Conshohocken Elementary creates quilt to celebrate famous African Americans

At Conshohocken Elementary School, each class chose a famous African American to explore and highlight in a school-wide project for Black History Month.

In the classroom, the students studied their person’s life and contribution to history. In Mrs. Carter’s room, the first graders learned about Matthew Henson, who they describe as brave and determined.

“He’s the first African American to reach the North Pole,” said CE student Lily Tould. “He only learned to read when he was 12.”

In other rooms, the children explored famous African Americans like Oprah Winfrey, Jackie Robinson, Michelle Obama, Louis Armstrong and even Lonnie Johnson, who holds more than 120 patents and invented the Super Soaker toy.

In the art room, the children from each class worked together to design a square dedicated to their famous African American that will be included in a quilt. The quilt will also feature individual squares by the students and information the children learned about the people being highlighted.

“I like seeing all the creative stuff that people made,” said first grader Lyric Simpson. “My favorite thing was deciding what color we should use for Matthew Henson’s face.”

Once completed, the quilt will feature ten famous African Americans and will be displayed in the school.