African Americans in all eras of history. Students learn about the first enslaved people and the first African Americans to serve in the military during the Civil War and recently finished watching a film about baseball great Jackie Robinson.
Barnett said she also focuses on other Civil Rights issues like Women’s rights, Equal rights, Native American rights and Immigration rights in her lessons. “I want students to learn about major civil rights figures and events, but I also want them to understand the power of ordinary people in the civil rights movement,” Barnett said. Those include Americans who participated in sit-ins, marches and were activists during difficult times. “These people played an important role in Civil Rights as well.”
Barnett said she feels learning about Civil Rights is vital for future generations, adding that although that era was a time of great divisiveness it was also a time of great progress. She commented that because that same feeling of divisiveness can often be felt now, it’s important students have the tools to navigate things like different information and viewpoints.
“It’s important for students to understand what happened in the past,” Barnett said, adding that it will make them more competent future voters and members of society as a whole. “Learning about Civil Rights is a great way to understand how we as humans can take action and shape the future.”
