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Commending and honoring Taryn JiHae Flaherty for her steadfast commitment to bringing Philadelphia's history of student activism and protest politics into the national spotlight, and for winning first place in Pennsylvania and second place nationwide in the 2019 National History Day competition.
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WHEREAS, Taryn JiHae Flaherty is a student at Julia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School, and is dedicated to exploring American history through the lens of social justice and racial equity. As part of her sophomore year, she took the District's mandated African American Studies class with her teacher, Ms. Liz Taylor, who encouraged each student to participate in the National History Day competition, which enables over half a million students around the world to conduct historical research on a topic of their choice; and
WHEREAS, As this year's National History Day theme was "Triumph and Tragedy in History," Flaherty explored how the legacy of student activism in the City of Philadelphia inspired the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, led to the election of some of the City's most prominent Black politicians, and resulted in the District's African American Studies curricular mandate-all in the face of police violence; and
WHEREAS, Flaherty spent the year meticulously studying the 1967 Black Student Walkouts in Philadelphia, delving into the Free Library of Philadelphia, Temple's Urban Archives, and conducting numerous interviews with elders who courageously participated in the marches; and
WHEREAS, Flaherty's project, "Black Studies Now! Philadelphia's 1967 Black Student Walkouts," forces a conversation about how our country's educational system interrogates issues of race, representation, student organizing, and equity. Her project explored complicated dynamics of social history, confronting Philadelphia's legacy of racism and police brutality and uplifting the writing of Black journalists and reporters who worked to publish youth stori...
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