Student winners of this year's City of Bloomington Black History Essay Contest wrote about everyone from civil rights icons to artists, musicians and little-known scientists. The young people have chosen heroes to admire and people who speak to them. You can listen to the students read their essays at the bottom of this story.
The annual essay contest sponsored by the city and its Human Relations Commission is supposed to encourage youth and community engagement and cultural awareness. This year's theme is about the resilience of people who use their most valuable assets to break through societal barriers.
Civil rights stalwarts made an appearance in this year’s contest, though they did not dominate the thoughts of the students. Eighteen-year-old Bloomington High School student Shaylah Prince talked about conditions that led to the rise of Martin Luther King, Jr.
"A silent blanket of indignation washed over Americans living under servitude. Not only was enslavement and purchase of humans normalized and allowed, so was slaughter, economic separation and redlining," wrote Prince.
Prince said King fought for the moral obligation a government owes the people. His confidence in social change and belonging inspires her and gives her confidence to be in social spaces that do not seem welcoming. Prince said she knows opportunity is something she will have to fight for just because of the color of her "skin pigmentation."
Among the most significant parts of King's legacy, Prince said, is the 1965 Civil Rights Act.
"We were no longer three-fifths a human. We fully had been legalized to have the ability to choose who we put in office and who serves us," wrote Prince.
She said she wanted to convey in her essay that America does owe Blacks something. She said it's also wrong to think of MLK as an influence solely on the rights of Black and brown Americans. He also affected the women's movement, labor unions and other groups.
Prince said King challenged the status quo in multiple ways. To disrupt order and force federal involvement King promoted boycotts, peaceful protects, speeches, rallies and propaganda. Prince said the tactics of nonviolent protest [direct action] King used are crucially important to her.
"I don't like violence. For me, if it had come to it or if violence came here I would rather die before I would have to pick up a gun," said Prince.
Fourteen-year-old Bloomington Junior High School student Carmen Wells said everyone is taught about MLK. For her essay, Wells chose a namesake, Ida B. Wells, someone she did not learn about in school. Carmen Wells said she wanted to dig deeper into the founding of the NAACP. Ida B. Wells was a journalist, suffragist, author and educator at a time when newspapers and books were the main sources of information. She wrote about the lynching of a friend and other injustices.
"The revelations sparked riots and widespread unrest challenging the deeply rooted systems of racism and bias that were already in place," said Carmen Wells.
Sixteen-year-old essayist KJ King-Warr said Black history is built on individuals who refuse to shrink themselves to fit expectations. King-Warr said legendary basketball player Allen Iverson is one of those resilient people. King-Warr called Iverson a cultural disrupter who acted on the system by fighting to remain his authentic self, a self that included tattoos, corn rows and clothes that did not fit a dress code created just to curb him and people like him.
"The unspoken message was clear. Success requires assimilation. Iverson refused. By staying true to himself, he challenged the idea that Black athletes must suppress their culture to be respected. He proved that greatness and identity are not opposites. They can co-exist," wrote King-Warr.
Things changed. King-Warr said Iverson helped normalize cultural expression in professional sports. He said Iverson's example resonates with lessons he is learning in his own life.
"As a young Black athlete, I understand confidence can be misunderstood. Passion can be labeled as attitude. Self-expression can be seen as rebellion. Watching Iverson remain fearless even when criticized reminds me that leadership requires courage. It requires standing firm in who you are even when others are uncomfortable with it," said King-Warr.
King-Warr said Iverson redefined what excellence looks like. He was raised by a single mom, was involved in a racially charged fight when he was a teen and was sentenced to 15 years in prison while his white assailants were not punished. Iverson's sentence was quickly commuted. The incident still could have defined him. It did not. Iverson went on to excel in basketball at Georgetown University. King-Warr said that proved second chances matter.
"Mistakes do not define you, growth does," said King-Warr. "He empowered future generations."
Other essayists turned to cultural figures. Twelve-year-old Bloomington Junior High School student Erioluwa Jegede writes about singer Aretha Franklin, actor Sidney Poitier, writer Toni Morrison and sculptor Augusta Savage.
"During the Harlem Renaissance, Savage fought discrimination in the art world and dedicated her life to teaching and mentoring young black artists. Her work demonstrated that art can be a force for empowerment and cultural pride," said Jegede.
Jegede said Black history is a living legacy that continues to inspire generations.
Among others, 14-year-old Bloomington High School student Ameena Gaston cited political trailblazers like Shirley Chisolm, the first Black woman elected to Congress and to run for President.
"Her famous words, ‘unbought and unbossed,’ remind me to stay confident, independent, and true to my values even when facing challenges," said Gaston.
Twelve-year-old Norah Smith of Bloomington Junior High found a contemporary hero for her essay.
"I wanted somebody who was actually relevant to my life and since we all lived through the [COVID] outbreak, she's relevant because she was important in developing the vaccine," said Smith.
Smith profiled a scientist who fought the pandemic.
"Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett-Helaire acted as the scientific lead for the coronavirus vaccines and immunopathogenesis team which partnered with Moderna to develop the vaccine. She led the quick design of the spike protein used in the COVID-19 vaccine," said Smith.
The essay prize winners are also honoring people historically ignored or minimized, many of them from the 1920s.
Ameena Gaston raised up Garrett Morgan who invented the first three position traffic light; Bessie Coleman, the first Black woman to hold a pilot's license; Sadie Tanner Mossel Alexander, the first black woman to earn a PhD in Economics and Elbert Frank Cox, who was the first Black person to earn a PhD in mathematics. Gaston also gave a shoutout to Marie Van Brittan Brown who invented the first home security system in the 1960s.
"Seeing Black leaders, thinkers and innovators teaches people, especially Black students that their voices matter and their potential is limitless," said Gaston.
The student writers in this year's City of Bloomington essay contest have found people that speak to them about resilience, leadership and standing up for oneself, people who blazed a trail for future generations. In so doing, they also sought to know their own minds and form their own characters through those heroic examples.
And it shows, as KJ King-Warr wrote, “talent combined with discipline and mentorship can overcome even the harshest obstacles.”
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