CHILDREN LEAD BLACK HISTORY CELEBRATION
BY MARLI GUZZETTA INDEPENDENT ARTS EDITOR
Though their knowledge of history may not be too keen, children might be the best emissaries for Black History month in part because they are fairly colorblind. "The kids don't see color. It's obvious when you walk through the door that race isn't an issue here," said Lennie Germinara, who runs the Learning Center at the Boys and Girls Club. "Every kid plays with every other kid, regardless of color."

Enchanting Song of the Magical Bird." ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent Samantha Keiffer (left) and Leah Hull play the "Tree" in the Boys and Girls Club's adaption of Nelson Mandela's "The

Now in its 10th year, the annual Children's Black History Month program this Saturday will include a performance by some of the kids from the Boys and Girls Club. They will stage a dramatization of "The Enchanting Song of the Magical Bird," a short story written by Nelson Mandela for his children's stories compilation, "Mandiba Magic."

"Basically, the story is about a big, strange bird - nobody knows what it is or where it came from. And it steals people's food, sheep and chickens and that kind of stuff," explained Nantucket Elementary School fifth grader Mercedes Kiddon, who plays the bird in the Boys and Girls Club dramatization. "[The villagers] get really mad, and when they go to chop the tree down to get rid of the bird, the bird starts singing and it hypnotizes them; but when the kids come, they don't listen and they chop the tree down."

The bird could represent many things, but "prejudice" is a leading contender, and the kids defeat it because they don't hear its song.

"I think that black history month is really important, because black people should be respected just as white people, because there really is no difference," Kiddon said.

Some students, like Shanique Mason, wrote original pieces.

Adult members of the community will also participate, including The New Life Ministries Music and Arts Ensemble, under the direction of Joseph Jeffers. Local poet Dan Ross will speak, and James R. Nettles and Germinara will perform a staged reading of Letters between Langston Hughes and his good friend Carl Van Vecten. Zona Butler, Vice President of Operations at Nantucket Bank, will direct the Methodist Choir in a performance of "Burdens are lifted at Calvary."

In the past, the program has provided the opportunity to discuss notable, historic Nantucketers of color, according to Sharon Liburd, island representative for the African Meeting House on Nantucket. Liburd is coordinating and hosting the event at the African Meeting House, which, along with the adjacent Florence Higgenbotham House, is owned by the Museum of African- American History in Boston.

"The purpose of the program has

been for the kids to walk away with information and knowledge of people they can relate to. Growing up, I wish I knew of these people, because I would have had more of a sense of connection to the island," said Liburd, whose family is from the Caribbean.

But you don't have to be a person of color to appreciate the specific and significant contributions of black Nantucketers, according to Liburd. "We're all affected by history on Nantucket," she said. "So much of black history is key to all of Nantucket's history."

As examples, Liburd mentioned people like whaleship captain Absalom Boston, runaway slaveturned reverend Arthur Cooper and famous escaped slave and civil rights leader Frederick Douglass, who spoke to an integrated audience for the first time on Nantucket. She also listed Eunice Ross, an African- American teenager whose fight to integrate Nantucket schools lead to the first education-related civil rights legislation on the books in the country. Liburd doesn't neglect to mention the importance of Anna Gardener, Eunice Ross' (white) teacher at the African School.

The island's recent history has also been shaped by black Nantucketers, like Chicken Box founder Willie House, selectman Frank Spriggs, and native and landowner Annacetta Cosmo Johnson.

"Over the years, this program

hasn't been just for a group of black kids, because I want them all to get this information and work together," Liburd said. "It always floored me that this info wasn't there, that you could ask the average Nantucketer about this part of Nantucket's history, and they didn't know. It floored me, because Nantucketers take such pride in knowing the history of the island. It's a melting pot here, and there are key ingredients missing without

this piece of its history." I