Student group's Black History Month program fills 'void of multicultural education'

The local student-led African Community Learning Program is teaching its students about eight contemporary African leaders to celebrate this year's Black History Month.

The program, founded in fall 2017 by College of Liberal and Professional Studies senior Aminata Sy, is an after-school program that promotes cultural pride for school-aged children of African descent in West Philadelphia. Last year, the group developed a program where students learned about 23 African leaders and presented about one of them. This year, ACLP is continuing the initiative by teaching students about eight new African figures.

Sy, a former Daily Pennsylvanian beat reporter, said the goal of the African Community Learning Program is to give African immigrants and students of African descent a chance to learn about their own roots and embrace their identity. The program meets every Tuesday and Wednesday at the Lucien E. Blackwell West Philadelphia Regional Library and offers free homework help and African cultural programming.

Sy added that students of African descent face unique barriers to adapt to American culture and that there is a lack of programs geared to support them.

“It is hard to watch kids trying to adapt to a culture not being able to see themselves in these spaces,“ Sy said. "Learning a language is hard. Adapting to a culture is harder.”

When selecting the eight African leaders for this year's Black History Month, she wanted to pick people students could relate to, Sy said.

This year's leaders include former President Barack Obama, Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), British architect David Adjaye, Philadelphia City Solicitor and Penn Law lecturer Sozi Tulante, lawyer and designer Walé Oyéjidé, 12-year-old activist Marley Dias, Ugandan chess player Phiona Mutesi, and Sy herself.

Throughout the month, students learned about the stories of each leader and chose two figures to write letters to. They were also able to meet Tulante, who spoke with the students on Feb. 6 about his native country of Zaire, which is now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo, and his arrival to the United States.

African Community Learning Program Secretary and Wharton sophomore Similoluwa Ayinde, who is originally from Nigeria, said the Black History Month curriculum has helped students “be proud of their culture and proud of their background.”

She added that learning about young African leaders, such as Dias and Mutesi, gives the students role models to look up to that are similar in age.

African Community Learning Program intern Daniel Akuma, a first year MD-Ph.D. student at the Perelman School of Medicine, highlighted the group's mission of filling a “void of multicultural education."

“There is nothing better than seeing people who look like yourself achieving things you were always told you could never achieve in a second language, in a third language, [or] in a fourth language,” Akuma said.