Celebrating Black History Month

Our LA Harbor Clubs host a variety of cultural education events to broaden our Club members' knowledge of the history and diversity of their communities. According the Library of Congress, "National African American History Month (also known as Black History Month) in February celebrates the contributions that African Americans have made to American history in their struggles for freedom and equality and deepens our understanding of our Nation's history." We celebrated Black History Month all February with events for teens and younger youth.

Fine Arts students visit an African American art exhibit.

Our San Pedro Club High School Center hosted a series of movie screenings about prominent stories in the African American community. The movies included 42: The Jackie Robinson Story and The Butler. High School Center Director Cara Askew also organized a "Taste of Soul" potluck where our teens shared dishes they prepared, including peach cobbler, macaroni and cheese and collared greens. Arts Academy Instructor Darren Iacono and fine arts students visited the California African American Museum to learn about different African American styles of painting and sculpture.

Fine Arts Director Sandra Avila and Elementary School Center Coordinator Joshua Johnson organized a presentation for our Wilmington Club youth about African American history and music. Students learned how the first African Americans lived as slaves before fighting for their freedom and about the prominent contributions they made to all aspects of society. Our youth also learned about the history of corn bread and each received a piece.

Our educators at all three Clubs incorporated Black History Month into their lesson plans to help our youth better understand that African American history is important to all American history.

Our Wilmington Club students learned about African American history, music and food.

Chinese New Year at the Club

On January 28, the Wilmington Boys & Girls Club hosted a Chinese New Year celebration for our elementary and middle school members. Students from our San Pedro Club and Port of LA Club attended the event which showcased the history and cultural traditions behind the popular holiday.

Fine Arts Director Sandra Avila explains the history of Chinese New Year.

Also known as the Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, according to history.com, Chinese New Year is, "the most important social and economic holiday in China." The holiday is very focused on family unity and joining together for celebrations. 

Fine Arts Director Sandra Avila coordinated the Wilmington Club celebration for our youth from all three Clubs to celebrate as a family. The event opened with our students receiving traditional Chinese New Year gifts including oranges and red envelopes with toy money while confetti was thrown as a much safer form of the traditional fireworks display. Our youth then settled down to hear about the history behind the holiday. The most popular legend of Chinese New Year is a story of how the villagers of a town scared away a monster by hanging up red banners, lighting fireworks, playing drums, wearing masks and marching with lamps which eventually became the new year holiday practices.

Music Coordinator Christine Mattera performs a traditional Chinese tune on a Dizi.

Our students learned about the musical traditions with a Dizi, Chinese bamboo flute, performance and a video of a group drum performance from China. The ceremony ended with a dragon parading through our Wilmington Club gym. 

Events, like our annual Chinese New Year celebration, give our youth the opportunity to experience popular cultural holidays and broaden their knowledge of international traditions.