“The Obamas” Visit Obama School

Black History Month ended with a bang at Barack H. Obama Magnet University School (BOMUS) Friday as students, families, and staff welcomed special guests ​“Barack and Michelle Obama” — in the form of first-graders Jacob Bell and Imani Winfield. 

That was the scene Friday as Jacob and Imani dressed up as the United States’ 44th President and First Lady to honor their legacies and help shed light on dozens of historic African American leaders whom the young students spent all February learning about. 

The Obamas weren’t the only special visitors to stop by the Farnham Avenue school Friday. Also in attendance were jazz singer Billie Holiday, chemist Alice Ball, blues legend B.B. King, and engineer Mary Jackson. 

For the first half hour of Friday’s event, students shared facts about the individuals they researched as part of what they called a ​“wax museum.” After two very serious Secret Service members gave clearance for Jacob, dressed as Obama, to take the microphone, Jacob told the audience, ​“I came here to wish you all a happy Black History Month.”

BOMUS staff entered Friday’s event ​“changing the culture of learning” by dancing to Kendrick Lamar’s hit song ​“Not Like Us.” Click here to watch. 

During the two-hour celebration Friday morning, families clapped and danced along to several student and staff performances of such songs as ​“Lift Every Voice” by Michael Cooper, ​“Rise Up” by Andra Day, and ​“Respect” by Aretha Franklin. Hillhouse High School’s band also kicked off and closed out the event with multiple performances. 

BOMUS Principal Jamie Baker emphasized the importance of family and community support for students to develop their talents and succeed in learning. She spoke about the need to recognize all that New Haven youth and families have to offer the world. She encouraged the community to donate to Hillhouse’s ongoing fundraiser to send its marching band to the 2025 Memorial Day Parade in Washington, D.C. to represent the city and school district.

Click here, here, and here to watch a few of Friday’s performances. 

In addition to celebrating Black success from the past, the celebration also highlighted fourth-grader Malia Moore and her mom, who co-wrote and released a children’s book titled ​“Becoming Malia” last year. 

Baker reminded Malia’s peers that if she can make history in elementary school, so can they. She also addressed parents and staff with a reminder: ​“If you see a talent in your child, encourage them.” 

She thanked parents on Friday for instilling confidence in their children. ​“Everybody is busy, but you have to pour into the youth and show them that they are worthy of your time,” she said. 

Cheyenne Leigh captured the moment her daughter Kayci Hoff entered Friday’s cafeteria in a polka-dotted dress and cat-eye-shaped glasses to resemble NASA mathematician and aerospace technologist Katherine Johnson. 

First-grader Kayci said her favorite thing to learn about Johnson was that she started high school at just 10 years old. Leigh said she loves that her daughter was able to research Johnson because Kayci loves math and science and now hopes to one day work for NASA. In the weeks leading up to Friday’s event, Leigh helped her daughter to find the perfect outfit and rehearse her facts at home. 

First-grader Jaiden Singleton also took turns with her classmate Kayci to stand in a cardboard box that read ​“Katherine Johnson,” as they had both researched the same person. Her favorite part of Friday was feeling like a Barbie while standing in the box. 

Jaiden’s mom Nikia Mewborn is a long-term substitute teacher at BOMUS. She said she loved seeing the final outcome of Friday’s celebration, as she had witnessed all the work it required in advance. Mewborn has been a substitute teacher since 2011 and previously supported Hillhouse High School before transferring to BOMUS this school year.

Several parents took the day off from work to celebrate their students.

Before Friday’s celebration concluded, BOMUS support staffer Lensley Gay presented guest speakers Anthony McDonald, the executive director of the Shubert Theatre, and Jeffrey A. Fletcher, the owner/collector of the Ruby and Calvin Fletcher African American History Museum, to share a few words. 

While impersonating the voice of Obama, McDonald reminded the crowd of a time when students could look to the U.S president as a ​“positive leader worth emulating” when they grow up. He said that representation is key, and that he looks forward to continuing to offer ​“content on [Shubert’s] stage that represent you.” as the first Black director of the nonprofit. 

Fletcher invited the families to his museum at 952 East Broadway in Stratford to encourage the development of Black history in young people’s lives. He shared about his mother’s history working as a sharecropper and collecting over 500 historic artifacts throughout her life. He also announced that he plans to open a second bigger museum and cultural venue in Stratford that will include artifacts representing Latino history, as well. 

“You all are priorities to me,” he said. ​“I don’t turn anyone away at the door, especially those who want to know our history.” 

During Friday’s final performance by Hillhouse’s band, first-grader Maxwell-Carter Amamoo, who played the role of Obama’s secret service, clocked out early to dance the morning away with his mom Asia Coley. 

Coley said this month has been special because her son would come home daily with new facts he learned about Black history during school. He learned about everyone from Gladys West, an African American mathematician who helped develop GPS, to the NASA mathematicians Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson. 

She celebrated that her son is learning about history’s change makers while young because ​“I just learned about Hidden Figures as an adult,” citing the story of the three NASA mathematicians. She said celebrations like Friday’s are important because they inspire all children. She has now added visiting Fletcher’s museum to her summer bucket list. 

When asked how Friday’s event made him feel, Maxwell-Carter said, ​“It was like a bright star shining above the world and I was the the only one to see it.”

In addition to noting that dressing as secret service made him feel good, he concluded that ​“Black History Month is about no matter what kind of skin color you have, it’s perfect.”