Pottstown School District is using Black History Month to kick off a new initiative that will make the lessons more inclusive of the district’s multi-ethnic population, writes Evan Brandt for The Pottstown Mercury.

“It’s a conversation we’ve been having for the last six to nine months, but it became more urgent after the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests,” said Schools Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez.

The district has reviewed the curriculum and determined that “we’re doing a pretty good job at this, but we could be better,” said Rodriguez.

The district now wants to include more authors and figures who are more relevant to Black and brown students, such as Maya Angelou.

The goal is also to expand the narrative of African American history from focusing on just a few people, such as Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass as exceptions, and instead show that Black history is so much more than that.

“We want to help our students reclaim their history and start to learn these important stories which are never told,” said Rodriguez.

Read more about the initiative at The Pottstown Mercury by clicking here.