Black History Month Celebrated at La Salle Academy
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Ismini Scouras
212-475-8940 ext. 204
[email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BLACK HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATED AT LA SALLE ACADEMY
East Village, N.Y., February 7, 2019 – La Salle Academy hosted its annual Black History Month assembly on Wednesday, February 6th at the school on East 6th Street in Manhattan as part of the high school’s cultural program.
Special guest speakers included New York State Assembly Speaker, Carl Heastie, President of the NAACP’s New York State Conference, Dr. Hazel Dukes, and Dr. Dennis Walcott, President and CEO of the Queens Library. Attendees witnessed special guest performances by the NYPD Guardians Gospel Choir, NYPD Police Band, Firefighter Regina Wilson, and the West Point Gospel Choir.
“The reason why Black History Month is in February is to commemorate two heroes: Fredrick Douglass…and President Abraham Lincoln,” said Speaker Heastie, who is also the first African American elected to the Assembly. He went on to tell the students about a poignant moment during a childhood visit to Georgia. “My father brought me over to a wall, and we saw the old water fountains for whites and blacks. He just wanted me to remember what African Americans went through.”
Dr. Dukes spoke about how history did not treat African Americans kindly, but that they played a great part in making America what it is today. “I know what it feels like to sit at the back of the bus,” Dr. Dukes said, “but I also know about faith. We honor and recognize every race, creed, color and sexual orientation. It’s important as Americans to know how to live together.”
Later in the program, La Salle Academy’s art and drama students represented Black History in their artwork, poetry and spoken word for the audience.
For more information about La Salle Academy, please contact Ismini Scouras at 212-475-8940 ext. 204, email [email protected] or visit www.lasalleacademy.org.
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The mission of La Salle Academy, a rigorous college-preparatory high school, is to educate students of diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds with special out-reach to those most in need. We provide a nurturing environment, which fosters spiritual, moral, intellectual, emotional and physical growth in the Roman Catholic tradition and the Lasallian spirit, as embodied in St. John Baptist de La Salle. We create experiences of community within the school and encourage each student to develop their gifts and talents for their own growth, as well as engage in the caring service of others, through its academic, extra-curricular
and spiritual programs.
