N.S. students celebrate first-ever Black Excellence Day

There were plenty of black t-shirts inside the cafeteria at Harbourside Elementary School in Whitney Pier, N.S., on Friday. Students and staff were marking the first-ever Black Excellence Day at schools across the province.

“We never had it before, and it's important. We should have had it this whole time”, said Grade Four student Mila Lawrence.

When asked to name African-Nova Scotian role models, students were quick to point to the woman who appears on the Canadian $10 bill.

In the main hallway at Harbourside Elementary, Viola Desmond is honoured with a mural, created by students in a Grade One class a few years ago.

"Viola Desmond's probably my favourite,” said Grade Four student Lila Graham, who recalled the infamous incident when Desmond was told to leave a New Glasgow, N.S., movie theatre in 1946. "I think that's really unfair, and I think she was super brave for doing that. Even when she was asked to leave, she still stood up for her people."

There is no shortage of African-Nova Scotian role models from Whitney Pier. Local figures, such as Carl “Campy” Crawford, Clotilda Yakimchuk, Mayann Francis, Tom Miller and Jonathan Skeete, have been celebrated in the school’s hallways long before Black Excellence Day.

"Every day our students here at Harbourside get to walk by on their way to the cafeteria, and they're reminded daily of the success stories of African-Nova Scotians here from Whitney Pier,” said Harbourside principal Daniel Beaton.

One of the things students did to recognize Black Excellence Day was a rendition of a song that has been sung in Black communities for generations.

"Every week here at the school, we play what is considered to be the Black national anthem, 'Lift Every Voice and Sing,’” Beaton explained.

Four Grade Four students sang the song before the whole school, during what would have been routine morning announcements.

"Yesterday, we rehearsed,” Beaton said. “Then, this morning, when it came time to do the morning announcements, Mila read the morning announcements. Then towards the end, instead of playing a recording of Lift Every Voice and Sing, my four friends here sang it."

It was not only a day to celebrate achievements, but rather a chance for students to learn lessons about equality.

"That it doesn't matter where you're from. You should have a right to do everything the same as other people,” Lawrence said.

Friday was the first Black Excellence Day, but it you ask the students it shouldn't be the last.

"I think it should be an annual thing,” Graham said. “Because after all the Black people went through, I think they need some recognition for the things that they've done."