Wyatt John testifies on Sankofa series
Wyatt John, a senior at Thomas A. Edison CTE High School, testifies about his experience in the Sankofa series at Langston Hughes Library. He describes studying Black history and teaching younger students what he learned.
Good afternoon.
My name is Wyatt John, and I'm a senior at Thomas A.
Edison CTE High School.
This summer, I was one of the 13 people in the Sankofa series, Legacy Forward at the Langston Hughes Library.
Sankofa means go back and get it, and that's exactly what we did.
We studied Black Wall Street, Black inventors, Black voices in film and media, and our roots and identity.
We sat across from a Black Panther veteran, a Vietnam veteran, and an executive producer, and asked our own questions.
A moment that stayed with me was hearing firsthand from a Black Panther veteran and realizing that the history we read about in textbooks is still alive and real.
And carried by people right here in our community.
We found those stories in the Black Heritage Reference Center, in books, newspapers, and history we could actually hold.
As a final project, we taught first through eighth graders what we learned.
That's what a research collection does.
It doesn't just keep history, it passes it forward.
Please keep investing in it.
Thank you.