“Hairspray” has history lessons to teach, about a bygone Baltimore, about civil rights and racial injustices, about how far we?ve come and how far we have left to go.
As the segregationist-era story shows, sometimes the best way to begin eradicating prejudice is to simply start talking about it.
About 200 Baltimore high school seniors dissected race relations ?on stage and in life ? at workshops with students from the University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Law. They then joined another 1,000 Baltimore City students and 500 Baltimore County students for a free matinee Thursday at the Hippodrome of the musical based on the John Waters film.
For an hour ? without one lull in the discussion ? 10 seniors from the Baltimore Freedom Academy, an East Baltimore school that aims to groom future leaders, examined segregation, racism, hip-hop and the Jena 6, the students charged for fighting after a noose was hung on a tree outside a Jena, La., high school.
“I went to a predominantly white school when I was little, and I didn?t see it then, but I was treated differently,” student Shamere Miller said.
Students also argued about whether hip-hop reflects the realities of urban culture or perpetuates stereotypes and objectifies women.
