DEMOPOLIS &8212; Donning white T-shirts painted with their own handprints and using their outside voices, the students of U.S. Jones had a message to send Wednesday at their Black History Month: Yes We Can.

With chants of &8220;Yes We Can,&8221; ending a program filled with music, poetry and special presentations, all students in the third through fifth grades learned a little bit about Black History Month and its origins.

The program, which was the brainchild of Carolyn Moore, involved all the students at the school, and was attended by numerous parents. Moore said the school usually hosts guest speakers and has individual class projects for Black History month, but this year she decided to do something to involve all the children.

Just a few of the tidbits offered in the program included the fact that two very influential people in the movement to abolish slavery, Abraham Lincoln an Frederick Douglas, were both born in February.

A choir of volunteer members performed &8220;Kum Ba Yah,&8221; &8220;Joy, Joy, Joy&8221; and &8220;This Train.&8221; Also, honor club members performed &8220;Let America Be America Again.&8221;

The program also touched on some important black poets: Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Lucille Clinton, Countee Cullen, Henry Dumas and Paul Lawrence Dunbar.

Black History Month was established as Negro History Week in 1926 by Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Since that time, the celebration has expanded to an entire month each February.

Nicole Martin, a fifth grader, closed out the program with these words, &8220;February has been designated as Black History Month across the nation and emphasis is being placed on showing the roles black people have played in our nation&8217;s history&8230; When this month is over, let&8217;s continue to work together &8212; proud in the fact that we are all Americans, one people undivided.&8221;