Emerging Leaders Institute at Bluefield State College Presents “Original Roots”
The Emerging Leaders Institute (ELI) student organization at Bluefield State College recently presented “Original Roots,” an original presentation that highlighted many underappreciated and underpublicized facts about the history of Blacks in America.
“The presentation was developed to increase awareness of, and appreciation for, Black History,” noted Linda Trigg, BSC faculty member and ELI Director. The students researched and developed the presentation, then presented the program and a question-answer session afterward.”
“Unlike the information taught in today’s educational system, Original Roots provides a different perspective about the development of Black people,” observed Brandon Anyanwu, BSC ELI President.
The catalyst for developing Original Roots was explained in a program flyer:
“In the United States, we learn about the history of Black people in a very brief way. We learn about Civil Rights, famous leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. amazing inventors like Madam CJ Walker and, of course heartbreaking events like slavery.
“We even watch movies in school about these things. The movie that came to mind when thinking about developing our program was “Roots,” a movie that infers that these are the “Roots” of African Americans today. That is simply not the case. “Original Roots” extends much deeper than slavery, sadness, and negativity. Our school system fails to educate us on who we truly were.”
