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Education & Innovation

Black Heroes

By Aya Hassan

Our Black heroes have a long line of legacy. They went through appalling experiences so we wouldn’t live in a broken world. For today’s article, we’re going to talk about 5 Black heroes who re-wrote history and sparked a revolution in modern-day society. 

Martin Luther King JR. 

Source: National Geographic Kids

One of the most famous civil-rights activists is Martin Luther King. He is also known for “I Have A Dream” his moving speech, delivered in 1963. Martin’s hopes were for segregation and racism to be put to an end. He was the head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Martin also won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for his “non-violent struggle for civil rights for the Afro-American”. Throughout his lifetime, he proved some hard-core determination.

Ruby Bridges

Source: National Women’s History Museum

This remarkable woman took her education so seriously, she was the first African American student to integrate her all-white elementary school in Lousiana at age 6. Unfortunately, she spent her lunch breaks eating alone and with her teacher to keep company. She was threatened, cursed and taunted while walking into the school building. But with all that perseverance, the Ruby Bridges Foundation was established to create change through education. Ruby truly made her mark in Black history and continues to inspire coming generations.

Rosa Parks

Source: Biography.com

Known as the lady who refused to give up her seat to a white passenger, Rosa is labelled as “Mother of the Freedom Movement”. While on a bus, she was demanded to move to the back but refused, resulting in her being arrested for not obeying the discriminative laws against Black folk. Once Rosa was out of jail, she continued to fight for anti-racism and the segregation laws to be changed.

Alaa Salah

Source: Theguardian.com

Throughout the Sudanese Revolution 2018-2019, Alaa was made an icon after a picture of her, taken by Lana Haroun, went viral in April of 2019. The photo was dubbed “Woman in White”, and “Lady Liberty Of Sudan”. She is currently known as a Sudanese icon, sparking attention in the media about the country’s ongoing political crisis. While Alaa might not be a historical figure, she’s currently making history. 

Harriet Tubman

Source: Biography.com

Harriet Tubman was an African American abolitionist who fought against slavery. She made 13 trips through the Underground Railroad to rescue about 70 enslaved-persons to freedom. Harriet was never caught, but she risked her life for family and friends, never leaving a single “passenger”. Harriet Tubman is known as a very selfless and single-minded woman. 

At the end of the day, these magnificent heroes achieved the impossible by risking their lives and achieving Black Excellence. I think with all this contribution they put into history, their accomplishments shouldn’t be celebrated for a month, but rather every day.


💭 How To Memorize Things Quickly and Efficiently💭

By: Kenya Sider

Have you ever studied for a really big test and thought that you had memorized all of the important things the right way but when you got to the test there were so many different questions than what you had studied for? Or that when you got the test you froze up and suddenly forgot everything that you had just studied for? There are times when I have a really big test that requires me to know a lot of different things in a short amount of time. I always go through my notes trying to memorize all of the really important dates, names, inventions and/or places. That doesn’t always work though. Sometimes, during the test I’ll be struggling to remember the specific things that I had memorized days earlier! That can cause me to give silly answers like Justin Trudeau was the person who invented the camera when in reality it wasn’t Justin Trudeau who invented the camera but Louis Le Prince! So, here are some tips and tricks to help you memorize things better than you did before!  

  1. Create an acronym

When I was a little kid, my mom gave me some amazing advice that I still haven’t forgotten! She said,“Create acronyms when you study little Kenya. It’ll help you in the future!” I was only seven at the time so I brushed this advice off but now, I realize that that was some of the best studying advice that she had ever given me! I’m going to start off by explaining what an acronym is. By the definition given by Merriam Webster Dictionary, an acronym is, “a word formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term.” A popular example of this would be “BRB” which stands for “Be Right Back.” 

Now, you might be asking yourself, “but how does this help me study?” Let’s say that you are trying to study for a science test and you have to memorize every part of a flower. The petals, the sepals, the stamen and the carpel. From there, you take the first letter of each word (petals, sepals, stamen, carpel) and put them all together to create an acronym! In this case our acronym would be P.S.S.C! This tip is (in my opinion) better for science.

  1. Make a rhyme/song

Sometimes when I listen to a song too much, it gets stuck in my head. That can get quite annoying, but in this case getting a song stuck in your head can be quite useful! For example, you are studying for an important history test that’s all about who discovered Canada. You know that Jacques Cartier took three trips to Canada between 1534 and 1542. From there you could make a rap or a little tune to sing to. Here’s mine:

♪ While Jacques Cartier was on his way to find a new route to Asia

He stumbled upon a new found land that the First Nations called kanata

Although the Huron-Iroquois were only talking ‘bout their settlement

He took it the wrong way and thought it was the country

After he found the land he claimed it all for England

He went back to his home land and

Reported his discoveries

After all this chaos

He came back three more times

All between 1534 and 1542 ♪

That was mine! Don’t forget to get creative! There are some other songs that have been made and posted on YouTube, so if you’re ever having trouble coming up with ideas, you can look up your subject with the word “song” at the end! For example, if you were doing another test on flowers you could look up “flower song” then you should find at least one good song!

  1. Write out what you want to memorize

By writing out what you would like to remember, it is slowly getting engraved in your mind! For example, if you were to write “photosynthesis” down multiple times, you probably wouldn’t forget how to spell that during an English quiz! I usually use this technique when I have a French test or an English test, but you can also do this with a definition for a science test or an important date, person and occasion in history!

Thank you for reading my top three best strategies for memorizing things quickly and efficiently! My personal favourite tip is to create an acronym! I find that it’s a really funny way to memorize things and sometimes I’m able to make real words out of the letters! I hope that this article will help you to not freeze up as often during a test!