Quince Orchard High School Celebrates Diversity
People Around the World
Volume 1, Issue 3
Bimonthly Faculty Newsletter
March 2007
African Diaspora—American History
In celebration of Black History Month, some students and staff would like to recognize Black Americans
of African, Afro-Latino, or Caribbean descent who have made their mark on modern American history.
WILLI SMITH:
Fashion Designer
(selected by the QO Fashion
Club)
Willi Smith paved the
way for many AfricanAmerican Fashion Designers.
He was one of the most successful African-American
fashion designers. Born in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
he studied at Philadelphia
College of Art for fashion Illustration and then attended
Parsons School of Design.
He freelanced with Arnold Scassi and Bobbie Brooks
sportswear company. Later Smith along with his sister
Toukie founded their own clothing company that failed.
Smith continued to design and in 1976 he went into
business with Laurie Mallet and called the company
"Williwear." At its peak, his company Williwear Ltd. sold
$25 million worth of clothing a year.
Willi designed outfits for many famous events.
He designed the wedding dress worn by Mary Jane
Watson when she married Peter Parker in the SpiderMan comic book, and the suits for Edwin Schlossberg
when he married Caroline Kennedy. Smith also designed the clothes for Spike Lee 's film School Daze .
Smith died unexpectedly of AIDS complications
at the young age of 39. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Willi_Smith
“He is like special person baseball for everybody in the world.”
EDWIDGE DANTICUT:
Writer
(selected by Ortance Pierre,
Senior, from Haiti)
In our ESOL 5
class, we read Behind the
Mountains by this author.
It is a powerful story about
political unrest, family reunification and accul“I really like how she exturation in the United
pressed her feelings when
States.
Born in Haiti, she first came to this counshe moved to Brooklyn try, a lot of people used to
laugh at her accent but
when she was twelve.
She is also the author nothing stopped her to do
of Breath, Eyes, Memwhat she loves to do best
ory, an Oprah Book
(writing).”
Club selection and
Krik? Krak!, a National Book Award finalist.
Danticat earned a degree in French Literature from Barnard College, where she won the
1995 Woman of Achievement Award, and later an
MFA from Brown University.
“I admire this person because of the way
she writes. For example her books are easy to read
and easy to understand. I really like how she expressed her feelings when she first came to this
country, a lot of people used to laugh at her accent
but nothing stopped her to do what she loves to do
best
(writing).”
http://authors.aalbc.com/
edwidge.htm
Pedro Jaime Martinez:
Athlete (selected by Elvis Gomez,
Freshman, from the Dominican Republic)
Pedro Martinez was born on October 25th, 1971 in the
small town Manoguayabo, in Dominican Republic. He’s been playing baseball all of his life.
Now he is the starter pitcher for the New York Mets. He won three CY Young, which is the
most prestigious award in baseball for pitchers. He is considered as one of the best pitchers since the mid 90’s and he lead the Boston Red Sox to win the World Series in 2004.
“I admire him because he won three awards CY Young that award only the pitcher
can win. He played baseball for the Boston Red Sox, my best team. He can pitch curve, fast ball, change and
slider. He can pitch the fast ball 98 miles per hour, and he is like special person baseball for everybody in the
world. I like him because he’s from my country the Dominican Republic. Also, he helped many people in the D.R.
after he played baseball.” http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=4875
BORIS KODJOE: Model & Actor (selected by King Owusu Ansah, Senior, from Ghana)
Boris was born in Austria,
his parents are a psychologist
from Germany and a physician
from Ghana, West Africa. He
speaks four languages fluently.
Boris became one of the
best tennis players in the country
and accepted a tennis scholarship
to Virginia Commonwealth University. Because of back problems
he started modeling in New York.
Before long, He modeled for Versace, Ralph Lauren, Yves Saint
Laurent, and Gap, and worked
with some of the top photographers including Herb Ritts.
Boris made his acting debut
in Spike Lee’s movie "Love & Basketball". Since that time, he's also starred
on such sitcoms as "Steve Harvey"
and "For Your Love". Now, he’s is in
Showtime's original series "Soul
Food".
In his free time, he speaks to
students about cultural diversity and
tolerance. He is part of ERACE, an
organization that works to fight ignorance and racism, and promotes ethnic variety and cultural diversity with
today's youth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Boris_Kodjoe
DIKEMBE WAMUTOMBO:
Athlete (selected by Jesse
NKingiN’Naka, Senior, from
Congo)
This well-recognized
NBA player is the first fourtime recipient of the NBA Defensive Player of the Year
award.
He has averaged
10.6 points, 10.8 rebounds
and 2.90 blocks in 1,073 career games.
Born in 1966 in Kin“I admire this person shasa, he grew up in the
capital of the Democratic Rebecause despite his
rank in social life here, public of Congo one of ten
he did not forget his children. He graduated from
Georgetown with degrees in
people in Congo,
linguistics and diplomacy. He
Africa. “
speaks English, French,
Spanish, Portuguese and five
African dialects. Currently he is married with six
children, four of whom are adopted.
“I admire this person because despite his
rank in social life here, he did not forget his people
in Congo, Africa. He donated millions of dollars in
the past years and he helped build a hospital in
his homeland. He was honored with the President’s Service Award in 1999 and the NBA’s J.
Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award in 2001. He
was even identified as the most generous professional player by FOXsports.com ranking him first
over Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods.”
http://www.nba.com/playerfile/
dikembe_mutombo/bio.html
“His competitiveness
just outweighs others. His creativity
and individuality is
best shown is his
lyrical style.”
AKON: Performing Artist (selected by Frank
Fofie, Senior, Ghanian-American)
Akon is the son of jazz percussionist Mor
Thiam. He grew up in Senegal until he was seven,
then his family emigrated to New Jersey. He
speaks
English,
French,
and
Wolof.
He recorded his first hip-hop song
"Operations of Nature" at age 15. Later, he was
jailed for armed robbery and drug charges, and
used his time in prison to work on his music. Since
his release, Akon's made his debut on the SRC/
Universal label with Trouble in June 2004. This
Grammy Award nominated album combines
Akon's West African-styled vocals with East Coast
hip-hop (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akon).
“His competitiveness just outweighs others. His creativity and individuality is best shown
is his lyrical style.”
Mama Africa
Pure blackness, oneness so rare
So much love to give
And let them know they're missin' out
Mama Africa
Has so much love to share
Sweet blackness, oneness
Meet me there
Lyrics by Akon http://www.azlyrics.com/a/akon.html
For contributions, ideas and feedback, please contact Elizabeth Fuhrman (ESOL).
PAW issues are now available online at http://esol.qohs.org/PAW/PAW.htm.
A Quince Orchard High School ESOL Department Publication