School celebrates Black History Month with exhibit dedicated to women
Township of Washington, NJ — In celebration of Black History Month, members of Immaculate Heart Academy’s Black Culture Club set up an outstanding exhibit in the school’s main lobby featuring “Black Women Making History.” The exhibit has been displayed throughout the month of February.
From left to right in the group photo are Black Culture Club members, Magdaly Pierre-Louis’23 of Spring Valley, NY; Christina-Ann Augustin’23 of Stony Point, NY; Ariana Chen’23 of Cresskill; and club president, Christine Ajao’21 of Mahwah.
Additional members of the club, which is moderated by physical education teacher, Ms. Shemayne Williams, who helped with the display include Gianna Joshua’23 of Nanuet, NY; Bryanna Pollard’21 of Ridgefield Park; Brookelyn Talmadge’23 of Clifton; Sanaiya Villanueva’22 of Woodland Park; Kevynne Callwood’21 of Paramus; Grace Capeless’22 of Teaneck; Raquel Davis’21 of Bloomfield; and Kahlia Content’23 of Hackensack.
“We chose the theme of ‘Black Woman Making History’ since it is such a historic year for black women with the first-ever black vice president,” Christine explained. “We wanted to highlight strong black women in all fields.”
The featured women included Kamala Harris, the first female vice president of the United States and the first African American and South Asian vice president of the United States; Janice Huff, meteorologist on WNBC in NYC; Bianca Smith, minor league coach for the Boston Red Sox organization and first black woman to coach in professional baseball history; Viola Davis, actress/producer and first African American to achieve the “Triple Crown of Acting;” Lupita Nyong’o, Kenyan-Mexican actress; Jordan Casteel, figurative painter/artist; Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, viral immunologist and scientific lead of the Vaccine Research Center Coronavirus Team; Amanda Gorman, the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history and National Youth Poet Laureate; Misty Copeland, ballet dancer for American Ballet Theatre and first African American woman to be promoted to principal dancer in ABT’s 75-year history; and Dr. Mae Jemison, physician and the first African American female astronaut for NASA.
Founded in 1960, Immaculate Heart Academy is an all-girls Catholic regional high school of the Archdiocese of Newark presently celebrating its 60th year. A Blue Ribbon School, IHA enrolls approximately 700 girls in a competitive college preparatory program from more than 100 towns in Bergen, Passaic, Morris, Hudson and Essex counties in New Jersey and Rockland and Orange counties in New York. Over the years, IHA has continually grown and evolved, fortifying its academics, activities and facilities to prepare students for further education, and for the enhancement of society through their personal, professional and spiritual gifts. Immaculate Heart Academy is located at 500 Van Emburgh Ave., Township of Washington, NJ.
