It was a night of inspirational music, dance, poetry and spoken word performances as the South Huntington School District and the Town of Huntington co-hosted our annual Black History Month Celebration on February 15th at the PAC.
The night started off with a few numbers by the Walt Whitman High School Jazz Band. Whitman Principal Dr. John Murphy and Assistant Principal Dr. Kendall Richards then welcomed everyone and promised a night of artistry, talent and expressiveness to celebrate our diverse community. “Black History Month is an amazing time where we get to honor special people within American history and our culture that have shaped and defined who we are today, what we've been able to do as a society, and how we're going to continue growing in unison, together as one people. Thank you so much for sharing in our joy and our love of our diversity with our wonderful students and wonderful town,” said Dr. Murphy.
Tenth grade Walt Whitman students Brielle Browne and Kamar Patterson sang the National Anthem and the Negro National Anthem, respectively. Then the audience was entertained by beautiful performances from the Stimson Middle School and Silas Wood Sixth Grade Center Intramural Band, Countrywood Primary Center singers, a poetry and spoken word presentation by Maplewood Intermediate School students, the Walt Whitman Dance program, 3D Dance Studio, the Walt Whitman High School Step Team, and an arousing performance by the Black History Month Gospel Choir of Huntington.
The Keynote Speaker for the evening was Dr. Lynn M. O’Connor, MD, Chief of the Colon and Rectal Surgery Division at Mercy Medical Center and St. Joseph Hospitals. She is also the proud mom of a Whitman graduate, Danielle Harris, who graduated in 2018. Dr. O’Connor recently made history becoming the first black female colorectal police surgeon for the New York City Police Department. She is a noted medical lecturer, and spends countless hours volunteering to educate and empower her patients and community about the importance of prevention of colorectal cancer and how screening saves lives.
Dr. O’Connor knew she wanted to go into medicine at a very early age. Getting there took resilience and hard work. But she also admits to some seeds of self doubt and feelings of imposter syndrome because a lot of the other medical students didn’t look like her. “It's difficult to be what you can’t see,” explained Dr. O’Connor. “When 13.6% of the population in the US identifies as black, and only 5.7% of the nation's doctors are black.”
“Studies show when black patients are given the opportunity to be treated by black doctors,” she continued, “they do better. There's greater trust, there's improved communication, there's more adherence to medical advice, all of which lead to a better health outcome.”
The evening wrapped up with an announcement about plans for the creation of the Huntington African American Museum. $10 million dollars needs to be raised to bring the vision to life. If that can be done, then the museum will be located on two acres near Huntington Harbor highlighting stories of African-Americans alongside those of Native Americans and other marginalized voices from the Huntington community.
Thank you to everyone from our school community and our Huntington neighbors who made this night such a success! If you missed any of the performances, you can watch the recorded version by clicking here on the SHUFSD Public Relations YouTube channel.
10th Grade WWHS student, Kamar Patterson, sang the Negro National Anthem.