I'm almost giddy to walk into U.S. History later in the morning, smug about the fact that we survived yet another 'apocalypse'.

"Hey, Mr. Morales. Good thing we didn't go all 'Millerite' and sell all our stuff, huh?"

Mr. Morales lets out a snort, then promptly clears his throat to cover it. "Good morning, Indi. You're the only student I've ever known to make history jokes."

He flashes me an affectionate teacher smile.

I smile back. "I know I'm your favorite, Mr. Morales. But it's not professional to make it so obvious."

He looks down, shuffling some papers. "I can neither confirm nor deny that claim."

When everyone is seated, Mr. Morales leans against his desk, crossing his legs at the ankles. "So what do you all know about the 1920s?"

I speak up automatically. "I love the 20s. Flappers, jazz, the intrigue of prohibition... I swear I was born in the wrong era."

Mr. Morales says, "Ah, you have anemoia."

"Ana-what?" I ask, baffled. That sounds like some kind of disease.

He stands, walking over to write the word on the board and sounding it out. "Ann-uh-moy-a. It means nostalgia for a time period you never lived in."

"You know they didn't have Black flappers, right?" Kyle says, being a jackass as usual.

A few students snicker, but I don't even flinch. "Well, according to history, they didn't have white idiots either. Yet, here we are."

Several people hoot with laughter and I wince. Damn, that was out of my mouth before I thought about it.

I try to soften my previous statement. "I know we didn't have rights, not really. But there's something about that time. The glamour, the grit, the way we still carved out joy. It felt... alive. And Black people did have a significant presence then. Ever heard of the Harlem Renaissance?"

Mr. Morales clears his throat, circling around to turn on the projector. Black-and-white photos of Prohibition and the Roaring Twenties flash onscreen: jazz clubs, speakeasies, flappers dancing.

"Al Capone wasn't just a gangster. He was a businessman, a celebrity, a cautionary tale. But behind the glamour of the 1920s? Rampant inequality. Racism. Poverty. Sound familiar?"

Kyle shifts in his seat, looking uncomfortable.

Mr. Morales continues. "But Indi does make a good point. Black people were able to leave a large mark on that era. We'll explore Langston Hughes, Josephine Baker, and Duke Ellington as we study this time in American history, specifically the contributions they made that are still felt today.”