Piscataway High School social studies students got the great opportunity on Thursday, Feb. 5, to hear from Bill Davis, a longtime professor of Africa Studies at Rutgers University, about “A Century of Black History Commemorations”!

Mr. Davis spoke about the roots of Black History Month, Carter G. Woodson, and other legacy figures of the Civil Rights movement. He dove into the incredible story of Paul Robeson and left the audience with the question: “What will be your legacy?”

He was joined by friends from Baba’s Legacy and Rutgers University, including Rob Ramos, a musicologist from the Rutgers Graduate School and Mason Gross School of the Arts, who played an authentic West African hand drum, the Djembe. It was traditionally used in ceremonies, rites of passage, harvest celebrations, and healing rituals. The drum’s rhythms act as a form of communication, conveying messages across villages before modern technology existed.

Local poet LeDerick Horne performed several poems from iconic figures such as Langston Hughes, as well as his own tribute to Nina Simone.