Carteret students become a wax museum to celebrate Black History Month in Bloomfield

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — In culmination of Black History Month, Carteret Elementary School in Bloomfield held its first Wax Museum Day on Tuesday, March 1. Although Black History Month was celebrated during February, better late than never, especially since Bloomfield elementary school wax museum presentations have become an anticipated fixture on the school calendar for any month. 

For its inaugural waxwork day, the Carteret school gymnasium was ringed by relatively immobile sixth-grade students portraying famous black Americans, waiting mutely to be prompted to recite a memorized script. Most of the children had committed to memory a brief, self-written biography of their chosen personage and had dressed accordingly. Only after an observer pushed a button, just a circle of paper on a nearby table, would a student calmly speak their lines. You could tell the children had worked hard to pull everything off with polish, which they really did. The event was coordinated by kindergarten teacher Kristen Hagedorn.

“The kids researched from a list of names or someone who was approved,” Hagedorn said. “They really took pride in it.”

Photos Courtesy of Daniel Jackovino

  Black History Month, Carteret School, FEATURED