On Friday afternoon, members of the Marblehead Racial Justice Team presented students at Veterans School with portraits of two African American heroes — Congressman John Lewis and Harriet Tubman — as part of an ongoing tradition.
Veterans School students took turns sharing information about Black heroes Harriet Tubman and Congressman John Lewis. CURRENT PHOTOS / LEIGH BLANDER 
The Veterans School chorus sings “Life Every Voice and Sing” Friday afternoon. 
Marblehead Racial Justice Team member Lou Meyi spoke about John Lewis Friday afternoon.
During the presentation, the Veterans School chorus sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” often referred to as the Black national anthem. Students then took turns reading aloud about Lewis and Tubman and their impact on U.S. history.
Tubman was born into slavery in Maryland and escaped in 1849. Once free, she secretly returned to the South 13 times, rescuing about 70 enslaved people by following a hidden network of safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. She traveled to Boston many times to give speeches advocating for the abolition of slavery. When the Civil War began, she served as a spy for the Union Army.
Cindy Tower-Loewen (far left) and Lou Meyi (far right) present portraits of Harriet Tubman and Congressman John Lewis to students at the Veterans School Friday.
Lewis was born in Troy, Alabama, and worked as a sharecropper on a farm. Marblehead Racial Justice Team member Louis Meyi told students that he grew up during the same period in Louisiana.
“So I can give first hand experience when I was growing up of how white people in power had rules to make life hard for African Americans. Congressman Lewis did lots of things to change the rules … He accomplished those things with non-violent action and that’s a key takeaway.”
Lewis, who died in 2020, was known for encouraging activists to get into “good trouble.”
The Veterans School chorus performs the Black American national anthem “Lift Every Voice and Sing” on Friday.
The portraits were painted about five years ago by North Shore artist Anne Demeter, who gifted them to the Marblehead Racial Justice Team. The group decided to present the portraits to Marblehead Public Schools, with a different school receiving them each year. The portraits have previously been displayed at the Brown, Glover and Village schools.
They will be hung in the Veterans School library for the next year.
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