DR. YETTY’S GOT A special assembly the next morning. It’s part of the history unit she’s teaching, called “The Cradle of Civilization.” That’s just one thing Dr. Yetty’s been doing different at UMS. She’s the principal, but she’s also teaching some. We call her the History Channel now. And today’s assembly is all about Egypt.

“I thought this was about Africa,” Ray-Ray says.

“Fool, Egypt is in Africa,” I tell him.

He just shakes his head like he feels sorry for me. “You should try not looking so smart once in a while,” he says. “Just sayin’.”

“Yeah, well…” I mumble as we shuffle into the auditorium.

I don’t sit with Ray-Ray, though. He hangs in the back, where it can get a little dangerous if you’re not careful. So I find Arthur, Dele, and Vashon, and we sit somewhere in the middle, close enough to see, but far enough away to not stand out too much.

Dr. Yetty shows a whole bunch of pictures and maps and stuff. It’s actually kind of interesting, and a lot of the kids are into it. She tells us that lots of important parts of things like medicine, astronomy, law, art, and music pretty much all started in Egypt.

“Which is in Africa,” she keeps saying. “That’s part of African heritage, too. A lot of what we see from ancient Greece originally came from Egypt…” she says, and puts a hand up to her ear.

“Which is in Africa!” a bunch of people say back.

“The Europeans, as well. They got a lot of what they’re famous for from Egypt…”

“Which is in Africa!” everyone says. They’re all kind of cheering and getting into it now. Why not? It’s one reason to walk a little taller, and I’m all for that. Dr. Yetty is pretty amazing at getting everyone into it, so nobody feels like they’re acting weird.

Check it out: