Mrs. Saxe's VIth Form classes visited the Judy Black Memorial Gardens in Washington Depot for the Civil Rights exhibition "Good Night My Love," a photography exhibit by Ernest C. Withers.
Withers’ exhibit documents the Civil Rights Movement in the South from the late 1940s through the 1960s. The class visited the exhibit after reading Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson in English class. Brown Girl Dreaming, a poem written in narrative verse, recounts Woodson's experiences growing up as a black girl in both the north and south during the '60s and '70s amid the Civil Rights Movement and Jim Crow Laws.
Upper School English Teacher Karen Saxe reflected on the experience, saying, “When I heard about the Ernest J. Wither’s Civil Rights photo exhibit being in our town, I thought it was important to bring this important part of our nation’s history to life for my students. It was exciting to watch them walk from photo to photo taking a moment to take in the stories each of the photos tell."
The in-depth study of the inspiring poem and subsequent trip to the Good Night My Love exhibit tied into Rumsey's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice curriculum initiatives to study African American history dating back from slavery through the Civil Rights Movement. As they read, students also learned about African American music, starting with Field Hollers in the 1700s through the Harlem Renaissance and music today.