Chicago (August, 2011) – On Friday, September 23, 2011, as students across the country begin the new school year, 500 HistoryMakers will return to school to bring renewed attention to the needs of the nation’s education system and their students. These HistoryMakers and schools are part of the nationwide 2^nd Annual Back To School program sponsored by The HistoryMakers.

The HistoryMakers is the nation’s largest African American video oral history archive.  With the 2^ndAnnual Back To School With The HistoryMakers program, living African American HistoryMakers will descend upon schools in nearly 109 cities and 35 states across the country to recount their own school experiences and the struggles they encountered on their paths to success.  

2^nd Annual Back To School With The HistoryMakers participants include: Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, former Ambassador Andrew Young, actor/rapper Common, singer/actress Melba Moore, Broadway choreographer George Faison, poet Nikki Giovanni, actress Marla Gibbs (227, The Jeffersons), Ambassador Carol Mosely-Braun, actress T’Keyah Crystal Keymah (Living Color, The Cosby Show) and poet/author Sonia Sanchez.

The goal of the 2^nd Annual Back to School With The HistoryMakers program is to put black leaders in direct contact with young people all across the nation  to tell their stories and to encourage students to excellence.    

The HistoryMakers Founder and Executive Director, Julieanna Richardson, states, “By bringing these living legends into the schools, we are raising awareness about the achievements of the accomplished African Americans in local communities and bringing these leaders into schools to see things firsthand.”

Richardson is encouraging educators across the country to use multimedia resources such as The HistoryMakers’ digital archive to enrich their students’ exposure to the contributions of African Americans in every community.

Last year, as part of the inaugural Back To School With The HistoryMakers program, 200 HistoryMakers went back to 107 schools in 25 states and 50 cities.  Participants included: former Ohio CongressmanLouis Stokes, Civil Rights activist C. T. Vivian and broadcast journalist Carole Simpson. In Washington, D.C. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan joined Civil Rights activists Rev. Al Sharptonand Roger Wilkins at the Dorothy I. Height Community Charter School.  In New York, CNN’s Soledad O’Brien spoke with former Mayor of New York David Dinkins at the Harlem Children’s Zone.  Through our efforts we were able to reach over 25,000 students and many of our HistoryMakers have adopted the schools since then which was what we were hoping would happen. The response was phenomenal.

The HistoryMakers is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit dedicated to recording and preserving the personal histories of well-known and unsung African Americans.  To date, the organization has interviewed over 2,000 HistoryMakers, with the goal of creating an archive of 5,000 interviews (30,000 hours) for the establishment of a one-of-a-kind digital archive, and priceless educational resource.

For more information, visit The HistoryMakers website at www.thehistorymakers.com and The HistoryMakers digital archive at http://www.idvl.org/thehistorymakers.