Seeds of history
A Black History Month program at the Ricketts Community Center in Pottstown combined elements of science, agriculture and wellness.
A Black History Month program at the Ricketts Community Center in Pottstown combined elements of science, agriculture and wellness.
Black History Month, also known as African American History Month, is observed every February in the United States. Shona Williams, a vegan lifestyle trainer and health coach, held a program on Feb. 17 to teach about 20 children on the impact of historic Black individuals and their contribution to wellness and nutrition.
Williams began the program with a local history lesson on the Ricketts Community Center. The Boyertown Area Multi-Service currently operates the building, which is located at 658 Beech St. in Pottstown. The center offers programming for youth and adults. Recreational programs include soccer for success, karate classes and a weekly fitness bootcamp.
The Ricketts Center building was constructed in the 1970s and replaced the former Bethany Center. The Hill School originally owned the Bethany Center building but transferred ownership to the Pottstown Borough in the 1940s so it could be used for recreational programming. Pottstown native Richard J. Ricketts, known in the community as Mr. Dick, was the first director of the Bethany Community Center and remained so until he passed in 1967. The new building was named in his honor.
After the local history lesson, the children put on coats to go outside for a planting workshop. Williams said she wanted to incorporate education about agriculture because there are many local farms in the region. She wanted to use the opportunity to teach children about nutrition and how food is grown in soil.
“We have students who really have a love of nature,” Williams said. “I love to bring that out in them.”
The children took turns planting sweet potatoes and seed potatoes in barrels filled with soil. The children later made homemade potato chips.
In honor of Black History Month, Williams explained how historical Black individuals such as Booker T. Washington and Dr. George Washington Carver contributed to agriculture.
Booker T. Washington founded Tuskegee University in 1881. The university is a historically Black higher education institution in Alabama. Washington asked Dr. Carver to lead the Tuskegee University Agriculture Department in the 1890s and Carver remained there for more than 40 years, according to the Missouri Department of Agriculture website agriculture.mo.gov.
“Dr. Carver did a lot with the peanut and re-establishing or reconstituting the health of the soil with the minerals from the peanut,” Williams said.
Carver made many contributions to agriculture by discovering several uses for the peanut and sweet potato which are soil-restoring plants.
“An advocate for crop rotation, Dr. George Washington Carver helped educate farmers in the rural South through his bulletins that contained invaluable advice about improving soils using fixed nitrogen crops and growing low input crops,” states the Tuskegee University website www.tuskegee.edu.
Williams talked about soil depletion and how to prevent it during the planting workshop portion of the Black History Program. After the children planted the potatoes, they went indoors to watch videos about Washington and Carver to learn more about the two men and Tuskegee University. The program ended with the kids enjoying a healthy snack of celery sticks, peanut butter and raisins.
Williams hopes to continue bringing agricultural programs to the Ricketts Community Center including a lesson for Earth Day and for the Harvest Season. For more information about the community center and its programs, visit the website www.boyertownareamulti-service.org/the-ricketts-center.html or call 484-524-8241.