Yahoo News Tx. Teacher Performs Original Rap Song with His 6th Grade Students to Teach Black History Month
A Texas teacher who wanted his students to learn about Black History Month recently used the power of music in a fun and creative way.
When it came time to teach his sixth-graders about the influential figures that helped shape Black history, Antonio Young tells PEOPLE he wanted to do something that would stick with his students.
“I wanted them to go a little deeper than learning about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks,” Young, 41, says. “There are a lot of well-rounded individuals of African descent from past who contributed a lot to the society that don’t get the publicity they deserve.”
Thinking back to the days when he taught an hour outside of Chicago, Young remembered how he would put on musical Black history programs and perform live.
One of those performances included an original rap song performance called “Our Truth, Our Treasure” that spoke about many of the many “treasures” or accomplishments that were made by Black people throughout the years.
Wanting his current Arlington students to retain the important information, the Dunn Elementary School teacher introduced his sixth-grade class to the song — and then performed it alongside the kids in a video that made its debut on YouTube Tuesday.
In the clip, which is set to the 2009 song “Five Star” by rapper Yo Gotti, Young sings about how “Black history is so rich, it can hardly be measured” as his students perform choreographed routines in the classroom and hallway.
“If you love potato chips, you gotta thank George Crum. A black man who invented that treat in 1853,” Young raps. “And then there is James West. Without him, I’d be standing alone. If you didn’t know, back in the day, he created the microphone.”
“Dr. Drew’s blood banks saved many lives, just like Garrett Morgan’s traffic lights,” Young adds.
By the end of the clip, a group of Young’s students is seen dancing around him, holding many of the inventions discussed, including a clock, a container of peanuts, and Reese’s candy.
Though the students in the video do not actually sing, Young tells PEOPLE each one played a prominent role in bringing it together, from creating the choreography to organizing slides of the African American pioneers.
“I had more kids wanting to do it than I could include,” he admits. “It really was a team effort. I have some kids who are credited who never made it in the video but wanted to be involved in some kind of way.”
“Some of the kids said, ‘I’ll do the slides, I can go online and find pictures and pick the fonts,'” he continues. “I had no role in it.”
“It felt good that I could trust those individuals and know they’ll get the job done while I’m focusing on other parts of the video,” adds Young, who wore a gray T-shirt that read “Malcolm, Harriet, Martin, Maya, & Frederick” — a nod to several of the well-known Black figures in history.
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Following the video’s release, the Arlington Independent School District (ISD) praised Young and the students for their rap song on Twitter.
“Turn up the volume as Dunn Elementary School teacher Antonio Young leads students in a rap song through black history,” they wrote beside the video, which has been viewed thousands of times.
The district also added the hashtags, “#BlackHistoryMonth #ArlingtonISD #ThisIsOurTruth”
As the video continues to gain attention, Young says he hopes people, particularly educators and parents, take away the importance of thinking outside of the box when trying to connect with children.
“We have to do things for students to be engaged and learn the content,” he tells PEOPLE. “I introduced the song to the students on the first day of research and as they worked through it, their energy and enthusiasm were continuous.”
“There’s so many resources out there that incorporate music, and we should use it in the classroom because it really draws attention to the content we’re teaching,” Young adds. “And not just teachers, but parents too. It’ll make it easier to reach that kid about doing homework who loves music.”
