Pioneer's Black History Month Oratorical Fest
Celebrate Black History Month by participating in our first-ever oratorical fest!
Who can participate? All Pioneer students are invited and encouraged to research, select an African-American figure, and perform a piece authored by that figure.
What is an Oratorical? A performance of African-American-authored poetry, speeches, and/or monologues recited by another person (In this case, a Pioneer Student). See a sample oratorical fest here.
How do you participate?
- Fill out the participant form (this form includes info on how to submit your video).
- Submit video performance (up to 3 minutes for solos & up to 5 minutes for pairs/groups).
- Based on the number of submissions, all or some students will be invited to a live showcase.
- All submissions will be made available for community viewing via our website.
When is this taking place?
- January 25th at 6:30pm: Optional info session via zoom to learn more about the performance, including resources
- February 5th: Video submission Deadline. Make sure to say your name and grade in your video (Sample video submission).
- February 10th: Videos posted for viewing & invites for live showcase sent.
- February 15th, 1-2:30 pm: Showcase practice
- February 22nd, 6:30-8:00 pm: Showcase
Places to look for texts:
- American rhetoric top 100 speeches- Please note, you'd have to filter for speeches given by African-American figures
- The History Place: Great Speeches Collection
- Poems, articles, and podcasts
- 34 Powerful Black History Month Poems for Kids of All Ages
Collection of Oratorical Videos (You can view them to find a text you like).
About Effective Performances
- Effective Qualities of Oratorical Perofmance: Our event is not a competition. Instead, it's a showcase, however, this is a useful link to think about ways to pactice your performance: MLK Oratorical score sheet
- TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design)- a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less) www.ted.com