Black History Month Lessons & Resources (collected by the NEA)
Learning For Justice’s Do’s and Don’ts of Teaching Black History
The Poet’s Voice: Langston Hughes and You
Students in grades 6-8 investigate “voice” in Hughes’s poetry, develop their own distinctive voices in journal entries, and write an original poem or critical essay on an aspect of Hughes’s poetic voice.
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)
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.
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.
Browse, select, and read from this great collection of nonfiction and fiction texts written by Black writers, artists, and activists on CommonLit.
Through this episode of The Stuff You Missed in History Class, you can find out about the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.
Watch this video from Flocabulary to examine Langston Hughes’ most famous poem and his use of figurative language. Then have students write their own “Harlem”-inspired poem.
Black History Month Resource Guide for Educators and Families from the Center for Racial Justice in Education.
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