A Conversation about Black History and Poetry

Wredling Middle School Social Studies teacher Laura Franklin asked her 8th-grade students to use The Fierce 44: Black Americans Who Shook Up the World to research outstanding contributions made by people of color. The assignment allowed students to create a work of art, writing, or poetry that told the story of the person they researched. Elin Foreman and Isabella Adriatico chose prominent poets who inspired them to write and perform their own original poems. Dr. Pearson talks to these wonderful articulate middle school students about the project, who they chose, what they learned, and how they were inspired.