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In Sean Miller’s Advanced Placement African American Studies class at South County High School in Lorton, Virginia, flags from various African nations decorated the room.
Students created posters with information about the importance of Black family reunions, and they were placed along the classroom walls.
On one side of the room, there were all types of food — chicken, waffles, Jollof rice and rolls, among others. Index cards next to each dish revealed the reason it belongs on the table. Some students went as far as explaining why lemonade needed to have a place.
The Black Joy Family Reunion evolved from an idea Miller had two years ago. He reflected on his own experiences with family reunions, recalling how valuable they can be for learning more about ancestors and connecting with family members not everyone may have met before.
The class reunion, he thought, would give students the chance to apply course concepts, while also learning more about their histories and each other. Miller said he is making it a regular occurrence during the last week of Black History Month.
“The goal is to express diversity,” Miller said. “It’s not about race or ethnicity per se, but it’s diversity of our student body and society as a whole. Hopefully, we can learn more about each other through this cultural experience.”
The event, Miller said, counts as a project-based assessment in the gradebook — students used databases to research and crafted the posters that represented the significance of Black reunions.
The class was divided into groups, with some responsible for games, aesthetics, music or food. For each of those parts, the students were asked to explain their choices.
“This is the most you see us really united,” student Kennedy Smith said. “There’s no cliques. There’s no groups. It’s just all of us having a blast, and that’s the best part of this class.”
The food table also featured collard greens and potato salad, in addition to the chicken and Jollof rice, which Smith described as “an African dish really primarily associated with Ghana and Nigeria.”
“We brought all these foods together because they have some historic meanings to Black family reunions, and they all just have meaning to each of us as individuals and culturally together,” Smith said.
Music played while students ate and played various games, including one in which they had to identify classmates based on their baby picture. Some of the students chose that game, they said, because “one of the most important parts of any Black family reunion is looking at old baby pictures and storytelling.”
The theme of Monday’s reunion was unity, which one student characterized as essential.
“We need to focus on Black joy rather than just the bad parts of Black history,” she said.
Miller is hoping the event motivates students to learn more about their family histories.
“My goal is that students will hopefully walk away today, and if they haven’t engaged in a family reunion, maybe they’re the person that plans the family reunion for their family,” Miller said. “Maybe they’ll start asking questions, doing interviews with families to learn about their own history.”
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