Cherry Hill Middle Schooler 'Taking Action' With Letter Urging New Curriculum Teaching Black History To School District
CHERRY HILL, N.J. (CBS) -- A Camden County middle school student is capturing the attention of her school district after sending a letter to its administration. She wants a new curriculum in the classroom that teaches Black history.
"There are other people besides Martin Luther King and Harriet Tubman that are important," Ebele Azikiwe said. "This is an opportunity to change."
Ebele is a sixth-grade student at Henry C. Beck Middle School and while learning at home, the 11-year-old believed something was missing from her classes.
"Since you're little, you learn about slaves and then you just keep repeating that," Ebele said. "And that's all they talk about toward Black people, but they don't talk about your culture."
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She says depictions of Africa and Nigeria, where her family is from, are reduced in lesson plans to simple, poor villages. African American history in social studies is underrepresented.
"My country's beautiful and your students should be OK from where they're from," Ebele said, "like I am now, no thanks to anything we have learned in school."
So Ebele sent a letter to the school's principal asking for a more comprehensive curriculum and education on African American culture.
Cherry Hill Public Schools responded, saying it looks forward to speaking with Ebele and her mother.
In a statement to CBS3, the school district said, "We will make changes to ensure our students receive a full education in history, which includes a deeper understanding of Black history.
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Beck Middle School isn't the only place listening to Ebele's voice. After word of her letter got out, she was invited to speak at a Juneteenth march in Cherry Hill.
"She has such a strong voice. I wish I was half of the girl she was at her age," Dr. Rume Joy Azikiwe, Ebele's mother, said. "I'm thrilled. It's one thing to do something, but she's actually taking action."
"Even my mom learned the same stuff that we are around 30 years ago," Ebele said. "So why are we still learning that exact same curriculum?"