The HistoryMakers visit Samo

Hip-hop violinist Karon Briggs and spiritual sculptor Artis Shreve Lane performed in Barnum Hall on Friday Sept. 28 for the second annual Back-to-School with The HistoryMakers event at Samo.“The HistoryMakers is an organization based out of Chicago,” African-American Literature teacher and event organizer Nathan Fulcher said. “What they do is, they match up what they define as ‘history makers’ or African Americans who have been successful in their line of work, and invite them to come into schools to present themselves.”According to Fulcher, this year marked the event's second year at Samo.“Last year we had three speakers – someone who was in the recording industry, a writer and a singer," Fulcher said.In addition to performing, Briggs and Lane engaged in a discussion with Samo students from a variety of humanities and social studies classes.“They did a large assembly in Barnum Hall during second period. We invited Freshmen Seminar, English and History classes to come,” Fulcher said. “They spoke to my third period African-American Literature class, and, during fourth period, they spoke with a select group of students from the African-American Mentor Society.”Briggs said that one of her intentions in speaking to students was to pass on the encouragement she received from musical artists when she was young.“When I was in college, this woman by the name of Betty Carter — they called her ‘Be-Bop Betty’ — came to my school, just like I’m here talking to [the students],” Briggs said. “She was a jazz singer, and she was one of those different people, and I just looked at her whole aura, and I wanted to be that someday. I was being discouraged from being a musician at the time because of where I lived. One thing that she said, that I needed to hear, was, ‘People say you can’t make a living doing this. Well, I make a living doing this and you can make a living doing this.’ That’s all I needed to hear.”Lane said she associates much of her sculpting with religion.“Everything that is real is God," Lane said. "My art is here to tell you about God."Senior Zaire Overton, a member of the African-American Mentor Society, participated in the second period assembly and the fourth period discussion. Overton said she especially enjoyed Briggs's performance during the assembly.“That was definitely the best part,” Overton said. “The conversation was also really interesting because [I was] able to learn more about their personalities and how they got to where they were in their life. I think that was really helpful and inspiring, as a senior, because you don’t usually know what you are doing [with your life].”emebane@thesamohi.com