MPA Students Recognized For History Fair Excellence

CHICAGO — Four eighth-grade students at Morgan Park Academy will have their history fair work highlighted in Springfield.

Michael Amberg, Leona Bergin, Kelsey Frazier and Braelyn Hall will represent MPA at the state level after being recognized by judges at the Chicago Metro History Fair regional competition, according to a news release from the school. The quartet, along with classmate Trinity Bazile, advanced to regionals after being selected as best in class by MPA faculty and guest judges from the community.

Morgan Park Academy eighth-graders participate each year in this popular and challenging competition, researching and presenting a long-form research project. Over three months of work during the winter, students researched primary sources, including visiting the archives of the Chicago History Museum and created museum-like exhibits, summary statements and annotated bibliographies.

Amberg’s exhibit focused on the role that the Lemont Massacre of 1885 played in the growth of the U.S. labor movement. Bergin filmed a documentary about the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, famously featured in the film A League of Their Own.

Frazier studied the impact that Chicago’s famed Second City comedy troupe has had on increasing the number of women of color in comedy. Hall researched groundbreaking African-American executives in Chicago advertising agencies, including Leo Burnett.

Brazile’s exhibit focused on the role of the Pullman Porters in the Civil Rights Movement.

Sasha Bryant, Tess Concannon, Samara Harris, Matthew Jenkins, Erick Smith, Annie Thompson, and Charlie Zigman also earned recognition from MPA judges for their exhibits on Chicago history through the lenses of blues music, redlining, pioneering black acting teachers and police officers, the 1970 Chicago Gay Liberation March, the Chicago Public Schools boycott of 1963, and the engineering project to reverse the Chicago River.

Source: Morgan Park Academy