{"id":126746,"date":"2026-02-08T11:31:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T11:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/126746\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T11:31:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T11:31:08","slug":"bronx-students-learn-about-black-figures-hidden-from-most-history-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/126746\/","title":{"rendered":"Bronx students learn about Black figures ‘hidden’ from most history books"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the first day of school during Black History Month<\/a>, Ruth Duran assigned her sixth graders in the Bronx the story of a key figure overlooked in most history books<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The civics class at P.S. 315 The Lab School for Children in Kingsbridge centered around the life and legacy of Henrietta Lacks<\/a>, whose cells led to scientific breakthroughs, including the polio and COVID-19 vaccines. The cells were taken from Lacks\u2019 cervical tumor in the early 1950s, before she died of cancer.<\/p>\n

Lacks did not consent to the taking of her cells, nor was her family made aware of their use in medical research until decades after her death.<\/p>\n

\u201cHenrietta Lacks was a Black woman,\u201d Duran said on Monday. \u201cAt this time when she was going to segregated hospitals, do you think she was receiving the same kind of care as other people?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d students responded in unison.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot so much,\u201d Duran agreed. \u201cSo, let\u2019s think about how racism has affected the way Black people are treated in medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reading was adapted from \u201cHidden Voices,\u201d<\/a> a set of curriculum supplements developed by the New York City Public Schools Department of Social Studies & Civics to introduce students to the stories of people \u201chidden\u201d from the historical record. The Henrietta Lacks profile was pulled from one of two volumes released over the last few years on the Global African Diaspora<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"StudentsThe Henrietta Lacks profile was pulled from one of two volumes released over the last few years on the Global African Diaspora. (Cayla Bamberger \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

In his first month as Mayor Mamdani\u2019s chancellor, Kamar Samuels indicated that Hidden Voices will be part of his vision for \u201ctruly integrated\u201d schools<\/a>, which he said alongside safety and academic rigor are his top three priorities as schools chief.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrue integration is not only about student demographics,\u201d Samuels said at last month\u2019s meeting of the Panel for Educational Policy. \u201cIt also goes beyond that and includes learning experiences that are providing our kids with a holistic experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have already invested in the Hidden Voices curriculum that really brings culturally responsive teaching to life in our schools. And that is [how] we\u2019re going to [teach] our students [to] really be empathetic citizens in this polarized world,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Along with the African Diaspora books, the city has also released Hidden Voices volumes on seven other groups underrepresented in the curriculum, including figures who are LGBTQ+, Asian American, disabled, Latino, Jewish and Muslim. This school year, the social studies and civics department is offering a dozen professional development days and a couple of three-day \u201cteacher institutes\u201d on Hidden Voices.<\/p>\n

While the city does not track how often teachers use Hidden Voices, which is optional, in their classrooms, the guides have been downloaded more than 100,000 times, and lesson plans and posters 50,000 times, according to local education data.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very difficult, even as an adult, much less as a middle schooler, to think, \u2018I can do this\u2019 if nobody that looks like you or has your own background has done it before,\u201d Duran told the Daily News after the lesson. \u201cAnd at this point, there are so many people from different backgrounds that have done so many things \u2014 but we don\u2019t know about them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Students“Hidden Voices,” a set of curriculum supplements developed by the New York City Public Schools Department of Social Studies & Civics to introduce students to the stories of people “hidden” from the historical record. (Cayla Bamberger \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

The Hidden Voices project aims to change that: \u201cI think that is great for them to see if they could do it then, then I can do it now,\u201d Duran said of her class, which has 28 students.<\/p>\n

Though Hidden Voices dates back to 2018 through a partnership with the Museum of the City of New York, the materials have taken on new meaning in the Trump era, as the federal government has moved to restrict educational programs it sees as related to diversity, equity and inclusion<\/a>. Most recently, the Trump administration dropped its appeal of a lower-court order that barred the U.S. Education Department from requiring a written anti-DEI attestation or the loss of federal funding<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The city says it\u2019s clear that Hidden Voices is helping students progress academically. Over the last six years, the Regents exams with the highest pass rates and average scores citywide are the two social studies exams, education officials said.<\/p>\n

At the Lab School, Duran used artificial intelligence to rewrite Henrietta Lacks\u2019 Hidden Voices profile to make it age-appropriate for her sixth graders.<\/p>\n

\"StudentsStudents at P.S. 315 The Lab School for Children in the Bronx learn about Henrietta Lacks through “Hidden Voices,” a New York City Public Schools Department of Social Studies & Civics initiative. (Cayla Bamberger \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Over the special combined two-period class, she led students through a lesson that touched on race, consent, science, and the importance of speaking up for what\u2019s right. In each slide, she offered a big idea, how it applied to Lacks\u2019 life, and how it continues to be relevant today, with opportunities for students to share among themselves or with the class.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was medical racism,\u201d said Monserrat, one of the students. \u201cBecause of the way she looked, they didn\u2019t give her fair treatment, and they also didn\u2019t get consent from other people even though she died.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething that stuck with me throughout the whole story is that no matter who it is, what color they are, you should always ask people for consent before you do something with their body,\u201d chimed in another student, Jesus.<\/p>\n

Before students go on mid-winter break, Duran plans to assign a Black History Month project for students to pick a figure from the African Diaspora list \u2014 for example, Shirley Chisholm, Roberto Clemente and James Baldwin \u2014 write a short essay or Google slides, and get ready to present their research.<\/p>\n

Alongside the African Diaspora volume, Duran keeps almost all the Hidden Voices guides in her classroom, and has used or expects to use the Jewish<\/a>, Muslim<\/a>, Latinx<\/a> and Asian Americans<\/a> books in her lesson plans. While she hopes her students can learn more about themselves, the teacher wants to expose her class to the backgrounds of other people too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want my students to see themselves in the curriculum. But at the same time, I want them to know about other people,\u201d Duran told The News.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe live in New York City, she added. \u201cWe get to learn about all these people that we might see, especially as they are in middle school. And I am hoping that when they go to high school, they get to go to different parts of the city and meet all kinds of people from all over the place.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the first day of school during Black History Month, Ruth Duran assigned her sixth graders in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[35604,128,67,85,267,9,24,264,12,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-126746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-black-history-month","tag-bronx","tag-education","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}