The contributions of Black Americans at St. Louis U. High have frequently been overlooked when examining the school’s history. To inform the school community on how black people have impacted the school from its founding to the present, as well as to honor Black History Month, the Association for Cultural Enrichment at SLUH (ACES) hosted a presentation, student panel, and schoolwide discussion last Thursday, Feb. 2.

The presentation was broken into three parts: past, present, and future. First, ACES members read a brief history of Black Americans in relation to SLUH, sharing detailed stories of the people enslaved by the Jesuits as well as the successes of Black SLUH alumni. Next, Co-Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Dan Shields moderated a discussion panel with current Black SLUH students to help them share their experiences with the community. Finally, students and teachers were dismissed to their Advisory groups for a brief discussion on the presentation.

“Mr. Shields and I met with some students from ACES and the Black Student Union and workshopped a lot of different ideas,” said Co-Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Frank Kovarik. “This is a combination of some of those ideas that we settled on.”

For the past two years, the Black History Month presentation was semi-virtual due to Covid. One of the goals of this year’s presentation was to get all of the students and faculty in a room together to witness the talks.

“We thought it was pretty impactful to engage the entire student body at one time by having the in-person assembly because there’s a level of attention that assemblies can get,” said Shields. “I think just seeing someone in person as opposed to having a panel of students on a screen can allow them to be a little bit more relatable.”

The history portion of the presentation stemmed from recent research conducted at St. Louis University into the history of the university in relation to Black Americans. Stories like that of Matilda Tyler, a Black woman enslaved by SLU who purchased her freedom in 1848, surfaced with the research.

“As new history comes to light, we’re adding that into the pages of SLUH history and then presenting that to students, because many of our kids don’t know the Black history and the slaves that were owned, and that also contributed to the creation of SLUH,” said Shields.

The history presentation also described the accomplishments of notable Black SLUH alumni, some of whom are pictured on the wall across from the Claude Heithaus, SJ Media Center.

“I think it’s important to know that students are standing on the shoulders of alumni who have done amazing things, but also of these enslaved people who helped create this institution that they find pretty impactful,” said Shields.

For the second part of the presentation, the conversation shifted from past to present as five SLUH students took the stage. Juniors Courtney Lucas and Chase Mason and seniors Mark Faulkner, Chandler Flowers, and Elijah Oden discussed their experiences being Black at SLUH in a roundtable format.

“Black History Month means a lot to me,” said Oden. “It’s the foundation of Black excellence. I think we should celebrate it here at SLUH because all of the students have our own unique abilities, but especially since we’re a minority within the building, Black History Month is very important.”

“I feel like, as a very respectable leader in our community, people will want to hear from me and they would want to listen,” said Flowers. “Going up there was a way to guide people to open up more.”

“I felt like it was really important that I spoke mainly because, as a Black queer person, I think that representation will be really nice to have,” said Lucas.

ACES leaders hoped the panel would help students relate to the struggles of their Black classmates and think about how to combat racism at SLUH.

“The goal is to make students think and to make Black History Month feel immediate and relevant and real to them,” said Kovarik. “I think Black history is SLUH history. Black people have been a part of our school since the very beginning and either that history has been erased, misunderstood, or forgotten about. So I think the presentation is important in filling in a gap about our knowledge of the school.”

It was evident in the Advisory discussions that the presentation had broadened the perspectives of some students.

“I got to my Advisory a little bit late, but when I did get there, everybody was already working on the questions that Mr. Kovarik provided and making sure to answer them thoroughly and be sincere about it,” said Faulkner.

“I think there’s been a lot of reflective thinking on what students can do, regardless of their ethnicity, to make school a more welcoming space for all students,” said Shields.

While many events at SLUH are meant to bolster school pride, the Black History Month presentation had a unique purpose of challenging students to look at the insufficiencies of the school and how they can make SLUH a better place.

“I think a lot of students were surprised to hear that there are stereotypes about SLUH students, which I think is a good moment of self-awareness that was brought to a lot of students,” said Kovarik. “They thought about how SLUH is viewed by the whole community.”

SLUH will continue to celebrate Black History Month with prayers led by the Black Student Union that started this week and will conclude at the end of next week.