Black History Month
BVMS PTA in support of Black History Month has organized a special event for our Bulldogs to stand on the shoulders of our successful Horace Mann & Beverly Vista alumni. These four giants were a part of the Beverly High Integration Program that was created by Beverly Hills first African American teacher, Lyle Suter.
Our guests will be speaking about their experience going through the integration program, how the black and Jewish community came together during a dark time in history, and friendships and successes that came from those communities working together. They went through the civil rights era, the end of Jim Crow, and lived out the US Supreme Court's most historic ruling “Brown vs. Board of Education” that ended segregation in public schools.
OUR GIANTS' BIOS
Michael Suter 💜🧡
Horace Mann Alum, Graduated from Beverly Hills High School Class of 1975. Suter received a BA from UC Santa Barbara in 1979. Suter worked in the medical insurance industry and created the Lyle Suter Museum/Project where he keeps all of his fathers paintings, videos, and portraits. Suter's father, Lyle Suter was a famous African American painter who painted the official portrait for Martin Luther King Jr, Jackie Robinson, James Baldwin, and many more. Lyle Suter was Beverly Hills High School's first African American teacher and he created and implemented the BHUSD integration program.
Michael Higginbotham 💜🧡
Horace Mann Alum, Graduated from Beverly Hills High School Class of 1975. Higginbotham received a BA from Brown University in 1979, a Juris Doctorate degree from Yale Law School in 1982, and a Master of Laws degree from Cambridge University in 1985. Higginbotham is an attorney, law school professor at Baltimore School of Law, an author, and a political correspondent. Higginbotham's father was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first black military aviators in the United States Army Air Corps. Higginbotham's uncle was Leon Higginbotham, Philadelphia's first African American district court judge and Judge Leon Higginbotham helped draft South Africa's constitution after the end of South Africa's apartheid.
David Gross 💜🧡
Horace Mann Alum, Graduated from Beverly Hills High School Class of 1975. Gross received a BA from Brown University in 1979. Gross works in the Entertainment Industry in entertainment research, producing, and marketing; including roles such as the Vice President of International Theatrical Marketing for 20th Century Fox.
Alan Nierob 💚🧡
Beverly Vista Alum, Graduated from Beverly Hills High School Class of 1975. Nierob received a BA in communications from UCLA in 1979. Nierob is currently the Chairman, Entertainment of Rogers and Cowan. He is a PR/talent manager, who has managed countless entertainers. Nierob manages Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Russel Crow, Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson, Liam Neeson, Robert Downey Jr, Laurence Fishburne, Jennifer Lopez, Dwight Howard, Shaquille O'Neal, Jamie Foxx, Beyonce, Shakira, and the list goes on.