On February 12th, 2025, Fort Hamilton High School held its annual Black History Month celebration with a focus on honoring HBCUs. At the start of the performance, Ms. Nadege Henry, one of the advisors of Black Student Union and co-host of the event alongside fellow advisor Ms. Lynette Brown, also stressed another parallel focus of “honoring Black excellence past, present, and future.”
The HBCU, or Historically Black Colleges and Universities, includes various major institutions such as Howard and Spelman. Such institutions have produced some of the greatest thinkers and most prominent figures in Black history in America: Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Thurgood Marshall, W.E.B. DuBois, and Langston Hughes, to name a few.
The celebration featured various different segments: a performance from Fort choir, various speeches representing different HBCUs, and a performance by Fort Hamilton’s Jazz Ensemble.
Fort Senior Noelani Alvarez, president of Black Student Union, noted that the focus on HBCUs was part of the Union’s larger effort to honor and celebrate Black history.
“The only reason that HBCUs were so necessary was because Black people weren’t allowed to get a higher education, and through this struggle our culture and customs continued to be enriched by people who wanted to learn just like anyone else,” said Alvarez. “I think focusing on HBCUs uses a very specific facet of Black history to highlight our tenacity and strength.”
Appropriately, the performances were interspersed with various different HBCU alumni and alumni of historically Black fraternities and sororities, such as Zeta Phi Beta, giving their insight on the benefits of attending and finding community.
The show began with a performance by Fort Hamilton’s choir, in which attendees were also encouraged to join in, singing “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” “Oh Freedom,” and “Feel Good.”
“We had such a large variety of students from different grade levels and it was really special being able to sing with all of them one last time before I graduate,” said Melissa Bushi, a senior in the Performing Arts Chorus.
The show centered HBCUs by discussing Black history throughout, with Fort’s Equity and Restorative Justice Team providing fun facts about HBCUs and prominent Black American leaders in between poetry readings and solo dance performances. Alvarez’s own band, The Golden Kiwis, even performed, a facet of the show she referred to as one of the most enjoyable.
“We performed together on stage for the first time; it was really fun, and the fact that my friends were with me on stage made me a lot less anxious,” she said.
“Across every field, Black history is rich with a history of resilience,” Ms. Henry said at the end of her introduction to the performance.
The show ended with Fort Hamilton’s Jazz ensemble performance of various pieces by Duke Ellington, as well as a tribute to Afro-Cuban jazz.
“I hope that the people who watched the show left the auditorium with a deeper understanding and appreciation of Black history and culture,” Bushi said. “The joy and excellence in that auditorium was truly remarkable.”
As the school year comes to an end, college decisions become something students must consider and, at some point, accept. Allowing students to get a better sense of the community they will have at a college makes this far less stressful.
“All of the colleges and universities that had dedicated performances, plus the pennants and any other we didn’t mention, are home to thousands if not millions of Black scholars,” said Alvarez. “They deserve recognition. I hope the audience went home with a new sense of appreciation and understanding of Black academia and Black excellence.”