I was there taking photographs and doing interviews as New York State Senator Jesse Hamilton joined in a march around Crown Heights, Brooklyn with the Green Party’s New York City Mayoral Candidate Akeem Browder outside the historic Medgar Evers College. The march followed a rally supporting a new Black History Class bill that would make teaching black history mandatory in schools in New York State.

Residents had rallied outside Medgar Evers College down Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn to show support of the black history class bill. The bill proposed by Sen. Jesse Hamilton would require schools to incorporate black history into their K-12 curriculum.

Many of the supporters at the march said there are many black men and women in history who paved the way for young people today, but students are not taught about their accomplishments. One student even said he was ridiculed by his principal for wearing a t-shirt with a photo of the civil rights era icon Malcolm X.

A common refrain among the protesters was that if black history were taught all year there would be less racism, bullying and stereotypes of black people.

1925-1963 Medgar Evers’ work as NAACP state field secretary for Mississippi led to his assassination by a white supremacist. After more than 30 years and three separate trials, his killer was finally brought to justice, in what has become a celebrated and inspirational story of victory and sacrifice for the Civil Rights Movement.

http://blackhistorynow.com/medgar-evers/

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