Bangor High School’s Civil Rights Team has been hard at work this year, collecting materials to help their community celebrate African American History Month, Women’s History Month, and beyond. They recently created several calendars of content, including picture book read aloud stories to help elevate and celebrate diverse stories and cultures.  

To put the calendars together, the group researched other calendars featuring content relating to issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion and content that would align to the mission of the Civil Rights Team Project.  

“When it came to the ‘Celebrating Black Stories’ calendar, we looked specifically for videos featuring the author or illustrator doing the read aloud as a way of preserving authenticity,” said Stephanie Hendrix, English Teacher and the Civil Rights Team Advisor at Bangor High School. “We also looked at a number of different book lists for recommendations, and we paid close attention to the Coretta Scott King award winners.” 

The information was collected from various sources in the hopes of creating resources that are user friendly for teachers and students in their school community, to help them think and talk about issues related to race and skin color, national origin and ancestry, disability, and gender. 

Here are a few of the February and March calendars but the group has calendars for the other months as well: 

PDF versions of the calendars and other relevant activates to help celebrate:

• February 2022 Civil Rights Team Project Advisory Calendar
• February Celebrate Black Stories
• February Black History Month Poem a Day
• March 2022 Civil Rights Team Project Advisory Calendar
• Women’s History Month Podcast Coloring Page
• BHS Civil Rights Team Women’s History Month

“The students on my team and I understand how important it is that everyone feels safe and welcome in our school community, and one way we can help people feel not only included, but also celebrated, is by finding opportunities for them to be seen – whether through the stories we read and bring into the classroom, the poems we share that speak to the human experience, or the calendar events that help us understand that our normal may not be everyone else’s normal,” said Hendrix. “Ultimately, we don’t know what we don’t know, and the research that the Civil Rights Team has been doing to collect and curate these materials has helped us all learn more about just how diverse our school community is and just how important it is to see and celebrate everyone’s complex humanity.” 

To learn more about starting a Civil Rights Team in a Maine school, visit the Maine Attorney General’s website or reach out to Project Director Brandon Baldwin at brandon.baldwin@maine.gov or sign up for their newsletter.  To get copies of the other calendars, reach out to Stephanie Hendrix at shendrix@bangorschools.net.

Civil rights teams across Maine were invited to participate in the Civil Rights Team Project’s annual “Day of Welcome” held on November 5, 2021. The event was a chance for students to celebrate and promote the idea that their school community is for everyone.

The Day of Welcome is coordinated by the Civil Rights Team Project in the Maine Office of the Attorney General. The Project, now in its 26th year, is a school-based preventative program that aims to increase the safety of students by reducing bias-motivated behaviors and harassment in schools. There are currently 207 participating schools with student-led civil rights teams.

The Day of Welcome has been celebrated for the past three years and invites civil rights teams to create an inclusively welcoming sign, banner, or display stating: We welcome everyone. All races and skin colors, all national origins and ancestries, all religions, all disabilities, all genders (identity and expression), and all sexual orientations. Students were challenged to create the display using imagination, innovation, creativity, and teamwork.

“For 25 years, the Civil Rights Team Project has been working with school communities to foster an environment of inclusion and respect based on their or their loved ones’ identities,” said Attorney General Aaron M. Frey. “I celebrate their work and congratulate them and every Civil Rights Team in the state for making their school communities a better place, and I applaud their work on this year’s Day of Welcome.”

Participating teams also organized welcoming activities for the event, displaying and promoting their signs and inviting others to connect, participate, and celebrate their school community’s commitment to inclusivity and belonging.

Here are a few things students from the MSAD 60 Civil Rights Team had to say about the Day of Welcome and the work of school Civil Rights Teams:

“For some people, small gestures can make them feel more comfortable.” — Ella

“It’s important to show that we care, so that those who don’t usually feel welcome feel welcome.” — Griffin

“A Civil Rights Team is important to shed light on what is happening in school.” — Caelum

“People know that other people support them. We’re bringing together people who have gone through the same things.” — Ariana

Check out the creativity and passion in these Day of Welcome signs created by Maine students:

Wells High

Yarmouth High

Reeds Brook Middle

Wiscasset Middle/High

Richmond High

Mountain Valley Middle

Windham Middle

Falmouth High

Sumner Memorial High

Deer Isle Stonington Elementary

St. George

Skowhegan Area High

Sherwood Heights Elementary

Sanford High

Robert V. Connors Elementary

Presumpscot Elementary

Portland High

Philip W. Sugg Middle

Noble Middle

Noble Middle

Mt. Blue High

Mast Landing

Madison Junior High

Madison Area Memorial High

Leroy H. Smith

Leonard Middle

Lee Academy

Kingfield Elementary

Kennebunkport Consolidated

Houlton Middle High

Hall-Dale High

Freeport High

Frank H. Harrison Middle

Eastport Elementary

Eastport Elementary

Connors Emerson

Brunswick High

Ames Elementary

“All of us, working together, can make a powerful statement and enlist school and statewide support for our work,” said Brandon Baldwin, Director of the Civil Rights Team Project in a message to civil rights teams about the Day of Welcome.

Thank you to Maine News Media Outlets who reported on the Day of Welcome activities:

• Maine Civil Rights Team Project celebrates 25th anniversary (Portland Press Herald)
• 200 Maine schools celebrate ‘day of welcome’ (News Center Maine)

A HUGE thank you to all the Maine schools who are currently participating in the Civil Rights Team Project:

Any school in Maine with students in grades 3-12 can start a civil rights team with free resources, structure, and support through the Maine Office of the Attorney General. For more information visit their website or contact Brandon Baldwin, Director of the
Civil Rights Team Project at Brandon.Baldwin@maine.gov.

The Black Student Union (BSU) is a club at Yarmouth High School composed of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) students and their allies.  The mission of BSU is to bring awareness to topics that African Americans and Black People face by having safe discussions on ways to eliminate racism, prejudice, inequality, discrimination and more.

One of BSU’s goals is to help students and staff reexamine our community’s history to better understand racism and its origins.  As a first step, the BSU applied for a grant from the Yarmouth Educational Foundation to take a trip to Boston and spend the day specifically dedicated to exploring African American and Black history and culture.  The day was an opportunity to celebrate the many contributions of the Black community as well as look back at history in New England from the perspective of a person of color.  The students participated in a walking tour of the Black Heritage Trail (Beacon Hill), attended a guided visit to the Museum of African American History and enjoyed Ethiopian food at a local restaurant.

“I learned so many things that I didn’t know before. I learned about important African-American people who helped others and shaped this country. This field trip made me realize how much this information and knowledge needs to be taught in school. This benefited me a lot and helped me better understand our history. I think that this information is too valuable to be just shared with BSU. It should be shared with everyone,” said sophomore Neena Panozzo.

After the field trip, the BSU created a short video presentation for faculty about their experience.  The students are currently working to help provide recommendations to faculty and administration about how our curricula, particularly those focused on history and culture, can be more inclusive.  This field trip helped students in their objective to better educate others in the community about possible discrepancies and gaps in our retelling of history.

“Field trips and experiences like this make such a positive impact on learning for students and you are able to learn so much in only a day,” said ninth grader Madison Beaudoin.

For more information about this initiative, contact Justine Carlisle, BSU Club Advisor at justine_carlisle@yarmouthschools.org.