How the Y’s Remote Learning Support students celebrate Black History Month

In 1915, historian Carter G. Woodson brought leaders and scholars together to create the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) at the Wabash Avenue YMCA in Chicago, creating the foundation for what we now celebrate as Black History Month.

Over a century later, the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago honors Woodson’s life and impact by educating the next generation on Black history, racial justice, and the myriad contributions African-American people have made in all areas of human endeavor.

Here’s how our Remote Learning Support students are commemorating Black History Month this February:

At the South Side YMCA, Remote Learners created a living museum through their “Blacks on Wax” project, portraying Black luminaries in the center’s halls and sharing facts about their chosen historical figure to members and staff. From range oven inventor Thomas A. Carrington to NASA astronaut Mae Jemison, this activity paid homage to a wide range of Black leaders and innovators.

Meanwhile, the Fry YMCA learned about Jackie Robinson, the first African-American player in Major League Baseball, and Garrett Morgan, inventor of the traffic light, through informative lessons and craft projects.

E-Learners at the Elmhurst YMCA incorporated a STEAM activity into their Black History Month celebrations, engineering their own NASA space landing vehicles to honor the essential role Black women mathematicians Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson played in sending the first astronauts to space.