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November is Native American Indian Heritage Month. The days leading up to Thanksgiving, and those following the holiday, present a wonderful opportunity to explore the rich culture and traditions of America's many tribes.

Introducing and Exploring Native American Culture

I like to introduce this topic by having each student share his or her own prior knowledge about Native American tribes past and present to the classroom. There are a variety of ways to introduce the topic that include using media and literature. The Internet can provide an abundance of images, media clips and movies. National Geographic for Kids often features traditional ceremonies and dances, as well as cultural information past and present. My class and I enjoyed watching traditional hoop dances. Students carefully observed the movements made by dancers and analyzed the style of each performer. We also looked at traditional housing structures and historical images and compared them to their modern day counterparts.

Nonfiction books, folktales, and myths are fun ways to explore both fact and fiction. My students were particularly fond of "Dibé Yázhí Táa'go Baa Hane': The Three Little Sheep" by Seraphine G. Yazzie and "The Girl Who Loved Horses" by Paul Goble. Each of these folktales feature colorful illustrations and relate to common themes. When I taught on a reservation, students enjoyed sharing and connecting to their heritage. As I have taught in other areas, this sharing has given students a broader multicultural view, while giving me the opportunity to share about the culture I grew up in.

Learning Native American Languages

For this next activity, I set up a language and vocabulary center for my students. The language center is set up at our class computer, and students can visit a list of bookmarked sites to hear and practice using Native American languages including Hopi, Navajo, and many more. The vocabulary centers include index card decks in plastic bags. Each bag contains 10-20 cards; half of the cards have a word written on them while the other half has corresponding images. The bags also have topics written on them such as houses, clothing, food, etc.

Weaving in the Native American Tradition

Weaving has been a classroom favorite for many years now. We practice the skill by first making a card or bookmark using paper-strips. We then begin with a solid color - folding the sheet in half (landscape) and then cutting from the folded center out towards the edge of the paper; we stopped an 1" from the open edge. Next, we unfold the paper; this sheet now served as the loom (frame for weaving) and the warp (threads running lengthwise on loom). Students then choose from a selection of pre-cut 1" wide strips of colored paper. These wefts (threads weaved through the warp) are to be carefully worked in and out of the student made cuts. For my students that wanted to advance in this process, a weaving center was set up with yarns and looms.

Bulletin Board Museum

As an ongoing project, I created one large museum display board using empty bookcases. As students researched a Native American tribe, or came across something in a center that they wanted to share, they could create an artifact catalog card. They would record their artifact or discovery title, pertinent details or facts, and include a drawing or printed image.

Native American Lessons:
Native American Activities
This lesson is geared to second and third grades, but can be easily adapted for any age group. Students explore and reserach Native American tribes, then craft their reports to include a diorama representing the information they discovered. They also create a class quilt in which each paper square depicts a scene for the tribe they choose to research.
Native American Acrostic Poems
Students create and share an acrostic poem detailing attributes of Native American culture. Through the creative process they build a slideshow to accompany their poem. The lesson includes a rubric and links to all the resources listed in the procedures.

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November is Native American Indian Heritage Month. The days leading up to Thanksgiving, and those following the holiday, present a wonderful opportunity to explore the rich culture and traditions of America's many tribes. I like to introduce this topic by having each student share his or her own prior knowledge about Native American tribes past and present to the classroom.

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What started at the turn of the century as an effort to gain a day of recognition for the significant contributions the first Americans made to the establishment and growth of the U.S., has resulted in a whole month being designated for that purpose.

One of the very proponents of an American Indian Day was Dr. Arthur C. Parker, a Seneca Indian, who was the director of the Museum of Arts and Science in Rochester, N.Y. He persuaded the Boy Scouts of America to set aside a day for the "First Americans" and for three years they adopted such a day. In 1915, the annual Congress of the American Indian Association meeting in Lawrence, Kans., formally approved a plan concerning American Indian Day. It directed its president, Rev. Sherman Coolidge, an Arapahoe, to call upon the country to observe such a day. Coolidge issued a proclamation on Sept. 28, 1915, which declared the second Saturday of each May as an American Indian Day and contained the first formal appeal for recognition of Indians as citizens. The year before this proclamation was issued, Red Fox James, a Blackfoot Indian, rode horseback from state to state seeking approval for a day to honor Indians. On December 14, 1915, he presented the endorsements of 24 state governments at the White House. There is no record, however, of such a national day being proclaimed. The first American Indian Day in a state was declared on the second Saturday in May 1916 by the governor of New York. Several states celebrate the fourth Friday in September. In Illinois, for example, legislators enacted such a day in 1919. Presently, several states have designated Columbus Day as Native American Day, but it continues to be a day we observe without any recognition as a national legal holiday. In 1990 President George H. W. Bush approved a joint resolution designating November 1990 "National American Indian Heritage Month." Similar proclamations, under variants on the name (including "Native American Heritage Month" and "National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month") have been issued each year since 1994.

Executive and Legislative Documents

The Law Library of Congress has compiled guides to commemorative observations, including a comprehensive inventory of the Public Laws, Presidential Proclamations and congressional resolutions related to Native American Heritage Month.

About this Site

This Web portal is a collaborative project of the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

Other Dedicated Web Sites

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What started at the turn of the century as an effort to gain a day of recognition for the significant contributions the first Americans made to the establishment and growth of the U.S., has resulted in a whole month being designated for that purpose.

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National Hispanic Heritage Month recognizes the history, culture and contributions Hispanic Americans have made, and continue to make, to our country. Celebrated nationally since 1968, Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15, encompassing the independence anniversaries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Mexico. -

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National Hispanic Heritage Month recognizes the history, culture and contributions Hispanic Americans have made, and continue to make, to our country. Celebrated nationally since 1968, Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15, encompassing the independence anniversaries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Mexico. -

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Bring African-American culture & history into your curriculum

All people, regardless of race or place, deserve the same rights and freedoms. For too long, Black and brown people in America have been denied equality because of the color of their skin. To help students understand the reality of Black people's experiences in American history, their impact on American culture, and to celebrate their achievements, we've compiled a selection of lesson plans that cover a variety of subjects that can be adapted to fit multiple grade levels.

If you're commemorating Black History Month in your classroom consider preparing by reading Learning For Justice's Do's and Don'ts of Teaching Black History and Black History Month is Over. Now What?, and listening to our podcast on teaching Black history meaningfully (below) to ensure students get the most out of Black history lessons.

Lesson Plans

Grades K-5

Lesson Plans & Activities

LESSON PLANS

National Museum of African American History and Culture's Learning Labs
The Smithsonian's free, interactive platform provides ways to explore well-known and lesser-known moments of history by utilizing objects, documents, imagery, and videos to enhance content knowledge, hone historical thinking skills and inspire users to see themselves as agents of change. (Free account registration required)

ACTIVITIES

Who is Claudette Colvin?
Nine months before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a public bus, Claudette Colvin refused to move for white passengers and was forcibly removed from a Montgomery, Alabama, bus and jailed. Learn more about her story.

Background Resources

SOCIAL STUDIES

African American History Month Exhibits & Collections
Resources covering art and design, baseball, civil rights, culture, folklife, military, music and performing arts, religion, slavery, and resource guides.

W. E. B. Du Bois: Online Resources
Includes digital materials related to W. E .B. Du Bois and links to external Web sites.

Separate Is Not Equal - Brown v. Board of Education
History, images, and other resources covering the historic Supreme Court ruling ending segregation and ensuring opportunity in education.

Africans in America
Images, documents, stories, biographies, and commentaries. The site provides teacher's and youth guides. The four-part series may be in local libraries.

Black History - Biography - Celebrate Black History Month & People
Biographies, timelines, photos, and videos on notable African Americans.

The Awakening of Norman Rockwell This article examines Norman Rockwell's career and how his painting, The Problem We All Live With, for the January 14, 1964 issue of Look magazine was a turning point in this career and reflected his unexpected politicization in the 1960s.

ARTS

Poems to Celebrate Black History Month
Poems and articles by African-Americans.

The History of Hip-Hop
A collection of interviews from National Public Radio (NPR) that chronicle the seminal people and events in the hip-hop movement.

African American Visual Art and the Black Arts Movement
The Black Arts Movement (BAM) began in the mid-1960s to provide a new vision of African Americans. This site provides images galleries a theoretical essay, timeline, and links to other online art sources. Note: the top banner links are dead but the bottom links are functional.

The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed
African American and Global African history resources.

SCIENCE

10 Black Scientists that Science Teachers Should Know About
A list from PBS Education of some of the top Black scientists, engineers, inventors, and mathematicians that includes links to media resources to help you bring their work-and stories-into your classroom.

8 Black Inventors Who Made Daily Life Easier
This blog post outlines some of the lesser-known but vital contributions of Black inventors.

SPORT

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum: Resources for Teachers
Before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball there was Negro League Baseball. This site features history, a timeline, photos, and teacher resources.

African American Athletes
Brief biographies and film clips of outstanding African American athletes. Don't miss the links to legal and political figures, scientists and educators, activists, artists and writers, entertainers, and musicians and singers.

Quizzes

Printables

Video

Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans (68 minutes)
Considered the oldest black neighborhood in America, Faubourg Tremé is the origin of the southern civil rights movement and the birthplace of jazz.

Books

Picture the Dream: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement Through Children's Books
A teacher's resource kit from the High Museum

A Ride to Remember: A Civil Rights Story by Sharon Langley and Amy NathanYoung Sharon hears the story of how she, after a series of protests to integrate the park, is the first African American to ride on the carousel at Gwynn Oak Amusement Park in 1963.

Because Claudette by Tracey Baptiste
This picture book biography celebrates both Claudette Colvin, whose teen-aged activism launched the Montgomery bus boycott, and the power of collective action.
Author Tracey Baptiste shares how to make Black history accessible to young readers:
Carter Reads the Newspaper by Deborah Hopkinson
Meet the "father of Black History," Dr. Carter G. Woodson, and discover the experiences that shaped his passion.

Midnight Teacher: Lilly Ann Granderson and Her Secret School by Janet Halfmann
Born into slavery, Lilly Ann secretly learned to read and write from her master's children-and then read everything she could get her hands on. Wishing to share her knowledge with others, she secretly taught hundreds of other enslaved people despite the great risks.

Find African American booklists from Read Across America.

Grades 6-8

Lesson Plans & Activities

LESSON PLANS

Teaching Hard History
These resources for middle- and high-school educators include Learning for Justice's grades 6-12 framework, as well as student-facing videos and primary source texts to help all students grasp the historical significance of slavery. Educators will also find teaching tools and professional development resources.

PBS Black History Lesson Plans
These lesson plans and resources cover topics ranging from civil rights events to discussions about race in current events. These lessons are appropriate for history, ELA and social studies classrooms.

National Museum of African American History and Culture's Learning Labs
The Smithsonian's free, interactive platform provides ways to explore well-known and lesser-known moments of history by utilizing objects, documents, imagery, and videos to enhance content knowledge, hone historical thinking skills and inspire users to see themselves as agents of change. (Free account registration required)

ACTIVITIES

The Underground Railroad: Journey to Freedom
The Underground Railroad was the network used by enslaved black Americans to obtain their freedom in the 30 years before the Civil War (1860-1865).

Background Resources

SOCIAL STUDIES

African American History Month Exhibits & Collections
Resources covering art and design, baseball, civil rights, culture, folklife, military, music and performing arts, religion, slavery, and resource guides.

W. E. B. Du Bois: Online Resources
Includes digital materials related to W. E .B. Du Bois and links to external Web sites.

Separate Is Not Equal - Brown v. Board of Education
History, images, and other resources covering the historic Supreme Court ruling ending segregation and ensuring opportunity in education.

Africans in America
Images, documents, stories, biographies, and commentaries. The site provides teacher's and youth guides. The four part series may be in local libraries.

Black History - Biography - Celebrate Black History Month & People
Biographies, photos, and videos of notable African Americans.

The Awakening of Norman Rockwell
This article examines Norman Rockwell's career and how his painting, The Problem We All Live With, for the January 14, 1964 issue of Look magazine was a turning point in this career and reflected his unexpected politicization in the 1960s.

ARTS

Poems to Celebrate Black History Month
Poems and articles by African-Americans.

The History of Hip-Hop
A collection of interviews from National Public Radio (NPR) that chronicle the seminal people and events in the hip-hop movement.

African American Visual Art and the Black Arts Movement
The Black Arts Movement (BAM) began in the mid-1960s to provide a new vision of African Americans. This site provides images galleries a theoretical essay, timeline, and links to other online art sources. Note: the top banner links are dead but the bottom links are functional.

The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed
African American and Global African history resources.

SCIENCE

10 Black Scientists that Science Teachers Should Know About
A list from PBS Education of some of the top Black scientists, engineers, inventors, and mathematicians that includes links to media resources to help you bring their work-and stories-into your classroom.

8 Black Inventors Who Made Daily Life Easier
This blog post outlines some of the lesser-known but vital contributions of Black inventors.

SPORTS

African American Athletes
Brief biographies and film clips of outstanding African American athletes. Don't miss the links to legal and political figures, scientists and educators, activists, artists and writers, entertainers, and musicians and singers.

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum: Resources for Teachers
Before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball there was Negro League Baseball. This site features history, a timeline, photos, and teacher resources.

Quizzes

Printables

Audio & Video

AUDIO

Blues Journey (23:17 minutes)
This four part audio series explores the history of the blues.

VIDEO

Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans (68 minutes)
Considered the oldest black neighborhood in America, Faubourg Tremé is the origin of the southern civil rights movement and the birthplace of jazz. Check local listings to see when it airs on a local PBS station.

Forgotten Genius (120 minutes)
Chemist Percy Lavon Julian struggled against racism as he pursued research with steroids and alkaloids and helped to create affordable and effective treatments for rheumatoid arthritis and glaucoma.

Through the Window and into the Mirror: Narratives of African American STEM Professionals
This video conversation series shares the experiences of African American STEM professionals today.

Books

Picture the Dream: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement Through Children's Books
A teacher's resource kit from the High Museum

Loretta Little Looks Back: Three Voices Go Tell It by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Loretta, Roly, and Aggie B. Little relate their Black family's challenges and triumphs from 1927 to 1968 while struggling as sharecroppers, living under Jim Crow, and fighting for Civil Rights in Mississippi.

When Winter Robeson Came by Brenda Woods
To figure out what happened to his missing father, thirteen-year-old Winter travels to Los Angeles from Mississippi to visit his cousin Eden and her family during the summer of the Watts Riots in 1965.

Find African American booklists from Read Across America.

Grades 9-12

Lesson Plans & Activities

LESSON PLANS

Teaching Hard History
These resources for middle- and high-school educators include Learning for Justice's grades 6-12 framework, as well as student-facing videos and primary source texts to help all students grasp the historical significance of slavery. Educators will also find teaching tools and professional development resources.

Tulsa: The Fire and the Forgotten
Through a series of video clips and activities, students can learn about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and how the community of Tulsa is coming to terms with its past, present, and future.

PBS Black History Lesson Plans
These lesson plans and resources cover topics ranging from civil rights events to discussions about race in current events. These lessons are appropriate for history, ELA and social studies classrooms.

National Museum of African American History and Culture's Learning Labs
The Smithsonian's free, interactive platform provides ways to explore well-known and lesser-known moments of history by utilizing objects, documents, imagery, and videos to enhance content knowledge, hone historical thinking skills and inspire users to see themselves as agents of change. (Free account registration required)

ACTIVITIES

The Underground Railroad: Journey to Freedom
The Underground Railroad was the network used by enslaved black Americans to obtain their freedom in the 30 years before the Civil War (1860-1865).

Background Resources

SOCIAL STUDIES

African American History Month Exhibits & Collections
Resources covering art and design, baseball, civil rights, culture, folklife, military, music and performing arts, religion, slavery, and resource guides.

W. E. B. Du Bois: Online Resources
Includes digital materials related to W. E .B. Du Bois and links to external Web sites.

Separate Is Not Equal - Brown v. Board of Education
History, images, and other resources covering the historic Supreme Court ruling ending segregation and ensuring opportunity in education.

Africans in America
Images, documents, stories, biographies, and commentaries. The site provides teacher's and youth guides. The four part series may be in local libraries.

Black History - Biography - Celebrate Black History Month & People
Biographies, photos and videos of notable African Americans.

The Awakening of Norman Rockwell
This article examines Norman Rockwell's career and how his painting, The Problem We All Live With, for the January 14, 1964 issue of Look magazine was a turning point in this career and reflected his unexpected politicization in the 1960s.

ARTS

Poems to Celebrate Black History Month
Poems and articles by African-Americans.

Jazz: A Film by Ken Burns
Online activities and biographies, transcripts of many interviews with musicians, K-12 lesson plans, and a music study guide for grades 5-8.

The History of Hip-Hop
A collection of interviews from National Public Radio (NPR) that chronicle the seminal people and events in the hip-hop movement.

African American Visual Art and the Black Arts Movement
The Black Arts Movement (BAM) began in the mid-1960s to provide a new vision of African Americans. This site provides images galleries a theoretical essay, timeline, and links to other online art sources. Note: the top banner links are dead but the bottom links are functional.

The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed
African American History by region.

SCIENCE

10 Black Scientists that Science Teachers Should Know About
A list from PBS Education of some of the top Black scientists, engineers, inventors, and mathematicians that includes links to media resources to help you bring their work-and stories-into your classroom.

8 Black Inventors Who Made Daily Life Easier
This blog post outlines some of the lesser-known but vital contributions of Black inventors.

SPORT

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum: Resources for Teachers
Before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball there was Negro League Baseball. This site features history, a timeline, photos, and teacher resources.

African American Athletes
Brief biographies and film clips of outstanding African American athletes. Don't miss the links to legal and political figures, scientists and educators, activists, artists and writers, entertainers, and musicians and singers.

Quizzes

Printables

Audio & Video

AUDIO

Blues Journey (23:17 minutes)
This four part audio series explores the history of the blues.

VIDEO

Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans (68 minutes)
Considered the oldest black neighborhood in America, Faubourg Tremé is the origin of the southern civil rights movement and the birthplace of jazz. Check local listings to see when it airs on a local PBS station.

Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (220 minutes)
Jack Johnson was the first African American boxer to win the Heavyweight Championship of the World. The website includes the story of Johnson's life and career, a timeline, and media gallery. The DVD may be available in local libraries.

Through the Window and into the Mirror: Narratives of African American STEM Professionals
This video conversation series shares the experiences of African American STEM professionals today.

Books

Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party's Promise to the People by Kekla Magoon
An essential account of the Black Panthers as militant revolutionaries, social activists, and human rights advocates working to defend and protect their community.

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds; adapted from Stamped from the Beginning by and with an introduction from Ibram X. Kendi
Using humor and a conversational style, author Jason Reynolds deftly reworks Kendi's Stamped from the Beginning, exposing young adult readers to the history of America's racist past that textbooks leave out.

Find African American booklists from Read Across America.

Teaching Black History, Meaningfully

How you can make your Black history lessons more meaningful, unique, and powerful for your students? We asked Colorado social studies teacher Kevin Adams to join us for a discussion about breaking stale patterns when teaching Black history and shaping your lessons to fit your classroom and community. Listen to Kevin's advice and experiences in this 36 minute School Me Podcast.

Black History Month: Books and More for K-12 Students

The following resources from NEA's partners at WETA highlight books and classroom resources highlighting Black history and culture.

Reading Rockets: Booklists for Elementary
Celebration and Remembrance: Children's Books About Black Lives
This collection includes picture book biographies of a young boy who shipped himself to freedom during the Civil War, a trailblazing pilot, a brilliant writer - and a sensitive but honest retelling of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. You'll also meet Milo, who realizes on a subway ride to visit his mom that you can't know someone just by looking at them.
People Make the Difference: A Celebration of Black History Month
These are stories of turbulent times in the United States. Each book is told with a young audience in mind and presents a slice of history and highlights the impact of real individuals.

For additional books and resources, see:

AdLit: Booklists for Middle and High School
Black Characters and Social/Cultural Themes
These books for middle grade and young adults feature stories across a range of genres from dynamic authors including Jason Reynolds, Angie Thomas, Ibi Zoboi, Renée Watson, Nic Stone, Nicola Yoon, Rita Garcia-Williams, Kekla Magoon, Kacen Callender, Jerry Craft, and Justina Ireland.

For additional ideas, see the following resources:

AdLit: Author Interviews

Stay Informed We'll come to you

We're here to help you succeed in your career, advocate for public school students, and stay up to date on the latest education news. Sign up to stay informed

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Bring African-American culture & history into your curriculum

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Talking About Race

Check out resources to help facilitate conversations about race, including classroom appropriate lesson plans, guides on how to have tough conversations with peers and students, and more.

Teaching for Black Lives, Edited By Dyan Watson, Jesse Hagopian, Wayne Au. Rethinking Schools.

Black Lives Matter at School, website of the national coalition organizing for racial justice in education.

2020 Curriculum Resource Guide, BlackLivesMatteratSchool.com

Creating the Space to Talk about Race in Your School (PDF), National Education Association

Lessons by grade-level and educator resources, Washington DC Black Lives Matter

Classroom Activities, Circle Scripts, and Promoting Positive School Climate, Rochester City School District

Share your BLM at School events, actions or resolutions here: neaedjustice@nea.org
Standing Together

See how cities like Milwaukee, Rochester, and Seattle have passed community and union resolutions - and then mobilized to support Black Lives Matter at School.

Art and Activism

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Black Lives Matter at School - Resources - NEA EdJustice

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Talking About Race Check out resources to help facilitate conversations about race, including classroom appropriate lesson plans, guides on how to have tough conversations with peers and students, and more. Teaching for Black Lives, Edited By Dyan Watson, Jesse Hagopian, Wayne Au. Rethinking Schools. Black Lives Matter at School, website of the national coalition organizing ...

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People of African descent have been inextricably linked to the history of the land now known as Texas since the earliest days of colonization

African American Texans have created culture and community despite being subjected to racism and oppression in the form of enslavement, segregation, and violence, and have improved the state of Texas with valuable cultural and historical contributions.

I belong to myself now. Harriet, freed woman, 1865

African People Under Spanish Rule

With their arrival in 1528, people of African descent, enslaved and free, were instrumental in the settlement of Spanish Texas.

People of African descent were part of the population that settled Texas in the 17th and 18th centuries. This population included free and enslaved black and mixed-race people, as interracial marriage was legal and very common. The enslaved population was afforded some rights under Spanish rule, including the right to purchase freedom, protest against abuse, or obtain new masters if they were being treated unfairly.

Though African people occupied the lower end of the "castas" racial categorization system of Spanish Texas, some African and mixed-race people were able to ascend the classification system by gaining wealth and prestige through their labor

Mexican Independence and Texas Revolution

Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821 following an 11-year revolutionary war. Under Mexican rule, slavery was officially outlawed in Texas by 1829. However, special consideration given to Anglo settlers meant that the enslaved population of Texas continued to grow, as enslaved men and women were forced to accompany their enslavers on their journey into Texas.

Following Mexican Independence in 1821, the Mexican government adopted policies to gradually outlaw enslavement in the newly established country, but Anglo settlers actively worked to ensure slavery was preserved in Tejas. A number of enslaved African Americans arrived with Stephen F. Austin and his Anglo settlers in 1824. By the end of 1825, there were around 443 slaves in the colony -almost a quarter of its population. By the time that clashes with the Mexican government led to the Texas Revolution in 1835, more than 5,000 enslaved people lived in Texas.

Slavery in Texas

African American life after Texas Independence was shaped by new and existing legal constraints, enslavement, and violence. Free blacks struggled with new laws banning them from residence in the state, while the majority of black Texans remained enslaved.

The Texas Constitution of 1836 gave more protection to slaveholders while further controlling the lives of enslaved people through new slave codes. The Texas Legislature passed increasingly restrictive laws governing the lives of free blacks, including a law banishing all free black people from the Republic of Texas.

Texas's enslaved population grew rapidly: while there were 30,000 enslaved people in Texas in 1845, the census lists 58,161 enslaved African Americans in 1850. The number had increased to 182,566 by 1860.

Most enslaved people in Texas were brought by white families from the southern United States. Some enslaved people came through the domestic slave trade, which was centered in New Orleans. A smaller number of enslaved people were brought via the international slave trade, though this had been illegal since 1806.

Most enslaved African Americans in Texas were forced into unskilled labor as field hands in the production of cotton, corn, and sugar, though some lived and worked on large plantations or in urban areas where they engaged in more skilled forms of labor as cooks, blacksmiths, and carpenters. While there were no large-scale slave insurrections in Texas, enslaved people resisted in a variety of ways, the most common being running away. Enslaved people made personal connections, and established family relationships wherever possible despite the odds, which was made more difficult by the changing nature of Texas and its white population.

De slaves was about de same things as mules or cattle, dey was bought and sold and dey wasn't supposed ter be treated lak people anyway. We all knew dat we was only a race of people as our master was and dat we had a certain amount of rights but we was jest property and had ter be loyal ter our masers. It hurt us sometimes ter be treated de way some of us was treated but we couldn't help ourselves and had ter do de best we could which nearly all of us done.

-Mollie Dawson, enslaved in Navarro County, Texas

Civil War and Emancipation

Life for enslaved African Americans remained relatively unchanged during the Civil War. However, with Union General Granger's emancipation announcement at the end of the war, African Americans celebrated their independence and began new lives as freedpeople.

On February 23, 1861, Texans voted to secede from the Union and joined the Confederate States of America. Because Texas remained relatively unscathed by fighting during the war, life for enslaved African Americans continued in much the same way as it had before the fighting. Felix Haywood, who worked as a cowboy while enslaved in San Antonio, described his experience of the war when interviewed in 1937: "It's a funny thing how folks always want to know about the war. The war wasn't so great as folks suppose. Sometimes you didn't know it was going on. It was the ending of it that made the difference."

While Felix Haywood's life was undisturbed by the war, other enslaved people experienced upheaval. Some enslaved people were moved from the eastern areas of Texas or from other southern states to keep them away from Union troops, and many were made to labor for the Confederate Army, building fortifications and other methods of defense.

On June 19, 1865, at the end of the Civil War and over two years after President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, General Gordon Granger landed in Galveston and declared that enslavement was ended. However, many black people in Texas remained enslaved for months, and in rare cases years, when their owners refused to release them. Many newly emancipated people celebrated their independence at the holiday subsequently known as Juneteenth, though some found their celebrations thwarted by disgruntled former slave-owners. Some people immediately set off in search of lost family and friends, while others experienced confusion and uncertainty about their futures as freedpeople.

What I likes best, to be slave or free? Well, it's this way. In slavery I owns nothing and never owns nothing. In freedom I's own the home and raise the family. All that cause me worriment, and in slavery I has no worriment, but I takes the freedom. Margrett Nillin

Reconstruction

Reconstruction, a period when people across the United States attempted to reckon with the political, economic, and physical destruction of the Civil War, was a difficult time in Texas, and throughout the country. This era was marked by intense violence and extreme social turmoil, and had lasting implications at the local, state, and federal levels. State and national governments worked to reintegrate Confederate states into the Union, while African Americans navigated the increasingly complicated process of freedom.

Black Codes instated by an all-white state Constitutional Congress in 1866 severely limited black people's rights. These Black Codes included labor, vagrancy, and apprenticeship laws that were meant to mimic the conditions of enslavement. White Texans, reacting to the end of the Civil War, increased violence and attacks against African Americans. The Ku Klux Klan was present in Texas by 1868 and its members intimidated and assaulted freedpeople, usually to reduce black political participation. The Freedman's Bureau, which began in Texas in September 1865, attempted to curb this violence. Its success diminished over time. In addition to protection against white violence, the Freedman's Bureau aimed to assist newly freed African Americans with legal matters, education, and employment.

Newly freed African Americans, most of whom had few resources with which to start their new lives, found themselves increasingly limited by the legacies of enslavement. Many were forced to sign sharecropping contracts with their former owners, while others were incarcerated at rapid rates. Despite these difficulties, African Americans began constructing new forms of family and kinship ties, while making gains in literacy and education

Political Advancement

With the implementation of national Reconstruction, African Americans became more involved in state political processes, and some black men, including G.T. Ruby and Matthew Gaines, served in the Texas Legislature.

Starting with the election of nine African American delegates to a state constitutional convention in 1868, African American men began a brief period of political engagement. George T. Ruby, a former Freedmen's Bureau agent originally from New York, was a particularly prominent black voice in Texas politics, serving in the Texas Legislature from 1870 until 1874. Matthew Gaines, formerly enslaved in Fredericksburg, Texas, was a Baptist minister who served as the Senator from the Sixteenth District in the Texas Legislature during Reconstruction. Both Gaines and Ruby advocated for the rights of freedpeople during their tenures in office, and both were forced to relinquish their seats after Texas Democrats (the party then ruled by former slaveowners) regained political power.

Segregation and Violence

With the end of Reconstruction, segregation and suppression controlled the physical movement, social advancement, and political participation of African Americans in Texas.

Reconstruction in Texas officially ended with the inauguration of Democratic Governor Richard Coke in January 1874, and the brief political engagement of Texas African Americans was severely curtailed until the mid-twentieth century. White Texans utilized violence, intimidation, and legal means to limit black suffrage, and passed a poll tax in 1902 to restrict the political participation of poor people of all races. The most effective means of reducing black political participation, however, was the white primary, which restricted voting in Democratic primary elections to white Texans. Many African Americans challenged the legality of this system, including Lawrence A. Nixon in 1924 and Richard R. Grovey in 1935. Nevertheless, the Texas Democratic Party's use of the white primary persisted until the Supreme Court struck it down in 1944.

Laws requiring segregation of railroad cars, waiting rooms, restrooms, restaurants, entertainment establishments, and residential neighborhoods also restricted African American mobility and advancement during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Ku Klux Klan, which experienced a national resurgence in the 1920s, enacted violence and terror on Texas African Americans, and lynching became an increasingly prevalent form of racial intimidation. Between 1885 and 1942, there were 468 documented victims of lynching in Texas, the vast majority of whom were African American.

Community and Resistance

While African Americans fought against discrimination and repression, they also organized in their neighborhoods, participated in war efforts, and influenced the larger state of Texas with valuable cultural, political, and economic contributions.

Black people built neighborhoods, participated in churches and organizing efforts, and owned businesses and newspapers, all while living under the shadow of racist violence and oppression. While schools continued to be segregated until later in the 20th century, black Texas educators including Melvin B. Tolson at Wiley College in Marshall and W. Rutherford Banks at Prairie View worked to improve historically black colleges and universities. Mary Branch was appointed president of Tillotson College in Austin, Texas, in 1930, and transformed the college from a struggling junior college for women to a successful four-year college and led the way for the future merger with Samuel Huston College, forming Huston-Tillotson University in 1952.

In addition, African Americans participated in the war efforts of the First and Second World Wars. Black men were called up for enlistment at higher rates than their population percentages, while black women worked in the defense industry and supported troops from home. Doris Miller, born in Willow Grove, Texas, distinguished himself during the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941, while Leonard Harmon, originally from Cuero, became the first African American to have a warship named after him, for his heroism during the battle of Guadalcanal in 1942. Black men and women also enjoyed more employment options with the desegregation of the defense industry after the enactment of Executive Order 8802 in 1941.

At the same time, the black rural population declined as more African Americans moved to urban areas in Texas. Black people increasingly participated in urban industry, and the number of black professionals rose from around 400 in 1940 to almost 4,000 by 1960. This number continued to increase throughout the twentieth century.

Black musicians and athletes, including Blind Lemon Jefferson and Jack Johnson, achieved national recognition for their contributions to Texas and American culture, while John Biggers, J. Mason Brewer, and many others influenced state and national art and literature. Black Texans continued to work to confront racism and segregation, and laid the groundwork for the progress that would be achieved during the Civil Rights Movement.

The Civil Rights Movement in Texas

African Americans continued to confront racist legislation and legal segregation, organizing in their communities against their continued oppression. The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act were catalysts for increased black political and social participation in the mid-20th century.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Texas, target of racist ire since its formation in the state in 1915, chipped away at legal restrictions on black rights and won important cases in Smith v. Allwright, which declared white primaries unconstitutional in 1944, and Sweatt v. Painter, which desegregated the University of Texas Law School in 1950.

African American women, including Lulu B. White and Juanita Craft, were instrumental in political activism. Lulu B. White was an important organizer and activist in the first half of the 20th century. White became the president of the Houston chapter of the NAACP in 1939, and transformed her chapter into the largest in the South by 1943. She later served as the state director of the NAACP.

Juanita Craft worked with Lulu B. White at the NAACP, and was the first black woman to vote in Dallas in 1944. During her long career in Texas politics, Craft was responsible for the 1955 Dallas Youth Council protest of Negro Achievement Day at the Texas State Fair, and was involved in desegregation efforts at the University of Texas and North Texas State University. Later, she was elected City Councilwoman for the Dallas City Council.

While African American women worked for progress on the state and local levels, federal policies also created opportunities for black Texans. The passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965 allowed for more black participation in the political process, and helped people achieve more opportunities for advancement in employment, and state and national recognition for contributions to the arts, music, athletics, education, food, politics, science, and business.

The Story Continues

The Story of Texas cannot be told without recognition of 500 years of African American impact and contribution to the state's legacy. African descended people in the state of Texas have encountered incredible difficulty, but have continued to build community and create identity throughout their presence in the state. While Texans continue to work toward equality and justice, African Americans remain an integral part of the larger story of the state of Texas.

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The African American Story | Texas State History Museum

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Skip to main menu Skip to page content Skip to footer People of African descent have been inextricably linked to the history of the land now known as Texas since the earliest days of colonization African American Texans have created culture and community despite being subjected to racism and oppression in the form of enslavement, segregation, and violence, and have improved the state of Texas with valuable cultural and historical contributions.

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If you're interested in that broadest of all musical categories, "world music," you won't find a better site than Smithsonian Folkways, which contains 40,000 tracks from the Smithsonian Folkways archives. Albums and individual songs are available for purchase and download. For Black History Month, Folkways Recordings offers free videos, music, and spoken-word recordings. Lesson plans and student activities are included.
Heritage Month on Smithsonian Folkways

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Smithsonian Education - African American Heritage Teaching Resources

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If you're interested in that broadest of all musical categories, "world music," you won't find a better site than Smithsonian Folkways, which contains 40,000 tracks from the Smithsonian Folkways archives. Albums and individual songs are available for purchase and download. For Black History Month, Folkways Recordings offers free videos, music, and spoken-word recordings.

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Search | Everything | Smithsonian Learning Lab

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The laws of changeless justice bind
Oppressor with oppressed;
And close as sin and suffering joined
We march to fate abreast. - John Greanleaf Wittier

From the first footsteps of enslaved peoples on American soil to where Martin Luther King, Jr. challenged us all to rise to his "Dream," national parks preserve the places where this history happened. Plan a visit to parks that honor and preserve African American heritage, attend an event, or simply learn about the heartbeat of American history that is African American history. A special NPS film, " Twenty & Odd," explores the legacy of more than 400 years of the African American experience. You can also explore the many ways that the dedicated professionals of the National Park Service work to preserve and protect these sites and aid communities outside our park boundaries.

Cover Caption: History Class, Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee Alabama
Photo description: B&W photo of teacher standing in front of classroom of students with writing on blackboard
Credit: Library of Congress; photo taken by Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952)

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African American Heritage (U.S. National Park Service)

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The laws of changeless justice bind Oppressor with oppressed; And close as sin and suffering joined We march to fate abreast. - John Greanleaf Wittier From the first footsteps of enslaved peoples on American soil to where Martin Luther King, Jr. challenged us all to rise to his "Dream," national parks preserve the places where this history happened.

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"Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history."

―Carter G. Woodson

Who is included in your curriculum and who can be added when teaching African American history?

What are the lasting contributions of African Americans to the culture and history of the United States?

How has change come about during the long civil rights movement?

The first national Negro History Week was organized by Carter G. Woodson in February 1926 to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. As interest and advocacy for expanding the study of African American history developed, a desire to expand beyond just one week also grew. In 1970, students at Kent State University celebrated Black History Month from January to February of that year, and since 1976, each President of the United States has endorsed commemorating February as Black History Month across the country.

The resources and lessons provided below are organized chronologically to illustrate that the achievements, perspectives, and experiences of African Americans are important to social studies and history curricula all year long. Users will find connections between these materials and those provided in subsequent sections of this Teacher's Guide to develop cross-disciplinary learning activities and projects.

Slavery and the Early Republic

Slavery and the American Founding: The "Inconsistency not to be excused": Framed by the compelling question " How did the American founders' views on slavery shape the creation of the republic?", this lesson asks students to examine the views of American founders regarding slavery and evaluate the extent to which they reflect the principles of the American Revolution.

What were the experiences of African-American individuals in the North in the years between the American Revolution and the Civil War? To what extent were freed slaves citizens in the newly independent nation? This lesson provides primary sources for students to analyze in order to evaluate these questions.

Abolition and Reconstruction

"I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary!
Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us.
The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common."

-Frederick Douglass, "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?"

Frederick Douglass What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?: This student activity brings together video and audio media, along with the text of Douglass's speech, to give students opportunities to discuss and deliberate who the 4th of July is for and the extent to which Douglass is justified in his position.

David Walker, a free African American, invoked the Bible and the Declaration of Independence to challenge the inequities of American slavery in his Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World (1829). John Day, also a free African American, was a major proponent of colonization and an early Liberian colonist who argued that African Americans would never achieve equality in the United States. Through this lesson, students examine the conflicting perspectives over slavery, abolition, and equality.

Jim Crow and War

Birth of a Nation, NAACP, and Balancing of Rights: Why did the NAACP challenge the showing of Birth of a Nation? The lesson asks students to analyze the efforts of the NAACP and evaluate the decision to not censor the film.

NAACP's Anti-Lynching Campaigns in the 1920s: This lesson sequence engages students with the deeply serious issues of Jim Crow and lynching in the United States during the inter-war period.

African American Soldiers in World War I: The 92nd and 93rd Division: Students combine their research using a variety of sources, including firsthand accounts, to develop a hypothesis evaluating contradictory statements about the performance of the 92nd Infantry Division in World War I.

African American Soldiers after WWI: Had Race Relations Changed?: Analyze archival photographs and archival newspaper accounts about race relations in the United States to evaluate different points of view about post-war riots in Chicago.

African Americans and the New Deal's Civilian Conservation Corp: Students considers documents that present the CCC from the perspective of black participants in order to evaluate the impact of this New Deal program on race relations in America.

Civil Rights and Now

JFK, Freedom Riders, and the Civil Rights Movement: Resources provided in this lesson support student analysis of t he critical role of activists in pushing the Kennedy Administration to face the contradiction between its ideals and the realities of federal politics.

Revolution 67: Protest Why & How?: The intent of this lesson sequence is to help students comprehend and explain the changes in how the people of Newark, New Jersey viewed government and how those attitudes affected political change in the 1960s and 1970s.

Competing Voices of the Civil Rights Movement: This lesson sequence presents the views of several important black leaders who shaped the debate over how to achieve freedom and equality in a nation that had long denied a portion of the American citizenry the full protection of their rights.

Let Freedom Ring: The Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: Students will learn about the life and work of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. by listening to a brief biography, viewing photographs of the March on Washington, and reading a portion of King's "I Have a Dream" speech.

The Election of Barack Obama: This lesson focuses on the relationship between the Civil Rights Movement and Obama's election, but it also asks students why they think Barack Obama's election is "historic."

African American Literature and Poetry

Poetry, literature, and plays make up the collection of resources and lessons provided below for K-12 literature and language arts courses. Users will find connections between these materials and those provided in subsequent sections of this Teacher's Guide to develop cross-disciplinary learning activities and projects.

Teacher's Guide: The Works of Langston Hughes: This Teacher's Guide includes video of public readings, access to NEH supported projects dedicated to the work of Langston Hughes, and classroom ready materials for teaching his poetry.

The Poet's Voice: Langston Hughes and You: This lesson asks students to consider what is meant by voice in poetry, and what qualities have made the voice of Langston Hughes a favorite for so many people?

Teacher's Guide: Maya Angelou: A Phenomenal Woman: This Teacher's Guide provides access to collections of poetry, lesson activity ideas, and multimedia resources to hear and see Dr. Angelou perform her poetry.

Gwendolyn Brooks' Poem "We Real Cool": In this lesson, students will closely analyze the poem's line breaks and the effect of enjambment on their reading and interpretation of the poem.

The Pool Players.
Seven at the Golden Shovel.

We real cool. We

Left school. We

Lurk late. We

Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We

Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We

Die soon.

"A Raisin in the Sun": Whose American Dream?: This interdisciplinary lesson includes a critical reading and analysis of the play, close examination of biographical and historical documents produced at different times during the long civil rights movement, and a variety of assessment options.

Toni Morrison's Beloved: For Sixty Million and More: Close reading and reflective activities guide thoughtful inquiry into the novel and its major themes, while also providing teachers and students with creative outlets for making connections with one of the great novels of the twentieth century.

Their Eyes Were Watching God: Folk Speech and Figurative Language: This lesson provides students with an opportunity to observe how Hurston creates a unique literary voice by combining folklore, folk language, and traditional literary techniques.

Scottsboro Boys and To Kill a Mockingbird: Two Trials for the Classroom: In this lesson, students will perform a comparative close reading of select informational texts from the Scottsboro Boys trials alongside sections from To Kill a Mockingbird to see how fictional "truth" both mirrors and departs from the factual experience that inspired it.

African American Arts and Culture

The resources and lessons provided below are designed for the study of art, music, and culture in K-12 classrooms. Users will find connections between these materials and those provided in subsequent sections of this Teacher's Guide to develop cross-disciplinary learning activities and projects.

The Music of African American History: This lesson traces the long history of how African Americans have used music as a vehicle for communicating beliefs, aspirations, observations, joys, despair, resistance, and more across U.S. history.

Learning the Blues: Students take a virtual field trip to Memphis, Tennessee, one of the prominent centers of blues activities, and explore the history of the blues in the work of W. C. Handy and a variety of country blues singers whose music preserves the folk origins of this unique American art form.

Martin Puryear's Ladder for Booker T. Washington: Students examine Booker T. Washington's life and legacy through Martin Puryear's sculpture and consider how the title of Puryear's sculpture is reflected in the meanings we can draw from it.

Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series: Removing the Mask: Focusing on composition, image, setting, characterization, and tone, while also analyzing the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar and Helene Johnson, students are invited to compare and contrast the works while considering how each work represents the life and changing roles of African Americans from the late nineteenth century to the Harlem Renaissance and The Great Migration.

Romare Bearden's The Dove: A Meeting of Vision and Sound: How do art and music reflect & inspire change in American society? This lesson asks students examine this and other questions about history, art, and culture.

Picturing Freedom: Selma to Montgomery in March, 1965: After analyzing photojournalist James Karales's iconic photograph of the march, reading background material on it, and considering what the marchers might have thought and felt, students write and illustrate a postcard describing this civil rights event from a marcher's viewpoint.

Historic Sites of African American Culture

The forced migration of Africans reshaped cultural practices, traditions, and identities. In this country, Black community building and identity formation have created a heritage found in music, language, cuisine, art, and more. This heritage is also apparent in the physical spaces built by Black Americans and significant to Black culture.

Historically Black Towns and Settlements

The town of Princeville, North Carolina reflects a cultural landscape of the Black community following the end of the Civil War. Founded in 1865 by formerly enslaved people, many of these refugees remained in the area and created their own settlement called Freedom Hill, a name derived from the location where a Union solider shared news about the Emancipation Proclamation. In 1885, a Black carpenter named Turner Prince led the formal incorporation of the town, making Princeville the first Black incorporated town in the United States.

For over a century, the town has symbolized African American determination and endurance. Despite Princeville's continued adversity in the face of natural disasters, lack of government support, and white supremacy, residents share a strong sense of pride in their history and community. The town's location in a floodplain has resulted in numerous destructive floods, and after each of these events residents have chosen to rebuild in the interest of communal preservation. Although many of the town's historic buildings have been destroyed by flooding, the cultural landscape of Princeville retains its historical significance through its ability to evoke a sense of place.

Schools and HBCUs

Schools offer not only a physical space for building community but also a framework for exploring identity. In segregated public school systems, educational facilities for Black children were underfunded compared to their white counterparts. Beginning in 1917, educator and Tuskegee Institute co-founder, Booker T. Washington, and Julius Rosenwald, philanthropist and president of Sears Roebuck, built more than 5,000 schools for African American children across the rural South. By 1928, one-third of the South's rural Black school children and teachers attended or worked at a Rosenwald School.6 When the landmark Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka I and II (1954) found segregation in schools unconstitutional, Rosenwald Schools became obsolete as classrooms integrated.

Founded in 1870, Dunbar High School is the country's first public high school for African Americans. Throughout the 20th century, Dunbar became renowned for its excellent academics, and some parents moved to Washington, D.C. specifically so their children could attend the school. Noted faculty include educator and activist Mary Church Terrell, father of Black History Month Dr. Carter G. Woodson, and Dunbar graduate Julia Evangeline Brooks, who was one of the pioneers of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. Other celebrated graduates include businessman H. Naylor Fitzhugh, educator and activist Nannie Helen Burroughs, surgeon Charles R. Drew, lawyer Charles Hamilton Houston, and Air Force General Benjamin O. Davis Jr. Dunbar High School continues to educate generations of Black leaders to this day.

Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are higher education institutions that primarily serve African American students. Although most of these colleges and universities are found in the South, there are over one hundred HBCUs in locations across the United States, both public and private institutions. Established in 1837, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania is the country's oldest HBCU. Other HBCUs include Spelman College, Howard University, Xavier University, Tuskegee University, Hampton University, and Morehouse College.

Burial Grounds

One of the country's earliest and largest known Black cemeteries was rediscovered in 1991 in New York City. Before construction began for a thirty-four-story federal office building, the area was archeologically surveyed to comply with the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. The excavation uncovered the burial site of more than 419 free and enslaved Africans laid to rest during the late 17th and 18th centuries. Recognizing the historical significance of the site, the Secretary of the Interior designated the African Burial Ground to the National Register of Historic Places. In 2006, the site became a national monument.

Historic Preservation

Although Black cultural landscapes are ubiquitous throughout the country, they are often neglected and erased from historical narratives. The lack of national recognition given to Black cultural landscapes stems from trends within the field of historic preservation that favor architectural significance over social histories embedded within a place. Even with recent additions, fewer than 8% of the sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States are associated with women, African Americans, Latinx Americans and other minority groups combined.

Prior to 1973, there were only three Black historic sites designated across the entire United States: the Frederick Douglass House in Washington, D.C., the Booker T. Washington House in Virginia, and the George Washington Carver House in Missouri. Following the Civil Rights Movement and leading up to the Bicentennial, activist groups like the Afro-American Bicentennial Corporation argued for the inclusion of Black history in the preserved, built environment and American history more broadly. Through a contract with the National Park Service, the Afro-American Bicentennial Corporation drastically increased Black representation in the National Register of Historic Places, designating historic sites such as the Mary McLeod Bethune House in Washington, D.C. and W. E. B. Du Bois Boyhood Home in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

The National Endowment for the Humanities continues to fund a wide array of projects, programs, and publications focused on telling the many stories of African Americans in the United States. The following collection supplements the resources provided above and extends the work that can be done across K-12 classrooms when teaching African American history and culture.

Colored Conventions Project: From 1830 until well after the Civil War, African Americans gathered across the United States and Canada to participate in political meetings held at the state and national levels. A cornerstone of Black organizing in the nineteenth century, these "Colored Conventions" brought Black men and women together in a decades-long campaign for civil and human rights.

The Right to Love: The Case of Loving v. Virginia: This Humanities magazine article tells the story of how t he freedom to marry across racial lines was tested by a shy Virginia couple, who were very much in love.

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African American History and Culture in the United States

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"Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history." ―Carter G. Woodson Who is included in your curriculum and who can be added when teaching African American history?

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Collection of Videos from PBS

This Teacher's Guide is from the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities. "Put the power of primary sources to work in the classroom. Browse ready-to-use lesson plans, student activities, collection guides and research aids."

Who is Amanda Gorman?

"Amanda Gorman is the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history, as well as an award-winning writer and cum laude graduate of Harvard University, where she studied Sociology. She has written for the New York Times and has three books forthcoming with Penguin Random House.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, she began writing at only a few years of age. Now her words have won her invitations to the Obama White House and to perform for Lin-Manuel Miranda, Al Gore, Secretary Hillary Clinton, Malala Yousafzai, and others. Amanda has performed multiple commissioned poems for CBS This Morning and she has spoken at events and venues across the country, including the Library of Congress and Lincoln Center. She has received a Genius Grant from OZY Media, as well as recognition from Scholastic Inc., YoungArts, the Glamour magazine College Women of the Year Awards, and the Webby Awards. She has written for the New York Times newsletter The Edit and penned the manifesto for Nike's 2020 Black History Month campaign. She is the recipient of the Poets & Writers Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award, and is the youngest board member of 826 National, the largest youth writing network in the United States. https://www.theamandagorman.com/"

Black stories aren't only about pain, trauma, and oppression. Many are stories of power, bravery, friendship, and love.

The following titles celebrate joy in the lives of Black teens and/or represent the fantasy and science fiction genres. The characters in these stories laugh honestly, love fiercely, and fight for what they believe in!

The following books can be accessed through our library's catalog (Destiny) for a print copy or can be accessed through SORA for electronic books. Also we have additional books in our Black History Month Destiny Collection.

...and much more! Ask Us!

Our mission at Harlandale High School Library is to inspire a life-long love of reading while promoting student achievement and personal growth. We will encourage and empower students to effectively use and evaluate information and technology to be successful 21st century learners. The HHS Library will support the curriculum and goals of Harlandale Independent School District and provide valuable print and electronic resources for the community we serve.

Collette Knight & Linda Garza

Harlandale HS Librarian & Librarian Tech

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This Teacher's Guide is from the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities. "Put the power of primary sources to work in the classroom. Browse ready-to-use lesson plans, student activities, collection guides and research aids." "Amanda Gorman is the youngest inaugural poet in U.S.

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Search the world's information, including webpages, images, videos and more. Google has many special features to help you find exactly what you're looking for.

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March is Women’s History Month – commemorating and encouraging the study, observance and celebration of the vital role of women in American history.

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Seneca Falls Convention | The Vote | PBS LearningMedia

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Discover why the Founding Fathers' decision to leave voting rights to the states ultimately led to the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, where women, in the first convention in the nation called to discuss women's rights exclusively, demanded the right to vote, in this video adapted from AMERICAN EXPERIENCE | The Vote.

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PBS LEARNING MEDIA | Women's History Month | PBS KIDS

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Why Do We Celebrate Women's History Month? | The Wise Channel

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St. Patrick's Day

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St. Patrick’s Day Facts for Kids | March Holiday Lesson

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Music

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St Patrick’s Day with St Patrick’s Day Music and St Patrick’s Day Song

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Read A Loud

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LUCKIEST LEPRECHAUN Book for Kids | St Patricks Day Books for Kids | Children's Books Read Aloud