'Do it for the culture!' Georgia art teacher's Black History Month doors are huge hit

A lot of teachers like to decorate the doors to their classrooms. Only a few can claim viral fame for it.

Nakimer Daniels, a teacher in Albany, Ga., said she was scrolling through her Facebook feed when she saw a few other art teachers decorating their doors for the "Black History Challenge," a trend for which she says teachers across the country are decorating their doors and classrooms to celebrate Black History Month this February.

Here's just one example:

Daniels, who graduated from Columbus State University's fine arts program in 2015, wanted to go all out for her challenge - and she did.

She decorated two doors by her classroom at Radium Springs Elementary with huge drawn portraits of two black children, a boy and a girl, covered in fabric patterns and sporting big hairstyles made up of black streamers.

In between the doors are photos of dozens of figures from black history, including Stevie Wonder, Martin Luther King Jr., Jackie Robinson, Trayvon Martin, Barack and Michelle Obama and many others. Above the doors, written on a rainbow of notes, is some sound advice: "Be a Dreamer."

Daniels planned the display to be big, but didn't expect it to be seen and shared by 70,000 people.

"I got a lot of good response from people all over the world. They want to do it, not just art teachers but teachers in general," she said. "I think it's a great way to inspire the children."

Daniels said she purposefully drew the two main figures to be both a girl and a boy. But she won't tell her students who they're supposed to be.

"It's you, it's everybody," she tells them. "It really was not one particular person. It actually just came out really beautiful and I love it."

This story was originally published February 16, 2018 at 10:20 AM with the headline "'Do it for the culture!' Georgia art teacher's Black History Month doors are huge hit."