What I appreciate about Chadwick Boseman and his fellow Black Panther actors is the empowerment of the movie. I really do remember the day I watched Black Panther. It was a February morning at Maya Cinemas. The day was rainy - my favorite weather. The movie just made the day even better. I was inspired to rework my entire history unit on Africa. I included modern day history of the tribes whose culture inspired characters, fashion and technology. Instead of focusing on just West Africa, Compton students learned about cultures from various sections of the continent. The only downfall is that a few students actually thought Wakanda was a real place. (Shakes head).

But I didn't stop there. I did the same for Mesoamerica. The history book was sorely lacking in resources for Mesoamerica. It had tons of resources for Europe and Asia. I followed the same format and found historical websites that showed the magnificence of pre-Colombian history as I created this unit. When we completed this unit, I shared student work with my friends in Mexico and Peru. They loved that we honored their history. University professors and students from Puebla, Mexico, even came to our class via video conference and told us the story of La Llorona, who is based on a historical figure.

I was adding to our China Unit when COVID-19 hit. History must always the truth. That truth is a mixture of bad and good. We must remember to include both in our history lessons. Chadwick Boseman and the Black Panther taught me just that.