In celebration of Black History Month, I wanted to share with you all some of my favorite classroom resources related to honoring, celebrating, and detailing Black History. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list of approved content providers or curriculum, but rather a collection of resources I have found to be personally useful. This is in no way an endorsement of the content creators. It is a starting point for those interested in providing students with engaging and meaningful learning experiences centered around Black History.

Google Arts and Culture is hosting virtual viewing options for several African American historical museums, including a look at the impact of African Americans in the areas of art, dance, and sports.

1. Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (Washington, DC)Since opening in 2016, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture has become one of the most popular museums in Washington, DC. Visitors are educated about the Black experience by going on a trip through time. The journey starts in Africa with its history galleries that span from Slavery to Emancipation and then from Segregation to Today. More than 3,500 exhibits are available online.
2. Archives of African American Music & Culture (Bloomington, Indiana)The collections in the Archives of African American Music & Culture museum highlight African American music ranging from classical, and religious, to popular music including R&B and Hip Hop.
3. The Museum of African American Art (Los Angeles, California)The Museum of African American Art interprets, promotes, and preserves art by or about people of African descent. It was founded in 1976 to increase public awareness of African American Art.
4. The Dance Theater of Harlem is the first Black classical ballet company and the first major ballet company to prioritize Black dancers. This school was founded more than 50 years ago. There are four online exhibits about the history of this world-famous dance company.
5. Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (Kansas City, Missouri)Watch a short film that provides an introduction to the Negro League Baseball League through the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum virtual tour. The film includes interviews with former Negro League players.
6. DuSable Museum of African American History (Chicago, Illinois)Created in 1961, the DuSable Museum of African American History is one of the oldest museums of African American history. Originally started as the Ebony Museum of Negro History and Art, this institute was the largest caretaker of African American culture until the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture opened.
7. Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site at Moton Field (Tuskegee, Alabama)Take a virtual tour of the primary flight-training site for the Tuskeegee Airmen, the famed African American pilots of World War II.

Scholastic shares classroom tasks that engage students in reviewing black history and applying their learning in creative ways.

• On the Block – Romare Bearden was a prominent collage artist based in Harlem. Share images of his work with kids by visiting the Romare Bearden Foundation website, then click on Education Resources to explore ways to incorporate Bearden’s work in your classroom. Begin by inviting small groups to make a collage of their neighborhood in the style of Bearden’s The Block.
  
• Story Quilts – The women of Gee’s Bend, Alabama, created quilts that told stories. Read about them in Patricia McKissack’s book Stitchin’ and Pullin’ and view photos from Auburn University. Then have students create quilted squares that, when put together, tell a classroom narrative. Read Meghan Everette’s blog post Celebrate Black History With Gee’s Bend Quilts for inspiration!
• Hope Boxes – Nikki Grimes authored Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope prior to President Obama’s November 2008 election. Discuss the concept of hope, which is a central theme of Grimes’s book, with your class. Then have each child create a small hope box out of cardstock. Fill the boxes with hopeful messages and affirmations.
• Gold-Medal Math – Wow your class with stats about Jesse Owens, the first American in Olympic track and field history to win four gold medals in a single Olympics. Have kids use math to determine how many meters per second he ran during his gold-medal races.
• Additional Ideas from Scholastic can be found here.

TED Talk Black History Month Playlist

Insightful TED talks that offer fresh, thoughtful perspectives on Black identity. Teachers can use the linked 3-2-1 organizer in conjunction with the viewing of the talk or incorporate other activities and/or tasks to facilitate engagement.

Black History does not begin with Slavery.

When exploring African history in more depth, it’s important to show that the connections among Africa, the Americas and the rest of the world go beyond the slave trade—and how those connections affect our world today. Teach how imperialism and colonization, in the Scramble for Africa, changed the continent forever.

It’s also vital to introduce students to the African Diaspora—communities around the world that formed as a result of the dispersal of people from the continent. Students will see how black people in places like the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, France, the United Kingdom and the United States all share some of the same cultural ties.

And it’s a good time to examine how identities intersect and how oppressive systems have affected not only black people in Africa and the West but also Indigenous black people in parts of Asia and Australia.

Resources:

PBS Series – Africa’s Great Civilizations

African Studies Association Teaching Resources

Tips on Teaching About Africa

In honor of Black History Month, Timelooper conversed with African American heroes to hear not only their stories but to understand how “history had its eyes” on us as we continue the fight for equity in the United States. The interviews discuss everything from America’s race relations, major Civil Rights events, healing, and activism.

The recorded webinars include:

• Heroes in a Time of Civil Rights: The Importance of the People’s Church during the CRM and Beyond
• Heroes in a Time of Voter Suppression: Voting Rights Movement and Black Lives Matter
• Heroes in a Time of Integration: How Little Rock Nine Shaped the American Education System
• Heroes in a Time of War: The Buffalo Soldiers’ Impact on Race in America

The NEH has acquired a wealth of classroom lesson plans that detail learning objectives, standards, activities, and assessment ideas around various topics related to Black History. The collection of lessons is titled “African American History and Culture in the United States“. The lessons are divided into three strands, each containing numerous lesson plans and suggestions:

• African American History
• African American Literature and Poetry
• African American Arts and Culture

TeachRock lesson plans use popular music to help teachers engage students in standards- aligned work across disciplines. Each lesson includes detailed standards, exciting media, and the necessary handouts to facilitate the lesson with students. This resource is ideal for use in a digital learning scenario. Lessons that could be used during Black History Month include:

• RHYTHM AS A REPRESENTATION OF PEOPLE AND PLACE
• ALMOST EMANCIPATED: RECONSTRUCTION
• ALMOST EMANCIPATED: THE CIVIL WAR AND THE PORT ROYAL EXPERIMENT
• THE BLUES GOES ELECTRIC
• GOSPEL MUSIC: THE BIRTH OF SOUL

ReadWorks provides K-12 educators with the largest, highest-quality library of curated nonfiction and fiction passages in the country, along with reading comprehension and vocabulary supports, text-dependent question sets, teacher guidance, and more! Most importantly, everything ReadWorks provides is based on the science of reading.

To build knowledge with your students this Black History Month, teachers can assign Article-A-Day sets celebrating Black heroes and historical figures:

Kindergarten: Important African Americans

1st Grade: African American Heroes

2nd Grade: African American Inventors

3rd Grade: African American Heroes

4th Grade: The Harlem Renaissance

5th Grade: Important African American Figures

6th Grade: African American Activists: Harriet Tubman and W.E.B. Du Bois

7th Grade: Overcoming Barriers

8th Grade: Important Historical Figures