D.C. students from schools throughout the city stressed the importance of voting in this year’s Blacks In Wax virtual performance.

The live performance, which was produced and created by Cora Barry — the widow of the late former D.C. mayor Marion Barry — had been suspended in March after the coronavirus pandemic shut down area schools.

The sponsors of the event, including the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center and the Recreation Wishlist Committee regrouped in the fall to bring their performance to Youtube, where you can now view the performances online.

Students took on the role of political and civil rights figures such as Shirley Chisholm, Congressmen John Lewis and Elijah Cummings, Ida B. Wells, Frederick Douglas, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., California Senator and Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris as well as Former First Lady Michelle Obama.

Some of the students focused on major speeches given by the famous figures, often performing as footage of the exact speech aired in the background. Others student political figures stressed the importance of voting.

This year marks the 14th year of the production for the group.