Episode 129: Utah Black History Museum Bus Travels to Valley High School

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It is a mobile exhibit which features educational, inspiring and informative traveling displays, highlighting local and national Black History. On this episode of the Supercast, we take you to Valley High School where students participated in Black History Month activities involving music, art, fashion and food along with a special stop from Utah's Black History Museum Bus.

Liz Lambson:
Hello, my name is Liz Lampson and I'm the director of the Utah Black History Museum, which is a mobile popup museum, as you can see. So how I got involved in this, I was asked to paint a school bus. So I painted this side of the school bus and another artist, Gretel Tam, painted the other side. And on it, we put some Utah Black Historical figures. We’ve got Jane Manning James, Wallace Henry Thurman. Ruby Bridges is a national figure. Have any of you heard of Ruby Bridges? Who can tell me who Ruby Bridges was?

Student:
Wasn't she like a kindergartener that was going to a white school?

Liz Lambson:
Yeah, she was. During the time, schools were desegregated and she was brought to a white school and there was a huge uproar. She was just a great example of courage in that time. Take some time to look at our artifacts and display, and I hope you learn a lot. If you have any questions, let me know. And I hope you enjoy the museum experience.

Drummer:
We always begin a drum circle by acknowledging the four directions and all drumming begins with a heartbeat. So what I would like you to do is pick up your drum and we will begin with a heartbeat. We may overwhelm your mic. So the first sound any child hears is the beat of their mother's heart. So the heartbeat is always the center of who we are as human beings. So we begin with a heartbeat. I will do it once. Then you do it. This is called sound and respond. 

Anthony Godfrey:
We're here at Valley High School with Tiffany Rasmussen who has organized all of today's activities. Tiffany, thanks for taking some time to talk with us on a busy day. Now, first of all, this is one of the activities that is done on a Friday at Valley High School. Valley meets Monday through Thursday, and there are all day activities on Fridays. So students can earn credit doing that. Tell us a little bit about how that works and how that's been set up for today. 

Tiffany Rasmussen:
So we put together some packets and then the packets tend to go with the activities that we're doing. So if we're going on a field trip, in this case the field trip came to us. Since it is February, and it is Black History, I decided to do it on Black History. There is this new bus that is the Utah Black History Museum. And so I wanted to focus more on Black joy, because oftentimes we talk about, we use history or Black History Month to talk about slavery and to talk about like civil rights. And I wanted to focus more on the joy. So while they are getting the history aspect and especially Utah Black History aspect with the museum, I invited some friends from the community that I know to come in and talk to them about what they do. 

So I have some musicians here, so they're talking about Black culture's influence on music. And then I have some people here with fashion, and they're talking about Black culture's influence on fashion. I have a friend of mine who has a PhD in therapy and counseling. He's talking about Black wellness because that's actually the theme for this year for Black History. They have themes every year, and it's Black wellness, and so he's here talking about that. Then I have some friends here that do hair, and so they're talking about hairstyles and everything. And then bakers, like just a lot of different people from the community that came in to talk about the Black community here in Utah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Is it all students from Valley that are here today?

Tiffany Rasmussen:
Yes. All students from Valley currently and I actually invited a couple friends that actually graduated. Who were really excited. One is doing the videography for us. She's now at the U. My student that I had before who's now at SLCC and I just I'm like ‘you have to be here, you gotta come see it.’

Anthony Godfrey:
What are some of the things that you hope students come away with after going through this experience?

Tiffany Rasmussen:
That they have options, they have choices. This is just one stepping stone and they have lots of options in life and that Utah is growing and it's becoming more diverse and I want them to be able to see themselves within the community.

Anthony Godfrey:
So that's why you've invited some of your friends here with various businesses and various contributions in Utah. To talk with students so that students can kind of catch a vision for things that they could accomplish.

Tiffany Rasmussen:
Yes, exactly. So Chance’s already spoken with the students. He owns a bakery and he was talking about how he was adopted, and he was raised in Provo. He was like one of five Black kids at the school and he felt alone. He went on an mission and then he came out with being gay and just didn't know where he was gonna go in life. And things tend to work out. He had some people open up arms, he said, especially in the Polynesian community. He found his partner and now he owns a bakery and they're very popular and successful. So I know that there are students that we have now that can relate to that.

Anthony Godfrey:
Great. Tell me about the Black History Bus, it's the Black History Museum Bus. So tell me about the Utah Black History Museum Bus.

Tiffany Rasmussen:
So what I know about them is that they just started and wanted to, because we don't have anything that really shows the Utah history, right? The Black pioneers that came. So they wanted a way that they could commute, and go to schools, and go to fairs, and just get around the community. They have a lot of insightful books, have a lot of insightful information. They have artifacts. It's just, it's really cool. It's something that I wish that I had when I was younger. So I'm really excited that I can share it with my students.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us. When we come back, more from Valley High and Black History Month activities.

Break:
Hello, I'm Tracy Miller, President of the Jordan School District Board of Education. There are seven members on the Board of Education, one in each voting district. We are committed to listening and serving our constituents as we work together to provide the best possible learning environment for the students we serve. As members of the Jordan Board of Education, we believe it is our duty and responsibility to: increase student achievement; provide parents with the choices they deserve and desire; recognize and reward quality in educators; empower school leaders through policy governance and professional development; and communicate with the public, legislators, business leaders, cities, and parents. We invite you to get to know the Board member who represents you in your voting district, and to please join us at our monthly board meeting held on the fourth Tuesday of every month. Or listen from the comfort of your home, on our live stream. For more information and to find your Board member, visit jordandistrict.org. With parent and community input and support we will continue our work to give students every opportunity to succeed in Jordan District schools and beyond. Thank you for your support. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me your name

Kailila:
Kailila

Anthony Godfrey:
Kailila. And tell me what you've learned participating in today's activity.

Kailila:
Well, something that I've learned personally is that like a lot of people think that Black History Month is just looking about what happened in the past, like slavery and lynching and stuff. But today we're really celebrating about how far African Americans have come and we're really celebrating them and their successes.

Anthony Godfrey:
And so what are some of the successes that you learned about and have talked about today?

Kailila:
Well, like Chance was saying he is not only is he Black, but he's also LGBTQ and he's been able to overcome like all the challenges that come with that.

Anthony Godfrey:
Can you describe some of the activities and the events that are set up for students today? 

Kailila:
So upstairs we have a fashion station where they're gonna be talking about like Black owned fashion businesses and some of their apparel that they have. We also have a music station set up where you can play some African drums. We have our bakery station over here, that Chance is running. And then over here is our station for the Black History Bus Museum. So you can kind of just look around and you can see like books and pictures that African Americans have produced. We also have a hair station where they're gonna be talking about how to deal with like locks and curly hair and Afros and stuff like that.

Anthony Godfrey:
Great. So what does Black History Month mean for you?

Kailila:
So I feel like Black History Month is where we can celebrate how far people have come. And it's not only about like African-Americans specifically, but also about like America. And we were really built off of the backs of slaves. So for us to be able to, as colored people, for us to be able to come this far and have our own independence is, it's an amazing thing.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. Thank you very much. It's nice meeting you. We're here with Liz Lampson talking about the Utah Black History Museum Bus. Tell us about your involvement and how the bus came to be. 

Liz Lampson:
The Utah Black History Museum is unique in that we are a mobile popup experience. I got involved when I was asked by Lex Scott, who was the former leader of Utah's chapter of Black Lives Matter, if I would be interested in painting a school bus and transforming it into a mobile museum to highlight Utah's Black History. And I agreed to this, so I painted a mural on one side of this giant school bus. 

Anthony Godfrey:
And we're looking at it right now. It looks absolutely beautiful. Tell me about everyone that's featured on there. There are a few names I did not know.

Liz Lampson:
Yeah. We have a Buffalo Soldier, a Black cowboy, Jane Manning James. She was one of the first Black women, if not the first Black woman to move to the state of Utah. She served the family of Joseph Smith who founded the Latter Day Saint church that was very influential in the development of the state's culture and community. And then we have Wallace Henry Thurman also from Utah. He became a Harlem Renaissance writer moving to New York. He wrote a book called the Black of the Berry and several other literature that is notable and definitely worth checking out. Next to him, there's a national figure, Ruby Bridges who many will learn about in school. She was a young Black girl who was integrated into what was an all white school. So during the time of desegregation, she was escorted into a white school with crowds of people yelling and screaming and in opposition to the idea of schools being integrated and races intermingling in the school environment. 

So our school bus is sort of representative of that concept of carrying Black people and in our case, Black History and Black educational experiences to areas where there may not be much of a Black presence. And in the state of Utah, I think less than 2% of the population is African American. And so there are communities in areas in Utah, especially rural areas when you get further away from the urban center, where there are no Black people. Or there are people who have never met a Black person.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about some of the other people that get featured on the bus.

Liz Lampson:
Yes. So my great uncle, I flipped him on there. His name is Alex Boudreaux and he was a Tuskegee Airman. There were very few African Americans in World War I or World war II who had the privilege, I suppose, of being a pilot, of receiving the training to actually fly planes. And so he was, if I'm remembering correctly, the first Black air traffic controller. 

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow.

Liz Lampson:
And so he associated with this group of Black pilots who were just totally unique in that time of war.

Anthony Godfrey:
He may be your relative, but he's obviously very worthy of being included on the side of the bus.

Liz Lampson:
Yeah. He is definitely an important figure in my family. And you could say he’s a hero in my ancestry.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now you have a musician next to him. 

Liz Lampson:
Yes. So something that we really wanted to highlight with our museum and with the bus is examples of Black excellence. As your teacher Tiffany mentioned, there are a lot of sad and difficult things to process when you learn about Black History. But we also want to emphasize Black joy and Black accomplishments and Black excellence. So Joe McQueen is a great example of Black excellence. He was an incredible jazz musician and saxophone player from Utah. And he passed away just a few years ago, but he left a great impact on the jazz scene here. Utahns love jazz music.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, they do.

Liz Lampson:
And like swing music. And it's a, you know, it's a form of music culturally that has roots with African Americans and also going into Europe, there's, you know, there's a long history with jazz.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, I'm a big music fan and you're right, there are some great jazz groups that come through here. And I'm always surprised that they make it this far.

Liz Lampson:
Yeah. I mean, jazz as a musical genre is awesome.

Anthony Godfrey:
And you have a ballet dancer as well.

Liz Lampson:
She's actually a personal friend of mine, Katlyn Addison. She actually helped me paint a little bit on the bus. She is the very first principal ballerina with Ballet West who is Black. To be a principal ballerina or principal dancer with a ballet company, that's essentially, that is the highest level in the world of ballet. So you have like soloists, and first soloists, and Demi soloists, and then you have the principal. So she's just a great example of Black excellence in our community. And I actually know her personally because I work for Ballet West as well. I play the string base in the Ballet West Orchestra, and that's how we became friends. 

You find that things like classical music lessons, ballet lessons or any kind of education in the fine arts has not been as accessible historically to the Black community or to people of color. So there's still an ongoing effort today to provide these opportunities and make them accessible to people of color. I'm the only African American, I'm actually Korean African American. My mother's from Korea and my dad is from Louisiana kind of French Creole, Black background. And I'm the only African American, Korean African American in the Ballet West Orchestra. There are people of color in the ballet company, the dance company, as they recruit dancers from all over the world. But as the orchestra is drawn from the local community, the local Utah community, you'll find that less than 2% of the population here is Black and even smaller percent will be involved in the fine arts, just because of the history and trends with the fine arts being kind of reserved for the elite classes.

Anthony Godfrey:
What would you hope that someone who is experiencing the Utah Black History Museum would come away with?

Liz Lampson:
That is a great question. I love seeing people interact with this museum and I see them learning things that they didn't know. And I think that's our goal here, is to share what is actually old information that suddenly becomes like new information because you didn't know it before. So I just, you know, love to see people, people's eyes opening and perspectives widening as they learn about things that they've never heard or seen before. I hope also that people can walk away from this with a greater appreciation for some of the struggles that Black people have gone through, not just in the world or in our nation, but in our state specifically. We have stories here of Black people who have fought against the odds and struggled to make a place for themselves and their families in the state. As students experience this museum and they see pictures and faces of actual Black Utahns, I hope that they can feel a real connection with those people. What we hope is that through this museum experience, we can just create meaningful connections between people who are different from each other.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, great. Thank you very much. It's a pleasure meeting you, and this is awesome.

Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you out there.