For this Wellington teacher, it's always Black History Month

By ANGIE FRANCALANCIA
Neighborhood News Group
Posted Feb. 4, 2012

WELLINGTON — The first day of class in Randy Nichols’ African-American History course, the teacher makes a point to say “thank you” to the students in the room. They don’t have to take his class. They choose to be there, he says.

And on curriculum night, Nichols’ message to the parents is the same. He’s glad that students choose the class – one of the few social studies electives offered at Wellington Community High School.

In a recent class as students reviewed for an upcoming test, Nichols skirted through the room, clicking through slides of photos and key words projected on the board as he moved around, determined to jog the information from his students’ memories.

“What was the impact of Carl Melk?” he asks. A student hesitantly refers to his notes: He was a respected explorer from Great Britain; the first European to spread the myth that Zimbabwe was a white civilization.

“And what’s the significance of that,” Nichols prods. “Your perception of Africa is distorted because of false information,” he says. “You’re talking about generation after generation of people being exposed to lies – myths because they’re in the history books.”

In a sense, that’s why the entire course is so important, he says.

“Since there’s been so much distortions concerning Africa and African people, as more and more evidence comes out about the contributions of African people, it helps to shine the light on how much we owe to Africa,” Nichols says. “You can walk away with a better appreciation of Africa and African people.”

This month – Black History Month – Nichols won’t be changing lesson plans or noting significant historians because “every day you’re learning it,” he says.

The faces in his class are black, white and every shade in between. They’re 9th through 12th graders, some who have had a Randy Nichols class before, and many who have not.

“I took this class not only because I love Mr. Nichols but because I’ve always been interested in going to Africa,” said Junior Stephanie Silva. “I feel like this class teaches the truth rather than how people wanted it shaped.”

The truth is buried deep in the layers of history, beginning with the earliest African civilizations, Nichols says, which is why the first half of the year is devoted to African History, and the second half to African-American History.

He knows the course might not be interesting to some of his students until it gets more contemporary, focusing on the lives of leaders they might be familiar with – Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Malcolm X.

“I’m teaching the concepts. And the concepts are broad,” he explains. “History is not in the past because the past affects your present. You’ve got to lay the foundation.”

Perhaps that’s why he opens the review of 18th and 19th century Africa with a quote from Louis Farrakhan on the importance of knowing yourself.

“Explanation please, Michael Linton,” Nichols says, pointing to one of his students.

“If you don’t know yourself, you don’t know how to live,” the student offers.

“It’s the knowledge of self,” Nichols adds. “And part of that is learning your history, which can change your outlook.”

He asks for examples. And one student brings the history lesson to today. “It’s President Obama changing the thinking of black children that they too can become president.”