One of the most important questions that we can ask ourselves is: who am I?

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To help grade 8 and 9 Leadership students answer this question, we invited musician Khari Wendell McClelland to our school for a series of workshops explore where we come from, who we are and who we want to become.

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Khari is most known for his album and stage show, Freedom Singer, in which he tells the story of his great-great-grandmother Kizzy’s escape from slavery on the Underground Railroad. Freedom Singer seamlessly combining historical research, gospel traditions and his passion for social justice today in an artistic work that inspired our students to do the same.

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Students researched the history of their own families. Many learned things about themselves and their families that they never knew before.

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With a better sense of where they come from, they then moved on to exploring who they are today and who they want to be through photography, creative writing, painting, sculpture, music, video and other artistic media of their choice. What resulted was extraordinary.

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We concluded the project with an art show, a potluck of cultural food and a celebration of our journey together. The students’ art covered all available wall and display table space with pieces as unique and diverse as each member of our class. Here are a few examples of those pieces.

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Many thanks to ArtStarts in Schools for the Artists in the Classroom Grant that made this possible and to Khari for leading us on this journey with humor, insight, and sass.