Each volume of Mirrors is rooted in a unique theme, an aesthetic that we hope brings a positive impact to those who read our students' creations. The Spiral Orbit is our boldest take yet, a vision wherein we ponder how to embrace our similarities and diversities at the same time. Truly, a collision course where the pull of our lives leads toward empathy. We cannot escape the hard conversations, and this volume posits that we must speak sooner rather than later. Our identities are perfect the way they are, and no societal expectations can betray our humanity.

Think about this: how dark would the world be without the contributions of people who are unafraid to live as their authentic selves? We wanted to publish an entire volume in black and white as a symbol of this idea, a recognition that without one another . . . we are nothing. This volume is bold and unapologetic. It is poignant and powerful. It is Mirrors in full color because that is how the people who created it choose to live in the real world.

The women’s suffrage movement was an over seventy-year-long battle for women’s voting rights. In August of 1920, the 19th amendment was finally ratified, allowing women to receive all rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

While this did positively affect women, were women of color included in this? Unfortunately, women of color had to continue the fight for their rights. Women of color were often kept from the polls through violence. Many states continued to pass laws that discriminated against women of color.

There were a large number of women of color who fought for their rights. They chose to live by a statement made by Shirley Chisholm: “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”

For black women, there were ladies like Daisy Elizabeth Adams Lampkin who spent her life fighting for the right to vote. She also centered her life around many women’s organizations. She became the president of the Lucy Stone Woman Suffrage League in 1915, and a chairman and national organizer of the executive board for the National Association of Colored Women in 1916.

For Native-American women, there were women like Marie Louise Bottineau Baldwin. She was a North Dakota Chippewa native who spent most of her life fighting for Native-American rights and became a key spokesperson for Native women. In 1914, she met with President Wilson to inspire him to support women’s right to vote.

Asian American women had ladies like Tye Leung Schulze. Schulze was born in a very xenophobic period. In 1910, she became the first Chinese-American woman to work for the federal government. She was also the first to cast a ballot after women received their right to vote in California.

Latinas had women like Maria Teresa Kumar. She founded Voto Latino, a national nonprofit. She has registered over 250,000 voters. Her organization also partnered with the census bureau to encourage participation in the census for more adequate government funding.

These women’s hard work and sacrifices allowed women of color to have rights, and almost be treated the same as white women by legislation. By following their example, women today still choose to fight for their rights. Hopefully, the world will treat men and women equally because of the bold step these women decided to take.

By: Kaylen C.

Lauryn Hill has become one of the most prominent figures in black music, but it wasn’t always this way. Born on May 26, 1975, in Newark, New Jersey, Hill was always fascinated by music. Her father was a computer consultant, and her mother was a teacher, but they both just so happened to be musical. Her older brother, Malaney, also played multiple instruments. As a child, Hill enjoyed school and sports, but music was a preference of hers. At age 13, Hill appeared as a contestant on Showtime at the Apollo. In her early teens, she started to appear on television and auditioned for roles in New York City. In high school, Hill and one of her classmates, Prakazrel Michel performed together. Their name was Tranzlator Crew. Shortly after creating this group, Wyclef Jean joined, and the name was changed to the Fugees. Hill acted in As the World Turns, and Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit to finance her group. Lauryn Hill attended Columbia University and tried to balance school with her professional career but ended up leaving because the Fugees got signed. The Fugee's debut album, Blunted on Reality, didn’t do so well because critics claimed that she overshadowed her partners. Their second album, The Score, attracted more positive attention, and they sold 18 million copies of their rendition of “Killing Me Softly with His Song” by Roberta Flack. This earned the Fugees two Grammys. Unfortunately, the Fugees broke up after Hill and her married bandmate Jean were said to be having a romantic relationship.

After this relationship with Jean, Hill met and fell in love with the son of Bob Marley, Rohan Marley. Hill began writing songs for her first solo album while pregnant with her son, Zion David. After giving birth, she began recording her solo debut album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill at Bob Marley’s Museum Studio in Jamaica. Her album topped the Billboard 200 charts for 4 weeks, and the Billboard R&B Album charts for 6 weeks. One of her 5 singles “Doo Wop (That Thing)” debuted at number 1 on the Billboard charts. The album was so successful it sold 19 million copies. The success helped Hill break multiple records at the 1999 Grammy Awards. She was the first woman to be nominated in 10 categories in a single year, and of her 10 nominations, she won 5 awards. After winning her Grammy awards, Hill was offered to be put on magazine covers and flooded with film offers, but she decided to just focus on her music. The following year, 2000, she won the Grammy for Album of the Year making her the only woman to ever win that award two years in a row. In 2001, Hill recorded a live album for MTV called Unplugged No. 2.0 which was released in 2002. This was a live album she performed with the help of her acoustic guitar. Though this album didn’t do as well as The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, it was still very successful. Presently, Lauryn Hill has only made one studio album and one live album. She told Rolling Stone that she didn’t feel supported by her label to make another studio album following the success of her first album. Lauryn Hill may not make any more albums, but she still has a beautiful voice and a passion for music.

By: Kamryn S.

Ida Bell Wells-Barnett more known as Ida B Wells was a prominent journalist, activist, and researcher. She was a very strong woman during the 19th and 20th centuries. She had to face so much as a black woman. She battled sexism, racism, and violence all because she was a black woman. She was born into slavery in Holly Springs, Mississippi on July 16th, 1862, and died on March 25th, 1931. Her parents were active in the political landscape of the Reconstruction Era, something which shaped her views.

Ida was often treated poorly because she was a black woman. She filed a lawsuit against a train car company because she bought a first-class seat, but the train crew forced her to move to the “African American” car. So, she stood her ground and said no but she was forcibly removed from the car, while she was being removed, she bit one of the crew members. When she sued them, she won a $500 settlement in a circuit case court. However, her case was overturned in the Federal court. With all the issues Ida had, she began writing about them. This included topics like race and politics in the south. She later had newspapers called The Memphis Free Speech and Headlight and Free Speech. She also worked as a teacher in a segregated public school.

She later joined many other African American leaders in boycotting the World’s Columbian Exposition. The boycotters accused the exposition committee of not letting blacks join and portraying the concept of the black community. Ida was able to balance being a mother and her passion for activism. She pointed out all the white women in the suffrage movement who ignored lynching because she was a black woman. She was often ridiculed and ostracized by women’s suffrage organizations in the United States because they didn’t “want her.” So, she started her movement and called it the National Association of Colored Women’s Club. She was a founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She founded a club in Chicago on January 30, 1913, and she called it the Alpha Suffrage Club. This club was primarily for women in the city to select candidates who would be the best fit to serve the Black community.

She was invited to march in a suffrage parade. The organizers of the parade were embarrassed to be seen with black people, so they asked for all the African American group leaders to march in the back of the parade. Even though they were the ones that invited them to it they still were going to be racist no matter what. Wells stood on the sideline of the parade until all the white women passed and then she joined. The rest of the African American suffrage club marched at the back of the parade. She was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for the outstanding work that she did to help black women survive. She left behind an amazing legacy that had to do with women's social and political activism. She will never be forgotten for all the stuff she did for black women.

By: Dekeria C.

Lebron James is a famous NBA player and is argued to be the best that ever played. James was born in 1984 in Akron, Ohio. He grew up very poor without a father in his home, but he didn't let it stop him from becoming great. At the end of his high school career, he had 2,657 points and as a sophomore made the All-USA team while also winning state for his team. This put him on the radar immediately. After his senior year of high school, he skipped college and went straight to the NBA. He got drafted in the first round and went number one.

Lebron has a very successful NBA career going on and still, he has proven to the world that he is the best. By becoming one of the youngest players to score 30,000 points, being an Olympic gold medalist, and acquiring 4 NBA championships with lots of other achievements. That also got him lots of endorsements from companies like Nike, Walmart, and GMC. He’s also shown up in commercials and starred in a couple of movies, one being Space Jam. Lebron became one of only 15 black billionaires in 2022.

I feel LeBron shows people that you can grow up in almost any environment and achieve your dreams. He’s motivational to the black community and others. Even though he was challenged growing up fatherless he persevered through it and became great in his dreams and gave inspiration to athletes in his position.

By: Noah W.

You know Pocahontas and her story

You know her love, John Smith, who was whisked away

You know her adventures

Her love for the white man beating her love for her own

You know how she yearned to paint with all the colors of the wind

You know of her disapproving father

You know of her love triangle with John smith and Kocoum

Sure, you know of the myth

But do you know the real story?

The story of the girl named Matoaka?

The young 10-year-old girl who protected the captain and soldier

John Smith-who had done nothing but hurt her tribe

Matoaka, the girl who had no romantic feelings for said man

But only did it out of the goodness of her heart?

Matoaka, the girl who’d later be ripped from her home by the English men

Who Disney told you loved her?

Matoaka, the girl who married a man she didn’t know

In turn for her release.

Her marriage to the man of tobacco - John Ralfe

The man who stripped her of her name

The man who called her Rebecca and had her hand?

Do you know that story?

The story of a young girl who persevered a marriage for two years

Who became the symbol of peace and goodwill

Between the natives and the English?

The story of the girl who was finally allowed to return home

But before she could foot on the grounds of her home

Or feel the warmth of Virginia

Passed away only at the mere age of 21

Matoaka

A girl who died under the name of Rebecca

A girl who was stripped of her home, her village

A girl who never saw her family again

A girl nicknamed Pochahontas for her antics as a child

Matoaka, a girl who never loved John Smith

Matoaka

The favorite daughter of the chief of Werowocomoco

A woman who had birthed one son

His name being Thomas

A girl who had empathy for those who hurt her people

Who stole her away

Who held her as a ransom to her father

Who died, convinced that her father did not love her

Matoaka, a girl whose story should never be forgotten

By: REM

Who is Eunice Carter?

Born in Atlanta in 1899

Daughter of William Alpheaesus Sr. and Addie Waites Hunton

Sister of William Alpheaesus Jr.

From Atlanta to Brooklyn

Fordham University the school

Bachelor's and M.S.W. Degrees

Even a Law Degree

Becoming the first African American Woman to receive one

Passing the bar to receive an honorary doctorate degree

Social Worker and Lawyer

Taking down a Mafia boss, making her the “Mob Master”

Marrying Lisle Carter Sr.

One of the first African American dentists

Had a son, Lisle Carter Jr.

Died January 1970

This is Eunice Carter

By: Dakota J.

Born into slavery in 1760, Richard Allen became a Methodist preacher and an outspoken advocate of racial equality. Richard Allen was a minister, educator, writer, and one of America's most active and influential Black leaders.

As a child, Allen attended a nearby Methodist society Church service that welcomed Freed African Americans and slaves alike. This influenced Allen to become a preacher himself. As a teen, he thought himself to read and write, and began preaching to other slaves at only 17 years old.

In 1794, One of his biggest accomplishments; founding the first independent Black denomination in the United States, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, was fueled by his hope of forming a congregation open exclusively to African Americans. An interesting fact about his church was originally it was an old blacksmith church, but he turned that into something much more dignified.

Allen and his followers were known as Allenites. In 1799, he became the first African American to be ordained in the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Richard and his followers broke free from the Methodist church because they thought that white members were interfering with their practice of religion. He opened his first Methodist church in 1794 in Philadelphia. He focused on organizing a group in which free black people could worship as they wished without racial oppression and enslaved people could find a sense of dignity.

In 1816, he united other African Methodist congregations from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland to officially form A.M.E, and he was elected bishop. To put it simply, he had a profound impact on America and the Revolutionary years. Allen purchased his freedom in 1780 and had no last name (or family) at that point, so he gave himself the last name Allen. Allen began working as a traveling minister and spent the final years of the American Revolution preaching, primarily to African Americans.

By: Zachary E.

Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman was born on September 1st, 1996 in Oakland, California to her parents Claire Stoermer and Kazembe Ajamu Coleman. Zendaya has five older half-siblings on her father's side.

She attended Fruitvale Elementary School, where her mother taught for 20 years. Zendaya claims to have been a timid child growing up. That was until she started going to the California Shakespeare Theater in Orinda, California where her mom was the manager. Zendaya would later start her career by modeling for stores like Macy's, Old Navy, and Mervyn's. Zendaya later went on to book a role on Disney Chanel in 2010 as Rocky in “Shake It Up."

After that show ended after three seasons, Zendaya had her own show with the Disney Channel called “K.C Undercover” which ran from 2015 to 2018. She also competed in "Dancing With the Stars" in 2013 and placed second. Zendaya was ready to leave her Disney days behind and move on to more mature rules.

From 2016-2019 she had roles in “The Greatest Showman, “Spider-Man Homecoming," and "Euphoria." Zendaya made history in 2021 by becoming the youngest person ever to win an Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a drama series for her show "Euphoria." Since then, Zendaya has had roles in “Dune," “Space Jam," “Malcolm and Marie,” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home."

In conclusion, Zendaya is obviously one of the most successful and influential women in the entertainment industry today.

By: Torian H.

Matthew Shepard was born on December 1, 1976, in Casper, Wyoming. He wound up going to public schools his whole life until junior high when his parents moved to Saudi Arabia. To continue his pursuit of education, Matthew completed his high school career in an American school in Switzerland. He became known as a kind-hearted teenager who was eventually elected as a peer counselor to fellow students in need of someone to talk to. He would easily stand up for his peers and accepted them no matter what. Equality was always in Matthew’s mind, as he loved to travel, making many friends all over the world. Going back to the states for college, he attended the University of Wyoming. Shepard wanted to gain a degree in political science and foreign relations, two things he excelled in.

On October 6, 1998, Matthew wanted to relax after a period of hard work in college. He had been working to plan an LGBT Awareness Week celebration with his friends, and he found himself going to a bar one night to de-stress. None of his friends wanted to go. Being openly gay at the time was difficult for anyone, and sometimes it could lead to unwanted negative attention. At the bar that night, Shepard began to make conversation with two roofing workers, Russel Henderson and Aaron McKinney. These men would later prove to be no friends to young Matthew.

The lead investigator in Matthew’s murder noted that “McKinney's statement said he and Russell went into the bathroom at the Fireside Bar and planned to act like they were gay to try to gain Matthew's confidence.” After talking with Matthew for some time, the two men convinced him to get in their truck where they beat him and stole his wallet. Driving a mile out of town, Henderson took take Shepard out of the car, tying him to a log fence and pistol-whipping him to a bloody pulp. The sheriff reported that Matthew had been “struck in the head and face between 19 and 21 times with the butt of a very large Smith and Wesson revolver.”

His abductors left him tied in the freezing Wyoming weather for over 18 hours. The next day, a teenager riding his bike noticed what looked like a scarecrow. This was until he got closer to find it was a human being who had been completely ravaged. Reggie Fluty, the first officer to respond, noted that “Matt was on his back with his arms behind him. His respirations were far and few between.” Trying to help him regain his breath, she tried to put her finger in his mouth, but the beating was so violent that his jaw wouldn’t budge.

Matthew suffered a crushed brain stem and four skull fractures. His parents rushed from Saudi Arabia to see their son completely broken. He never regained consciousness, dying five days later. His parents described that he had “bandages and stitches all over his face and bandages around his head where the final blow had crushed his brain stem. His fingers and toes were curled in a comatose position already. Tubes everywhere enabled his body to stay alive. One of his eyes was partially open so you could see his blue eyes and the tubes in his mouth. You could see his braces, so of course, it's Matt. His face was swollen, actually kind of unrecognizable till you got closer."

The attack and murder of Matthew Shepard sparked national outrage as many politicians and celebrities rallied at the US Capitol to hold a vigil for the loving young man. Why must a boy at such a young age be exploited by people in society for loving differently? McKinney tried to get off the case with no hate crime charges, but the police department knew it was from the start, as the criminals’ statements provided proof: “Being a very drunk homophobic [man] I flipped out and began to pistol whip the f*g with my gun, ready at hand."

A decade later the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was signed by President Barack Obama. His story and many others inspired people across the United States and the world to speak out against the violent acts perpetrated against people because of race, sexuality, and disability. No one should ever be incriminated for being different or even taken from the world too early. This case struck my heart, and people just like me as it could be any of us that could be attacked the same way. Years after his death, change has happened but there is still prejudice towards communities such as the LGBTQIA. The Pulse Night Club is one of the many attacks that have happened recently toward the gay community. Crimes, beatings, and murders are still happy for no reason beyond hate and ignorance. It could be anyone next, and it scares me that so many people still hate me and others for living a different life. I carry a burden to live every day and people will always hate me. Matthew has given light to a situation that has happened for centuries.

It’s a spiral of hate when it should be love. Take that into your heart and figure out what your actions have on others. Remember Matthew and anyone that has endured the same experience he did. Love not hate.

By: Andrew R.