The Black History Month 2023 theme, “Black Resistance,” explores how “African Americans have resisted historic and ongoing oppression, in all forms, especially the racial terrorism of lynching, racial pogroms and police killings,” since the nation’s earliest days.
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. (https://edsitement.neh.gov/teachers-guides/african-american-history-and-culture-united-states )
Center For Racial Justice
How Do We Celebrate Black History Month? Lesson Plans and Curriculum Resources for Educators:
- The History Behind Black History Month – Teaching Tolerance
- Do’s and Don’ts of Teaching Black History – Teaching Tolerance
- Five Things Not to Do During Black History Month – Zaretta Hammond
- Mining the Jewel of Black History Month – Emily Chiariello
- Four Black History Month Must-Haves – Zaretta Hammond
- Black History Month Is Over. Now What? – Dena Simmons
- Inclusivity of Black History -Teaching Tolerance
- Black History Month resources for the Classroom -PBS
- Celebrate Women This Black History Month -Teaching Tolerance
- Black History Month: How do we change history? Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility
- Making Black History Month Memorable -Teaching Tolerance
- Black History Month Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources -Scholastic
- The 45 Days of Black History (Webinar) -Teaching Tolerance
- Creative Resources for Teachers Celebrating Black History Month -Education Week
- 50 Resources for Black History Month – KQED Education
- Black History Month resources for teachers – WeTeachNYC
- Black History Month – Library of Congress, et al.
- Black History Month Resources – Archives.gov
- National Endowment for the Humanities – African American History and Culture in the United States
- National Park Service – Black History Month
- Smithsonian Institution – National Museum of African American History and Culture
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum – Black History Month
- Black History Month Lessons & Resources – National Education Association
- Black History Teaching Resources – Smithsonian Education
- What Counts as History? – Teaching Tolerance
- Black History Month Resources – ReadingRockets.org
- 6 Teaching Tools for Black History Month – Edutopia
Do We Need Black History Month? The Underrepresentation and Miseducation of Black Stories, Experiences, and Histories in Schools:
- It’s Black History Month. Look in the Mirror. – The NY Times
- Black History Month Isn’t Racist, It’s a Form of Reparations – Jenn M. Jackson
- Teaching Hard History – Teaching Tolerance
- ‘Black Season’ at My White Middle School – Baratunde Thurston
- Black history is bigger than slavery. We should teach kids accordingly – The Guardian
- What Kids Are Really Learning About Slavery – Melinda D. Anderson
- Why we still need Black History Month in the US -Aljazeera
- Why We Need Black History Month and why White History Month is Out of the Question -Odyssey
- 4 Reasons why it’s critical to teach black history -sheknows.com
- We Need to Change How We Teach Black History -TIME
- We Need to Teach Black History in Schools the Right Way -hercampus.com
- Why Black History Month still matters in 2017 -The CS Monitor
- We Teach Racism, Sexism and Discrimination in Schools -HuffPost
- The Black History Month debate is back -MSNBC
- We can no longer teach a whitewashed history’ -The Washington Post
- Is Black History Month limiting the teaching of black history? -CBC News
What Are Ways To Bring Black Lives Matter Into The Classroom? (Curriculum Resources):
- Black Lives Matter in Schools Resources – D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice
- Black Lives Matter in Education-Week of Action Getting Started Packet – Black Lives Matter in NYC Schools
- Black Lives Matter at School-Resources – Ed Justice
- Resources for Educators: Elementary and Early Childhood – Teaching for Change
- Classroom Flyers, Posters, and Visuals – BLM Educators Group
- Resources for Educators: Middle and High School – Teaching for Change
- BLM National Curriculum Folder – NyCoRE
Why Teach Black Lives Matter in Schools? (Think Pieces):
- Why Teaching Black Lives Matter Matters | Part I – Teaching Tolerance
- Bringing Black Lives Matter Into the Classroom | Part II – Teaching Tolerance
- Making Black Lives Matter in Our Schools – Rethinking Schools
- How One Elementary School Sparked A Citywide Movement To Make Black Students Lives Matter – Rethinking Schools
- Teaching #BlackLivesMatter – Teaching for Change
- Black Students’ Lives Matter – Rethinking Schools
- From MLK to #BlackLivesMatter: A Throughline for Young Students -Teaching Tolerance
- Teaching #BlackLivesMatter -Teaching for Change
- Making Black Lives Matter in Our Schools -Rethinking Schools
- Why Teaching Black Lives Matter Matters | Part I -Teaching Tolerance
- How to talk to young children about the Black Lives Matter Guiding Principles -Lalena Garcia
- Hoodies Up! #BlackLivesMatter in the Classroom -Teaching for Change
- Bringing Black Lives Matter Into the Classroom | Part II -Teaching Tolerance
- What happened in Ferguson – and why? -Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility
- A District Profile | Black Lives Matter at School -Teaching Tolerance
- How One Elementary School Sparked A Citywide Movement To Make Black Students Lives Matter -Rethinking Schools
- Black Students’ Lives Matter -Rethinking Schools
Primary Source materials and lesson plans collected by the Library of Congress, National Archives, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, and the United States Holocaust Museum
National Endowment for the Humanities – African American History and Culture in the United States
Offers a collection of lessons and resources centered around the achievements, perspectives, and experiences of African Americans across U.S. History.
- Guiding Questions:
- Who is included in your curriculum and who can be added when teaching African American History?
- What are the lasting contributions of Afican Americans to the culture and history of the United States
- How has change come acout during the long civil rights movement?
- Slavery and the American Founding: “The Inconsistency not to be excused”
- Focuses on the views of the founders as expressed in primary documents from their own time and in their own words.
- How did the American founders’ views on slavry shape the creation of the republic?
- Mission US 2: Flight to Freedom:
- In Mission 2: “Flight to Freedom,” players take on the role of Lucy, a 14-year-old slave in Kentucky. As they navigate her escape and journey to Ohio, they discover that life in the “free” North is dangerous and difficult.
- Teacher’s Guide: The Reconstruction Era
- To what extent did reconstruction forge a “more perfect union”?
- Did Reconstruction extend or undermine democracy in the United States
- Why did Black Codes and Jim Crow exist?
- How did local and regional differences affect the ways in which Reconstruction was implemented?
- What did the Reconstruction era mean from economic and labor rights?
- To what extent did Reconstrucion resolve disagreements over politial rights and representation?
- Was Reconstruction a second American Revolution?
- What did the Reconstruction Amendments mean for citizenship in the United States?
- What is the lasting legacy of Reconstruction era policies and practices?
- Should reparations be provided to the descendants of slaves?
- The Green Book: African American Experiences of Travel and Place in the U.S.
- How have the intersections of race and place impacted U.S. history and culture?
- How did the Jim Crow era affect how African Americans traveled and worked in the U.S.?
- What are the short and long term effects of the Jim Crow era on U.S. history and culture?
National Archives
The National Archives holds a wealth of material documenting the African American experience and highlights these resources online, in programs, and through traditional and social media, including records documenting African American History through the African American Research page and within the National Archives Catalog.
- Featured video: Charles Sprout: A Civil War Soldier Revisited. Military service and pension records help tell the story of Charles Sprout, a soldier in the United States Colored Troops (USCT) during the Civil War.
- Comparing and Contrasting the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th Amendment, and General Order No. 3
- Students will compare and contrast these documents while focusing on the style, tone, audience, and message of these documents to gain a better understanding of how slavery ended during the Civil War.
- This activity is intended to be used in a unit focused on the end of the Civil War and the emancipation of enslaved people. For grades 6-12. Approximate needed time is 45 minutes.
- Video Clips
- Additional Resources:
WATCH: Black History Documentaries on HISTORY Vault
- Maya Angelou (43 min)
- Black Patriots: Heroes of the Revolution (42 min)
- Jackie Robinson (22 min)
- Fight the Power: The movements that changed America (43 min)