A significant portion of the program covered the “Little Rock Nine.” Oakland Height students, primarily from the third and fourth grades took on the roles of those involved during the infamous integration attempts at Little Rock Central High School and the courageous nine black students who were the first to walk through the school’s doors.
“We have a very diverse population here at Oakland Heights,” principal Sheri Shirley said. “I think it’s important that we honor all cultures and customs and history. We study various American icons that have made a difference throughout the year and because February is African-American history month, I think it’s really important to take that time to celebrate their contribution to our country.”
The program was originally scheduled to take place last month, but inclement weather forced the school to reschedule.
Students were selected from any age group, but Shirley said that it was primarily third- and fourth-graders who took part in the program because they did the most in-depth study of African American culture during the year.
“The students have to have a certain amount of commitment to this,” she said. “There’s not a lot of criteria besides them understanding that they do have a part to learn. There are rehearsals that sometimes took them out of class and sometimes even recess.”
Avree Fallias, a student who played Minnijean Brown Trickey in the play, said that missing recess was not a particularly large sacrifice to her when compared to the importance of the message of the play.
“I just wanted to remind myself and others that this play is special to me,” she said. “I have to work very hard to get my parts and lines in the play because the play is really, really important because they talk about black history. The black people helped other black people and white people to know that we could go on the same bus and be the same friends with each other.”
Besides being educational for the students in attendance, it is also education for the students involved.
“It’s important because people should have the rights to do stuff no matter what they look like,” Jacob Narveson, who played Jefferson Thomas in the play, said. “I learned a lot. I learned that Jefferson Thomas attended college in Los Angeles. He created a movie called Nine from Little Rock and was in the military.”
The program closed with a visit from the 44th president, Barack Obama (played by Freddie Armstrong), a presentation of Citizenship Awards and a memorial, put to song.