Along with all Partnership fifth graders, students in that grade at St. Mark the Evangelist in Harlem study the Renaissance period in Europe. Teacher Sandy Grant made sure her students also appreciate the renaissance that happened in the 1920s and 1930s on the very streets where they now live, and The Harlem Times magazine profiled her students’ efforts not just to learn about artists and activists from the Harlem Renaissance but to embody them as well.

Reprinted below, the article features four students reflecting on how inspired they were by the likes of dancer Florence Mills and photographer James Vander Zee, among others. As we explored earlier in February, St. Mark students also had the opportunity to interview Harlem Times editor Paul Jackson about the past and future of their community.

We often say that our schools are more than classrooms—they are communities—and in the case of St. Mark and Harlem, that community extends even back in time.

You can access the entire February issue of The Harlem Times here.