Up to date January 2024

Greater than a century and a half after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, college students in 2024 will proceed nearly a century of finding out African American historical past throughout February and returning to it because the time period offers alternatives. (Additionally see “Debating Black Historical past Month” under.)

Historian Carter G. Woodson, together with colleagues on the Affiliation for the Examine of African American Life and Historical past (ASALH), established Negro Historical past Week in 1926. With mobs nonetheless lynching African Individuals yearly (335 deaths reported within the 1920’s, of the entire 4400 from 1877 to 1950 documented by the Equal Justice Initiative) and a surge of race riots sweeping the nation, Woodson wished to supply a counterpoint to the racist views that dominated America.

(For extra on Woodson’s management and writings, see this 2022 Washington Publish article by DeNeen L. Brown.)

Initially noticed in black faculties, church buildings and social organizations, the occasion grew into Black Historical past Month (also called African American Historical past Month) with the US Congress designation of February as Nationwide Black Historical past Month in 1986. 

Since 1928 the ASALH has supplied a theme for the annual observance. The 2024 theme is “African Individuals and the Arts.” Wanting over the thematic titles can present college students with a way of the issues of African Individuals over the a long time.

For instance, the theme from 2006, “Celebrating Group: A Tribute to Black Fraternal, Social, and Civil Establishments,” might help college students perceive how African Individuals, shut out of native and nationwide organizations, developed their very own fraternal, civic and social establishments, a few of which fought violence in opposition to blacks — together with the Nationwide Affiliation for the Development of Coloured Folks (NAACP)  organized in 1909.

In 2014, ASALH celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Discover articles, movies and photographs on the Act at Historical past.com. The 1963 March on Washington which helped result in the Civil Rights Act is defined on this Nationwide Geographic Youngsters article by Elizabeth Hilfrank. One other group, BlackPast.org, celebrates Black Historical past Month 2014 with a big assortment of African American Firsts.

Freedom 159 Years In the past

2015 was the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the top of the Civil Battle. College students can discover a fast overview of how slaves reacted to freedom at A New Start of Freedom: The Day of Jubilee, a web page from Digital Historical past, a mission of the School of Training on the College of Houston, which incorporates lesson plans similar to this one on Reconstruction. Additionally in 1865, with the ratification of the thirteenth Modification, possession of human beings led to all states although current black codes had been bolstered in 1865 and 1866 to interchange the slave codes in Southern states, serving to deliver on Reconstruction laws from the US Congress.

A Take a look at Selma 1965

In 2015 many media retailers acknowledged the fiftieth anniversary of the Selma March. Civil rights activists met violence in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965, as they tried to stroll from that city to Montgomery to protest a state trooper’s deadly taking pictures of Jimmie Lee Jackson, a younger African-American demonstrator, days earlier and to additional their voter registration efforts.

For up to date New York Instances experiences, entry PDFs in Michael Gonchar’s put up for the newspaper’s Studying Community weblog. There college students can assessment the historical past of voting rights within the US, noting the US Supreme Court docket’s 2013 resolution putting down a part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

John Lewis (on floor, hand raised) was among the many injured protestors for voting rights at Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge (March 7, 1965)

The Nationwide Park Service offers a lesson on Selma with background on Alabama actions to restrict voting in addition to photos, actions and hyperlinks to a variety of sources. John Lewis, a US Congressman who served Georgia till his 2020 loss of life, headed the Pupil Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and was injured throughout “Bloody Sunday” on March 7. The Nationwide Archives offers his court docket testimony requesting Nationwide Guard safety for a march that may start March 21 and consists of photographs.

At MiddleWeb, Educators Reply to George Floyd’s 2020 Loss of life

“Poster, George Floyd protest, Minneapolis, MN, June, 2020” by iamrenny. Public area.

How can academics assist college students perceive the horror of unarmed Black people’ killings on the hand of regulation enforcement within the years main as much as George Floyd’s loss of life? And the way will school rooms change with that consciousness? MiddleWeb bloggers and visitor writers responded within the months following Floyd’s loss of life.

In 5 Steps Towards Cultural Competence in Colleges visitor author Dr. Vernita Mayfield wrote, “Within the twenty first century, there are valuable few issues extra pressing or important than eliminating racism in faculties, instituting fairness in all college practices, and fostering a extra culturally competent and responsive college workforce.”

The Chicago district the place MiddleWeb blogger Lauren Brown teaches has wrestled with problems with fairness centering round race with new urgency in recent times. Amid the pandemic and the rising Anti-Racist Motion, she believes a part of the reply is deepening curriculum and instructing Black historical past all year long. In her put up Shining the Mild of Fact: Educating Black Historical past All 12 months Lengthy she supplied in depth sources.

Lauren joined our different historical past blogger, Sarah Cooper, in writing Educating U.S. Historical past in Turbulent Instances, a 3 half collection on info to incorporate, consciousness of the results of the fabric on their college students, and the way they cope with troublesome matters of their college neighborhood.

In response to the homicide of George Floyd, individuals provided lists of actions to take to battle racism. MiddleWeb blogger Rita Platt added one other: Get Anti-Racism Books Into Your Group. Learn, speak and share. Assist individuals deepen their understanding of white privilege and systemic racism. In her first weblog put up, written within the wake of Charlottesville, Rita shared Eight Methods Academics Can Battle Hate & Injustice.

In her 2019 put up, Breaking Out of the White Trainer Bubble Dina Strasser wrote that that means effectively and instructing effectively will not be the identical – a painful fact that her exponential studying about race has helped her understand. She used the story of her unit based mostly on Gary Paulsen’s “Nightjohn” to underscore the distinction between intent and impression.

Extra Concepts for the Classroom

Writing in Throughout Black Historical past Month, serving to college students perceive their function in historical past, teacher-author Jose Vilson shares a category dialogue following the choice to not indict Darren Wilson for the taking pictures of Michael Brown and considers the worth of Black Historical past Month for his various college students. His essay was written for the PBS Newshour and posted Feb. 18, 2015. Discover many extra of his posts right here.

Studying for Justice, a mission of the Southern Poverty Legislation Middle, affords Why We Want Black Historical past Month—Particularly This 12 months with hyperlinks to “Black Historical past Month: Educating the Full Historical past” and different articles. The Studying for Justice web site additionally consists of Do’s and Don’ts of Educating Black Historical past, 4 Black Historical past Month Should-Haves and Mining the Jewel of Black Historical past Month (for a trainer’s evolution in bringing the month to class). The middle additionally offers sources to assist college students perceive implicit bias and systemic racism.

How Black Lives Matter Is Altering What College students Study Throughout Black Historical past Month, a Time January 2020 article, evaluations the event of Black Historical past Month and the way it has featured within the classroom. The article by Olivia B. Waxman experiences on how curricula have been up to date in some districts to present college students a broader view of African American lives.

This Black Historical past Month’s Lesson: Pleasure, a 2020 NYT article by A. Rochaun Meadow-Fernandez, is written for folks of Black kids however affords insights to academics from consultants and different dad and mom about serving to kids perceive the fun and the challenges Black youngsters face.

US Census supply

Federal Collections

The Library of Congress affords trainer sources associated to African Individuals’ experiences and civil rights, organized in intervals from the 1700’s to 1996. LOC additionally affords Born into Slavery: Slave Narratives and African American Odyssey. To entry a number of ready-made lesson plans fairly than multitudinous sources, go to this LOC choice. A number of  classes are fitted to 6-8 graders.

The US Nationwide Archives web site is a wealthy supply on African American Historical past with hyperlinks to lesson plans, paperwork and reveals, and extra. The African American Heritage web page affords movies in addition to weblog posts and topic portals.

Within the web site about its historical past, the US Home of Representatives consists of “Black Individuals in Congress” which options profiles of the congressmen and ladies together with 7-Twelfth grade classes plans following these members’ participation within the Home from 1870 ahead. Civil Rights historical past is supplied in oral histories, a top level view of Amendments and laws and different pages.

The US Census affords a snapshot of African American tradition within the “Info for Options” report ready for Black Historical past Month in 2024.

Night Apparel by James VanDerZee, 1922

The Smithsonian might help academics deliver artwork into the examine of Black Historical past with its on-line reveals and trainer guides right here. As well as college students can see how African Individuals have seen America by means of artwork on this exhibit.

Past the Smithsonian, take a look at media literacy knowledgeable Frank W. Baker’s MiddleWeb article on The Visions of Gordon Parks which hyperlinks the photographer’s artistry to his revelations of the lives of African Individuals.

Studying and Writing

For English/Language Arts involvement in Black Historical past Month, READ WRITE THINK affords a web page which facilities on the month-long Nationwide African American Learn-In.  The RWT web page additionally consists of lesson plans and hyperlinks to the PBS’ African American World.

Studying Rockets, a WETA web site, affords video interviews of African American authors and illustrators together with annotated thematic studying lists, actions and hyperlinks to a protracted record of sources. Included within the Smithsonian’s Black Historical past Educating Assets is a studying record of tales for college students ages ten and up (following books for youthful youngsters) assembled in 1996. CommonSense Media hosts an annotated record of awarding profitable books written for probably the most half since 2005, organized by reader age, together with these for Black Historical past Month.

To introduce poetry by African Individuals, think about using Elizabeth Alexander’s 2009 Inauguration poem, “Reward Music for the Day,” right here. (minute 54:30) For a chronological look into African American poetry, college students might distinction Phillis Wheatley, the primary black girl poet revealed in America, and Natasha Trethewey, the nineteenth US Poet Laureate.

Trethewey hyperlinks the Civil Battle to current day America in her poem, “Elegy for the Native Guard,’ remembering slaves and freedmen who enthusiastically served the Union. This hyperlink offers video of her studying the poem throughout a visit to Mississippi’s Ship Island the place a number of the Guard served. It options African American Native Guard re-enactors.

The primary Nationwide Youth Poet Laureate, 2017’s Amanda Gorman, offered certainly one of her poems “The Hill We Climb” throughout the Inauguration of Joseph Biden on January 20, 2021. In Adeel Hassan’s 2018 NYT article, “A Coda to Black Historical past Month” she facilities on Amanda Gorman and consists of audio of her studying two poems.

The Poetry Basis shares hyperlinks to poems and essays by Black poets in addition to articles and podcasts about them in a prolonged put up.

Black Leaders in Math and Science

On this MiddleWeb article center grades trainer Mona Iehl needs college students to have the ability to “see themselves in math” and be represented within the work they do collectively. Learn the way she makes use of the photographs and phrases of Black mathematicians to empower and encourage her courses to welcome and grasp math challenges.

To study lawyer Henry Bakers’ seek for a whole bunch of Black inventors lively however unknown within the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, learn A casket holder, an airship and an inventory of pioneering Black inventors by Michael E. Ruane (February, 2023) within the Washington Publish.

The HistoryMakers’ ScienceMakers affords biographies organized alphabetically. Academics might adapt one side of the Sciencemakers web page: encouraging college students to create speeches or movies imagining themselves as future scientists or as scientists of the previous or current. HistoryMakers additionally offers biographical sketches of leaders in lots of different areas of experience.

For college kids keen on area journey, NASA offers transient bios of present and previous black astronauts. In 2011 Leland Melvin, a former astronaut who additionally labored as an engineer, chemist, musician, NFL participant, and NASA educator, defined the historical past of African Individuals in flight. In a 2015 NPR “My Huge Break” interview, Melvin remembers his journey to changing into an astronaut and being a part of the group taking the US into area.

Leland Melvin with DC college students

Debating Black Historical past Month

A 2023 Axios article, Black Historical past Month arrives as academics’ fears mount by Russell Contreras and Keldy Ortiz, appears to be like into the challenges academics proceed to face as purple states cross laws limiting the what may be taught about African American expertise.

Black Historical past Month’s place in training has confronted debate on various fronts over time. A recurrent dialogue amongst educators and different Individuals is whether or not racial and ethnic teams – African Individuals, Latinos and Asians, for instance – must be singled out for annual observations of their cultures. In Lauren Brown’s put up, Shining the Mild of Fact: Educating Black Historical past All 12 months Lengthy, above, she exhibits how Black historical past is important to American historical past courses yr spherical.

In Black Historical past Month Has Been an Epic Failure, a 2013 Huffington Publish article, journalist Dion Rabouin faults academics and proponents of Black Historical past Month in the USA for failing to heed Malcolm X’s message: “Our historical past didn’t start in chains.” Rabouin goes on to recount many nice achievements by Black individuals in world historical past which he contends are given quick shrift in American historical past classes.

In 2016 MSNBC reported on a variety of opinions on the worth of Black Historical past Month from Black and White Individuals. Additionally that yr in Black Historical past Month in Colleges—Retire or Reboot? Melinda D. Anderson wrote in The Atlantic about opinions on either side of the controversy and interviewed Black adults about their experiences of Black Historical past Month at school.

Extra Beneficial Assets

Widespread Sense offers Free Studying Assets for Black Historical past Month (And Past), a prolonged record of choices together with CommonLit’s searchable compilation of key moments in Black historical past.

Biography.com affords a large ranging assortment of Black American leaders within the arts, historical past, sports activities, science and extra. The NEA has introduced collectively a variety of views in its Black Historical past Month webpage. Discover gadgets organized by age group and format.

June 19, 2023 would be the third celebration of Juneteenth as a federal vacation. AP’s Kevin Freking experiences on President Biden signing laws recognizing Juneteenth in 2021 right here.

In 2019 the Washington Publish provided picture collections with transient descriptions of notable African American firsts within the arts, politics and sports activities together with entrepreneurs and inventors.

The New York Instances Studying Community offers a group of sources, Rejoice Black Historical past Month. It consists of free entry to historic entrance pages, information tales, lesson plans, and plenty extra. There’s additionally Studying With the ‘Black Historical past, Continued’ Collection from 2022.

For a video and lesson plan concerning the Underground Railroad and abolitionists, go to Scholastic.

PBS has curated a 2023 assortment of applications to have a good time Black Historical past Month. Two movies that may very well be used with center graders concern gospel music and the controversy round reparations.

For extra, go to Larry Ferlazzo’s 2023 posts on web sites to show and study Black historical past right here, movies included.

Artwork and picture credit:

Carter G. Woodson: US Workplace for Emergency Administration. Workplace of Battle Info. Home Operations. Department. Information Bureau. (06/13/1942 – 09/15/1945)

Selma: Library of Congress, Prints & Pictures Division, NYWT&S Assortment, LC-USZ62-1277321st

Vote for African Individuals: Waud, Alfred R. (Alfred Rudolph). “The First Vote.” Nov. 16, 1867, from Harper’s Weekly. Prints and Pictures Division, Library of Congress.

Underground Railroad:  Library of Congress, Prints & Pictures Division, [reproduction number, LC-USZ62-28860]

Night Apparel: James VanDerZee (1886–1983), Night Apparel, 1922, gelatin silver print, 10 x 8 in., Smithsonian American Artwork Museum

Leland Melvin: NASA/Carla Cioffi