# data[].attributes.headline
How Negro History Week Became Black History Month and Why It Matters Now

# data[].attributes.subject
How Negro History Week Became Black History Month and Why It Matters Now

# data[].attributes.body
ASD refers to February as a month to honor and celebrate Black Excellence. Here's the story behind "Black History" Month - and why it's celebrated in February

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
On Feb. 20, Frederick Douglass, the most powerful civil rights advocate of his era, dies.

Douglass collapsed after attending a meeting with suffragists, including his friend Susan B. Anthony. A lifelong supporter of women's rights, Douglass was among the 32 men who signed the Declaration of Sentiments at Seneca Falls, N.Y. He once said: "When I ran away from slavery, it was for myself; when I advocated emancipation, it was for my people. But when I stood up for the rights of woman, self was out of the question, and I found a little nobility in the act."

Did you know?

Douglass was such an animated storyteller that, when he collapsed, his wife thought it was part of the story he was telling her about his day with the suffragists.

Washington, D.C., schools begin to celebrate what becomes known as Douglass Day.

On Jan. 12, 1897, Mary Church Terrell, an educator and community activist, proposed the idea of a school holiday to celebrate Frederick Douglass's life at a school board meeting for the Washington-area "colored schools." The school board agreed to set aside the afternoon of Feb. 14, 1897, the date Douglass celebrated as his birthday (he had been born enslaved and did not know his exact date of birth) for students to learn about his life, writing and speeches.

Did you know?

Terrell was an animal lover, and she and her husband had a beloved dog named Nogi. For years, she lobbied the Board of Education to set aside a day when Washington students would be taught and shown the importance of being kind to animals. Animal Day, as she called it, never passed.

Carter G. Woodson, the scholar now known as "the father of Black history," was inspired to take his work nationwide.

Carter G. Woodson was born in 1875, the son of former enslaved people. He worked as a coal miner before receiving his master's at the University of Chicago, and he was the second African-American to receive a Ph.D. at Harvard (after W.E.B. DuBois). In the summer of 1915, Dr. Woodson attended the Lincoln Jubilee celebration commemorating the 50th anniversary of emancipation in Chicago, featuring exhibitions that highlighted African-Americans' recent accomplishments. After seeing the thousands of people who attended from across the country, Dr. Woodson was inspired to do more in the spirit of honoring Black history and heritage.

Did you know?

According to an article in The Broad Ax, a weekly Black newspaper in Chicago, the Jubilee celebration included musical performances, garment and furniture making, and a 16-foot statue of Abraham Lincoln.

The movement for Black History grows.

On Sept. 9, 1915, Dr. Woodson formed the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), an organization to promote the scientific study of Black life and history. (Today, the organization is known as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, or ASALH.) In 1916, the association established The Journal of Negro History, the first scholarly journal that published researchers' findings on the historical achievements of Black individuals.

Dr. Woodson believed that "If a race has no history, if it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated." To that end, he asked his Omega Psi Fraternity brothers to join him in the work of spreading the importance of Black history. The Omega Psi Fraternity created Negro History and Literature Week in 1924. But Dr. Woodson had even greater aspirations for Negro History to become a significant part of the culture across the country.

Did you know?

Dr. Woodson's best-known book, "The Miseducation of the Negro," inspired the title of the groundbreaking album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill."

In the 1920s, a decade of hope and possibility for Black Americans, Negro History Week begins.

Dr. Woodson believed deeply that a celebration of Black history would have lasting impact on future generations of leaders. As he reportedly told an audience of Hampton University students, "We are going back to that beautiful history and it is going to inspire us to greater achievements." Determined to lead the charge to study that history, Dr. Woodson announced the first Negro History Week in February 1926.

He chose February because it was the month in which both Lincoln and Douglass were born. After Lincoln's assasination, his birthday, on Feb. 12, had been celebrated by Black Americans and Republicans. Douglass Day, which was observed on Feb. 14, had grown in popularity since Mary Church Terrell had started it in Washington in 1897. Dr. Woodson saw Negro History Week as a way to expand the celebration of these two men and encourage Americans to study the little-known history of an entire people.

Did you know?

Every year since 1928, Negro History Week, and later Black History Month, has centered on a theme. This year's theme is "The Black Family: Representation, Identity and Diversity."

Growing alongside the Harlem Renaissance, Negro History Week uses every platform at its disposal to spread its message.

Dr. Woodson and his colleagues set an ambitious agenda for Negro History Week. They provided a K-12 teaching curriculum with photos, lesson plans and posters with important dates and biographical information. In an article published in 1932 titled "Negro History Week: The Sixth Year," Dr. Woodson noted that some white schools were participating in the Negro History Week curriculums and that this had improved race relations. He and his colleagues also engaged the community at large with historical performances, banquets, lectures, breakfasts, beauty pageants and parades.

L.D. Reddick, a historian, heard "the father of Negro history" speak as a child in his hometown, Jacksonville, Fla. Everything about Dr. Woodson, he remembered, produced an effect that was "electric." As Mr. Reddick wrote, "He handled himself well upon the platform, I thought, moving about very much like a skilled boxer: never hurried, never faltering, sparring skillfully for openings, driving his blows deftly." Mr. Reddick, who would later collaborate with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on his book about the Montgomery bus boycotts, marveled that Dr. Woodson was "easily ... the most impressive speaker that I had ever heard up to that time in my life."

Did you know?

For rural schools, Dr. Woodson eventually introduced special kits for Negro History Week that could include a list of suggested reading material, speeches by and photos of famous African-Americans, and a play about Black history.

Every president since Ronald Reagan has issued a Black History Month proclamation.

In 2021, President Biden made his first proclamation in support of Black History Month, announcing: "We do so because the soul of our Nation will be troubled as long as systemic racism is allowed to persist. It is corrosive. It is destructive. It is costly. We are not just morally deprived because of systemic racism, we are also less prosperous, less successful, and less secure as a Nation."
Why does Black History Month in particular, and the study of Black history overall, still matter so much? "There's no question that history is and continues to be a battleground. The origin stories that we tell matter a great deal for where we set the bar and how we set the bar going forward," noted Professor Jones, of Johns Hopkins. "So when you talk about people like Carter G. Woodson, these are men who knew that if you don't rewrite the history of Africans and people of African descent, if you don't rewrite the history of the United States through the lens of Black history, if you don't make that record and if you don't make that case, there are [false] stories that will expand and go toward rationalizing and perpetuating racism, exclusion, marginalization and more."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How Negro History Week Became Black History Month and Why It Matters Now

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On Feb. 20, Frederick Douglass, the most powerful civil rights advocate of his era, dies. Douglass collapsed after attending a meeting with suffragists, including his friend Susan B. Anthony. A lifelong supporter of women's rights, Douglass was among the 32 men who signed the Declaration of Sentiments at Seneca Falls, N.Y.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
By the time Black History Month was officially recognized by President Gerald Ford in 1976, the man responsible for its creation had been gone for more than a quarter of a century. Each February, however, kids in elementary schools around the US live out the legacy of Carter G. Woodson. If you're looking for Black History Month activities for kids to use in the classroom this month or ways to discuss Black history throughout the school year, we've put together some options for your classroom, plus ways to include this year's theme.

What's the History of Black History Month?

Known as the father of Black History Month, Woodson was a historian and author whose establishment of Negro History week in 1926 paved the way for the federal declaration of February as Black History Month some 50 years later. The founder of the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History (ASALH) which today determines the theme for each Black History Month, Woodsen never meant for study of Black history to be limited to just a week - or even just a month.

Woodsen's work until his death in 1950 and the work of the ASALH since has been to promote the "year-round and year-after-year study of African American history."

What Is the Theme for Black History Month 2022?

Each year, the ASALH chooses the theme for Black History Month. In 2022, that theme is Black Health and Wellness, offering teachers chances to talk about the impacts Black Americans have had on medicine, including (but not limited to):

James McCune Smith - Teaching your students about the human body and discussing doctors? Consider mentioning Dr. James McCune Smith. Born in 1813, Smith was denied entry into American colleges when he wanted to study medicine - forcing him to go overseas to attain his degree. Returning to the US, Smith became the first Black doctor in America.

Henrietta Lacks - When talking about human rights, you may want to tell your students about Henrietta Lacks. Suffering from pain, the young Black woman went to a doctor at Johns Hopkins for help in 1951. Lacks was diagnosed with cancer, and her cells were sent off to a lab where they would be stolen by a cancer researcher and used in his research. Lacks' cells have been credited for being helpful in the development of important medical breakthroughs, including the polio and COVID-19 vaccines, however, the usage of her cells without her consent highlights the racial inequities she faced. In the years since Lacks' death, both scientists and members of her family have worked to establish stronger rules to govern the use of medical specimens just like those collected by her doctor.

Daniel Hale Williams - Teaching about the cardiovascular system? You may want to introduce your students to Dr. Daniel Hale Williams. A Black cardiologist who received his medical degree in Chicago in the 1880s, Williams was one of just three Black doctors working in Chicago when he performed what's considered the first-ever open heart surgery.

Charles Drew - Are teachers in your school attending a blood drive? You can discuss it with your students and mention Dr. Charles Drew, the Black physician best known for establishing the American Red Cross blood banking system.

Black History Month Activities for Kids

Looking for specific activities for your classroom? From read-alongs and PowerPoints about Black history to biography projects about Black Americans, here are a range of Black History Month activities for kids that can be done with children from pre-K on up through the upper years of elementary school.

Take a Virtual Field Trip

Visit the Slavery and Making of America Museum, a virtual museum created with donations from a number of members of the Association of African-American Museums. The free "field trip" includes resources for kids to make their own virtual museum exhibits.

Or head to the New York Public Library - virtually of course - where exhibits from the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem are free to browse and introduce kids to historic figures from Nat Turner to Emmett Till.
See more Virtual Field Trips that are free for your class.
Host an African American Read-In Event

Join schools around the US on February 3 by reading books and texts written by Black authors in the classroom. Find out more from the National Council of Teachers of English which offers a free toolkit for teachers to get involved plus books to add to your classroom library to ensure kids are reading Black authors and seeing Black characters in their books throughout the year.

Pocket Chart Cards

Print our free pocket chart cards, and display them for an interactive read-aloud during Black History Month, or have students glue them in their reading journals to read aloud to an adult at home.

Rosa Parks Timeline

This activity can be used during Black History Month or throughout the year. Focused on Rosa Parks' life, this cut and paste template can be used when teaching about timelines or when teaching about Parks herself and her impact on the Civil Rights movement. This Rosa Parks PowerPoint is another way to teach kids about Parks and her contributions to American history.

Play Guess Who

Do you have an old Guess Who game sitting in your classroom? We love hacking the gameboard to help kids learn CVC words, shapes, and more, but they're also a great way to help kids learn more about important people in American history.

Replace the game cards with photos of famous Black Americans (you can use this editable template), and have students narrow down the person on their opponent's card by asking yes or no questions related to when that person lived, what their job was, and more.

Comprehension Worksheets

It doesn't have to be Black History Month for your comprehension worksheets to be inclusive and show representation of important Black Americans. Chose from profiles of former President Barack Obama, Amelia Boynton, and more.

Black History Biographies

When you're assigning biography projects during Black History Month or any other time of the school year, make sure your list of historical figures that students can choose to study is diverse and includes Black Americans, as well as other important people of color. This free biography cube template is a fun way to highlight some of the information they've gathered on their chosen figure.

Read Books With Black Protagonists

Does your classroom library reflect the faces of the children in your classroom and the people in your community? These powerful books are perfect to use in the classroom to celebrate Black authors and Black stories.

I Am Enough by Grace Byers - This beautiful story from Grace Byers is all about loving who you are, respecting others, and being kind to each other.

Skin Like Mine by Latashia M. Perry - Latashia gives us a heartfelt story about appreciating everyone regardless of their skin color. This is a lighthearted way of breaking down the barrier when talking about different skin tones and loving the body you were given!

Teammates by Peter Golenbock - Peter Golenbock brings us the moving story about Jackie Robinson and part of his journey on becoming the first Black Major League baseball player.

The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson - Jacqueline tells us a story of two young girls - one black and one white - who, despite the barrier of a fence and the 'grown-ups', manage to develop a strong friendship.

For more books to add to your library, check out Marley Dias' expansive list of 1,000 Black Girl Books featuring Black girls front and center. Dias was just 11 when she created the #1000BlackGirlBooks drive, collecting books for schools while also bringing attention to the importance of including Black girls in literature and the lack of diversity in children's books.

Consider using Dias' story and her book Marley Dias Gets It Done as a prompt for your young writers. What lesson did they learn from Marley? What is something they can do in their own communities to be like her?

Everyone Belongs Flip Book

Use the Everyone Belongs Vocabulary Flip Book template with your students to discuss vocabulary associated with diversity and equality.

This works nicely during Black History Month and is something your students can refer back to throughout the year. The vocabulary explored includes compassion, inclusiveness, respect, empathy, care, diversity, culture, belonging, unity, and equality.

Black History Month Craft Activities

Some students learn and express themselves better artistically. Having a craft activity to incorporate into your Black History Month activities is a fantastic way to reflect on learning with your students. You also have the added bonus of creating a meaningful display in the classroom.

Alternatively, those students doing remote learning can hang up their finished art in their homes and discuss the meaning behind these crafts with their families.

Diversity Heart Activity

Art teacher Cassie Stephens (@cassie_stephenz) shared this heartwarming diversity activity back in June 2020. She wanted to help her students see that all people are worthy of kindness, acceptance, empathy, and love.

Show your students the video in this blog for the steps of this craft activity - Creating an Inclusive Classroom | Diversity Heart Art Activity.

Everyone Belongs Hand Activity (FREE Download)

Use our free Diversity Craft Templates to create a visual representation of your class and for students to write down their hopes and dreams for the world.

Don't forget to share your students' work, and tag us on Instagram at @teachstarter_us!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Meaningful Black History Month Activities for Kids (Free Resources Included)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By the time Black History Month was officially recognized by President Gerald Ford in 1976, the man responsible for its creation had been gone for more than a quarter of a century. Each February, however, kids in elementary schools around the US live out the legacy of Carter G. Woodson.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Sesame Street: Let's Celebrate Black History Song! | Black History Month

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Black History Month 2023 is a really exciting time of year when we can celebrate and shine a light on the rich history and culture of black people , in the UK and around the world, that may have previously been hidden.

Shouldn't Black History have been recognised and repositioned by now as and given the space it deserves- nay requires- for the curriculum to be a true reflection of history? Of course! But this doesn't have to mean that we can't also dedicate time in our curriculum during the month of October to focus specifically on celebrating and learning about black history and culture that, for so many years, was sidelined, ignored, and re-written.

As teachers, we're constantly being pulled in multiple directions with our attention having to go to multiple different tasks, all of equal importance, all at once. As such, it can be easy to fall into the trap of focusing on more well-known significant individuals and events from Black history, since they are what we're most familiar with, the most confident in teaching about, and can be the most efficient to resource.

Here at Prospero Teaching, we want to help you go beyond the stereotypes and expose your students to the lesser learned about individuals and events from Black British history. We have compiled a list of exciting people, events, and subjects that you could teach about during the month of October, as well as some resources and ideas of how to teach these across the curriculum.

These Black History Month 2023 resources are also great all year round for when you're looking to add a new perspective to a unit or subject that you already teach.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Black History Month 2023 Classroom Resources

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Find classroom resources for Black History Month 2023. Discover Inspiring Stories, Events, and Achievements that celebrate history.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
February is Black History Month. Paying tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society.

# data[].attributes.headline
Teaching & Learning Resources Across All Age Levels

# data[].attributes.subject
Teaching & Learning Resources Across All Age Levels

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
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

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
このセクターの誰とでも自由にコラボレーションできる。

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Bring African-American culture & history into your curriculum

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Black History Month 2021 Teaching Resources

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Celebrate Black History Month with this free collection of nonfiction dedicated to brave men, women and children who have made a big impact on the world.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Black History Month with Fyütch featuring Ana & Andrew—A Day at the Museum

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Fyütch leads a self-love activity, a song about Black hairstyles, and reads a book about the African American History Museum. 
'Ana & Andrew—A Day at the Museum' is by Christine Platt, with illustrations by Sharon Sordo and is used with permission from ABDO Publishing.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
February is Black History Month - and it's never too early to begin celebrating and teaching your child about Black leaders of yesterday (and today!).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Black Excellence: A source of inspiration OR trauma response?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As part of Black History Month, Khalid Agyemang explores Black Excellence and whether it always acts as a source of inspiration - or a trauma response.

# data[].attributes.headline
February 21st: International Home Language Day

# data[].attributes.subject
February 21st: International Home Language Day

# data[].attributes.headline
Do’s and Don’ts of Teaching Black History

# data[].attributes.subject
Do’s and Don’ts of Teaching Black History

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Incorporate black history year-round, not just in February. Use the month of February to dig deeper into history and make connections with the past.

Continue Learning. Explore how to provide an in-depth and thorough understanding of black history. Textbooks are notorious for omitting information about the struggles of communities, and what they include is limited, so use the textbook as one of many resources. While exploring multiple resources, allow for opportunities to learn along with your students.

Reinforce to students that "black" history is American history. Make black history relevant to all students.

Relate lessons to other parts of your curriculum, so that focusing on a leader, like Fred Shuttlesworth, expands upon rather than diverts from your curriculum. By the time February comes around, the context of the struggle for civil rights and social justice should be familiar to students if you have already addressed such issues across the curriculum.

Connect issues in the past to current issues to make history relevant to students' lives. For example, ask students to gather information with a focus on what social disparities exist today and how a particular leader has worked to change society.

Include the political and social context of the community's struggle for social justice. For example, talk about Daisy Bates' political affiliations and her political ideologies. You see her bravery not as just a personal act but as coming out of community determination.

Stop your "regular" curriculum, to do a separate lesson on Rosa Parks, on the Civil Rights Act or on Martin Luther King Jr. This trivializes and marginalizes anything you are teaching, making these leaders a token of their culture and ethnicity. Students will get the message that the diversion it is not as important as the "regular" curriculum.

Decontextualize heroes or holidays, separating them from the larger social movement or historical place. Great leaders don't make history all by themselves. For example, if you teach about James Farmer, you must also address the work of the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) and the Freedom Rides.

Focus on superficial cultural traits based on stereotypes. It's ok to celebrate black music, but teachers should also explore the political and social contexts that give rise to musical forms like hip hop.

Talk about black history in solely "feel-good" language, or as a thing of the past. This fails to help students examine how racism manifests itself today.

Limit the presentation to lectures and reading. Be sure to allow students an opportunity for discussion and reflection.

Teach with little or inaccurate information. Review resources to make sure they don't promote a Eurocentric perspective, which may misrepresent historic figures and social movements.

Shy away from controversial, ambiguous, or unresolved issues. Share the real-life experiences about racial realities in developmentally appropriate ways.
Adapted from material by Pat Russo of the Curriculum & Instruction Department at SUNY Oswego. (Sept. 2007)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Do's and Don'ts of Teaching Black History

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Incorporate black history year-round, not just in February. Use the month of February to dig deeper into history and make connections with the past. Continue Learning. Explore how to provide an in-depth and thorough understanding of black history.

# data[].attributes.headline
Black Excellence Month With NMAAHC Curator Mary Elliott

# data[].attributes.subject
Black Excellence Month With NMAAHC Curator Mary Elliott

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Black History Month With NMAAHC Curator Mary Elliott

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Black History (It's Yours) | Black History Month Rap Anthem | Animated Music Video

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Crash Course Black American History Preview

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Sesame Street: Celebrate Black Excellence Month Compilation

# data[].attributes.headline
Celebrate Black Excellence Month Compilation

# data[].attributes.subject
Celebrate Black Excellence Month Compilation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Sesame Street: Celebrate Black History Month Compilation

# data[].attributes.headline
Lunchbox Rap Battle: Black Canadian History

# data[].attributes.subject
Lunchbox Rap Battle: Black Canadian History

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Lunchbox Rap Battle: Black Canadian History | CBC Kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Black History Month 2023: Facts, Origins & More | HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
February is dedicated as Black History Month, honoring the triumphs and struggles of African Americans throughout U.S. history.