Legendary Los Angeles Lakers player Kobe Bryant’s,”The Mamba Mentality: How I Play.” Historian and activist Ibram X. Kendi’s National Book Award winning “Stamped from the Beginning.” Former NFL head coach, Tony Dungy’s, “Mentor Leader.”
Walls of words- that’s Granite Bay High School’s Assistant Principal John Pichon’s office.
His walls are lined with photos of his family interspersed with inspirational quotes from Black icons. Floating shelves showcase over fifty books with everything from athletics to academics.
Authors Isabel Wilkerson and Nikole Hannah-Jones are two of Pichon’s favorite Black writers. Wilkerson’s book “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” was adapted to a feature film in September of 2023.
“(Wilkerson) is one of the main people that started my journey and educated myself on Black history because I was not taught authentic Black history in school,” Pichon said.
As a New Orleans native, Pichon received schooling and started his career as an educator in a predominantly Black community. Pichon is an alumni of a Historically Black College/University (HBCU), earning his teaching credential closer to home at New Orleans Southern University.
“So I taught (in New Orleans) and it is very different. (The) majority of educators, the teachers look like me, the entire administrative team was Black,” Pichon said. “The athletes, the people in choirs, the people in the band, but you come here, it’s the total opposite.”
(Black History Month) is bigger than just the month of February. Black history is American history and it stems back to the beginning of this country.”
— John Pichon
Pichon pauses to smile, reminiscing on college memories of HBCU marching bands, food and football at the New Orleans Bayou Classic.
“(Black History Month) is bigger than just the month of February. Black history is American history and it stems back to the beginning of this country,” Pichon said of Black History Month (BHM). “A lot of the things that were invented and created came at the hands of Black people. I feel like a lot of this stuff can be lost in history. So speaking true American history is going to give you an opportunity to learn that.”
Granite Bay High School currently stands at an approximate 2.3% Black population, according to the GBHS accountability report card from the 2022-2023 school year. Still, many influences from Black culture can be seen around campus.
“It’s been embodied and embraced by other cultures in a certain sense. If you look around, at a lot of the ways that kids dress, and the manners in which they speak, it’s heavily traced back to certain rap artists and certain athletes,” Pichon said. “Everybody wants to shoot a three like Curry, or score like Kobe, or make music like Migos and Jay Cole and Drake.”
In 2022, Pichon created a comprehensive Black History padlet that mirrors the content on his walls, featuring interdisciplinary links to literature, music and historical figures.
“Mr. Pichon shared a really awesome Padlet that has a bunch of videos and resources for every day of the month,” GBHS math teacher Katie Farias said.
Pichon said that Farias gave him the posters of several important Black figures that now hang above his office’s door.
Like Pichon, Farias said she shared resources about Black History Month with other staff members.
“I think students should know that all of us should celebrate black history because it’s our history,” Farias said. “As a school, that’s what we can all be doing during Black History Month is just learning about all the important people in our history.”
As a father of two, Pichon strives for them to be educated in Black history that he said he learned little in his childhood education. He recently took his oldest son, who is 11 years old, to see “The Color Purple.”
“Black History Month is definitely big on celebrating what Black Americans have achieved. I try not to make that month about the harsh things that happen because that’s not what the month is about. It’s about celebrating and learning. “
— John Pichon
“I just thought that was good because now he’s getting to see people that look like him sing and dance and be actors and actresses,” Pichon said. “My son lives in Rocklin. He’s the only black kid in his class.”
Pichon’s message to the Black community is the same one he gives to his children: a message of pride.
“For me, I just love the rich culture,” Pichon said. “The music we have, the style we have from the hairstyles to the clothes we wear. It’s so authentic, and I feel like (it’s) so rich.”
The month of February will come and go but the books on Pichon’s wall will stay. Black History Month has been nationally recognized by American presidents since 1976 but the influence of Black culture was cemented long before, from the first documented arrival of Africans in North America in 1619.
“Black History Month is definitely big on celebrating what Black Americans have achieved,” Pichon said. “I try not to make that month about the harsh things that happen because that’s not what the month is about. It’s about celebrating and learning. Although we know those things exist and we don’t ignore them but (we) try to put more of the focus on the great things, the creators and inventors, the record setters and things of that nature.”
