Black History Month is a time set to celebrate Black excellence, achievements and contributions. Niles West’s BSU [Black Student Union] brings these aspects to life in a school-wide assembly each year. This year, Niles West held a double a.m. Black History Month assembly on Feb. 29 in the auditorium. The theme for this year was “50 Years of Hip-Hop “with a focus on Black excellence. 

“One of the amazing things about black cultures is to experience some of the most extreme hardships, but still produce the excellence that has benefited the world. That’s what I think people will either be exposed to or introduced to [hip-hop] and some people will see it as honoring and celebrating Black culture,” Par Consulting Teacher Matthew Hunter said. 

The assembly opened with Cello player Ayanna Williams, also known as Yanna Cello. Sponsor Elizabeth Brent was then introduced, and congratulated BSU on their work going into this assembly. Senior CJ Soriano, Hunter and freshman Landie Colon sang, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” by Michael Cooper. And special guest Eric Lewis sang, “A Change is Gonna Come,” by Sam Cooke. Sophomore Lydie Boussoukou then performed her spoken word poem, “Hip Hop Prime.”

Then multiple student speakers explained the importance of hip-hop in American culture and the Black community’s contribution to it. A fashion show was after, which displayed the evolution of hip-hop and fashion coinciding with it. After, Niles West A Capella group, Resolve, sang “Killing Me Softy With His Song,” by the Fugees.

There were two soloist dances from sophomore Daleah Naylor and senior Ace Neal.  This was followed by a group dance by seniors Kayla Harris, Niyah Lewis and Neal. The assembly ended in a dance battle including BSU and staff members who were a part of the assembly. 

Brent recognizes the help and collaboration that went into this assembly. 

“My favorite part of the assembly has been the collaboration we’ve had throughout planning. I’ve enjoyed being able to work with Mr. Matthew Hunter as our creative director, Ms. Caitlin Lucci as our activities director, Ms. Barb Carabio as our Assistant Activities Director and Mr. Ryan Rice, as our auditorium manager. Each of these individuals has spent long hours behind the scenes and working alongside me to support the students,” Brent said. 

The assembly was pushed back from its previous date due to some trouble putting it together, but BSU was able to pull through and create an assembly they were proud of.

“One of the challenges was time. To pull off a school-wide assembly takes time and I think some of the challenges were that we had tons of ideas on what we could do, but it was difficult for us to limit it down to some things that we knew could work. When I came into the process there were a lot of ideas that needed additional structure, that’s part of why I came into it because of my experience as a performer,” Hunter said. 

Hip-hop is not only a media the Black community has used for entertainment, but they have also used it as a means of self-expression.

“I think hip-hop is important for this assembly because it helps to showcase the different parts, like with hip-hop people can express their way of thinking and their expressions through music rather than just saying it to get more people to listen. I hope they learn more about how it started and how much it has grown since it first started. It’s not just music and R&B, it’s the lyrics and meaning behind it,” Vice President of BSU and senior Niyah Lewis said.