Southwest Philadelphia Charter School Students Learn About Kwanzaa
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Students at a Southwest Philadelphia charter school learned about their African American roots through an assembly on the celebration of Kwanzaa.
The holiday begins December 26 and runs through New Year's Day.
While some students at Southwest Leadership Academy Charter School say they were familiar with the celebration of Kwanzaa, they didn't 100 percent know about the cultural holiday.
"They taught us the seven principles and like what the symbols represent."
Dr. Kathleen Walls, a consultant at the school, led the Kwanzaa assembly. She says it's important for kids to know about Kwanzaa so that they can make a cultural connection to it.
"Even back in 1966-67 with Dr. Maulana Karenga, he discovered that there were a lot of African Americans who didn't know about their cultural heritage and/or didn't have an appreciation for it. So this is why Kwanzaa's so important, and we get a chance to celebrate it seven days."
Children learned a lot of new concepts about the holiday.
"The last two A's in Kwanzaa mean "African American" and I did not know that."
