At Park View Middle School, Ann Marie Torres and her students celebrated Black History Month in the classroom, completing in-depth research projects on historically significant African Americans and their contributions and accomplishments.

Among the figures explored through the projects were President Barack Obama, sports figures Wilma Rudolph and Hank Aaron, abolitionist and humanitarian Harriet Tubman, civil rights icon Rosa Parks and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

For the project, students had to create and present to the class a hand-drawn snapshot of their chosen historical figure, which also included the name, date of birth and death, interesting information about the person and their cause and the person’s contributions to society and history.

Additionally, students were asked to write a five-paragraph research paper about their figure and include all pertinent historical and anecdotal information, as well as a creative cover sheet. During their presentations, the students were asked to discuss unusual facts that they many not have known about their chosen subject.

“I was struck by the fact that Joe Lewis had to take odd jobs as a young boy because his dad couldn’t work anymore,” Drew Buchanan said during his presentation on the famed heavyweight-boxing champion.

Tonia Roberti shared what she learned during her study of Harriet Tubman.

“Her husband, who was a free man, threatened to turn her in when she left with her brothers … $40,000 was the reward for her capture, but she still brought people even further, up to Canada, 20 times in eight years using the Underground Railroad. She saved 300 slaves.”