The annual Black History Month Assembly took place during a 60-minute homeroom on February 27, where students experienced a snapshot into Black culture. Student leaders from the Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN) and Pride, Unity, Leadership, Sisterhood, and Esteem (PULSE) were heavily involved in the planning for this event, after various concerns about the assembly were brought up to the PHS administration by these students.

“In terms of actually planning for this year, it’s been since the beginning of the school year. The students met with Ms. Birge and had to advocate for it to happen during the school day and we got approval for that in October,” said Bethany Siddiqu, the advisor of PULSE.

The discussion centered around concerns from the administration that previous assemblies had limited educational value and created issues with student attendance. In a response to an email from The Tower, Princeton Parents for Black Children (PPBC), a group aiming to advance equity for Black students, criticized PHS administration’s comments about the assembly.

“The administration made unfortunate and inaccurate comments about the relationship of the cultural assemblies to student absences and academic performances,” said the organization. “The comments seemed to be excuses to validate eliminating or diminishing the assemblies... It simply perpetuated the difficult environment students have complained about for years.”

Following negotiations with various student groups, including PULSE and MSAN, PPBC acknowledges the administration’s willingness to work with students.

“We understand that the planning has gone through many ideations and iterations as the PHS administration has become more aware of its importance. We believe PPBC’s meeting with Ms. Birge and vocal student advocacy has helped the administration gain some perspective,” PPBC said in a statement.

As a student organizer of the assembly, Will Ponder ’25 has overseen several changes aimed to make it more interactive.

“[We will add more] scripts and more acting and we’re also adding a little bit of a fashion show, so we’re gonna be able to incorporate more things than last year [because] we have more time,” said Ponder.

President of PULSE, Lena Hamilton ’25, emphasized that continuing to have vibrant cultural assemblies is critical in ensuring students, especially minority students, feel more seen.

“It’s really important that schools have assemblies like the Black History assembly, because especially in our current political climate, it’s important to celebrate our differences and our various cultural values and share that we’re not all the same, [which is] kind of a good thing. [We] can celebrate how we’re different and how we each contribute to the foundation of society,” said Hamilton.

Patricia Manhart, a racial literacy and social studies teacher at PHS, agreed that while the Black History Month assembly celebrates and represents Black history, teachers need to continue to do work within their curriculum to be representative and inclusive.

“There’s way too much history for it to just to be one day, right? It is the job of teachers to make sure that our curriculum is representative, inclusive, and covers all of U.S. history, and it doesn’t just sort of cherry-pick or take a white, Eurocentric approach,” said Manhart.

Siddiqu echoed Manhart’s sentiments for continued and increased representation of Black history in school curricula.

“I think the ... ultimate goal would be for Black history, and any other cultural history, to just be embedded in everything that we do here at the school. I think that’s the long-term goal,” said Siddiqu.