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Black History Month Lessons & Resources

Integrating African-American Culture & History into Your Curriculum

By Phil Nast, retired middle school teacher and freelance writer

Found In: language arts, social studies, preK-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12

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To help you integrate Black History Month into your classroom, we offer a selection of lesson plans that cover a variety subjects and that can be adapted to fit multiple grade levels.

Lesson Plans

America I Am
Students in grades 5-12 participate in lessons and activities as a history unit or as part of social studies, economics, math, art, and literature curricula. This Black History Month curriculum is presented with support from the National Education Association.

Musical Harlem
Students in grades K-4 listen to jazz audio clips to learn to identify styles and musicians associated with the Harlem Renaissance.

African American Scientists and Inventors
Students in grades K-12 learn about and celebrate the contributions of African American scientists using a link from this page to The Faces of Science: African Americans in the Sciences.

A Jazz History
Students in grades 3-8 listen to ragtime and jazz and explore the historical events of the years jazz developed.

Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series: Removing the Mask
Students in grades 6-8 analyze and compare visual and poetic works by Jacob Lawrence, Helene Johnson, and Paul Laurence Dunbar and consider how they represent changing roles of African Americans.

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.

The Illusion of Race
Students in grades 6-8 investigate both genetic and societal consequences of the often-artificial and evolving classifications of race and ethnicity. Student and teacher materials are included.

Variation in Human Skin Color
Students in grades 9-12 explore factors controlling human skin color variation and how perceived racial differences affect human society. Student and teacher materials are included.

African American English
In this unit, students in grades 9-12 examine several hypotheses about the development of African American English (AAE), consider how AAE has been treated in schools, and analyze the influential role of AAE in modern culture and society.

African-American Poets of the Last Century
In this week-long unit, students in grades 10-12 explore 20th century African American poetry, develop strategies for reading and responding to poetry, and prepare an oral presentation on a favorite African American poet.

The Invisible Man
Students in grades 11-12 read Ralph Ellison’s novel to explore the theme of invisibility in the book, in their own lives, and in their communities.

Activities

Culture & Change: Black History in America
Students in grades 3-4 can read about Rosa Parks, Melba Pattillo, and ten African American men and women and their inventions. They can view an interview with author Christopher Paul Curtis and listen to a history of jazz with Wynton Marsalis, and take a virtual journey on the Underground Railroad.

Notable African Americans from the 18th-century to the present
In this Jeopardy-type quiz game students in grades 5-12 can choose from three levels of difficulty to test their knowledge of famous African Americans. Spelling counts, for example Billy Holiday rather than Billie Holiday would be marked incorrect.

The Underground Railroad
Students make decisions as they follow Harriet Tubman and escape from a slave owner in this online interactive.

Jazz: PBS Kids
Students can learn about jazz, meet famous jazz musicians, join a jazz band, become the band leader in these online activities. The site includes an interactive timeline and K-5 lesson plans for teachers.

Black History Month: Activities
K-12 activities.

Quizzes

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.

Black History Month
Celebrate important voices and memorable images in African American history, art, and literature.

Du Bois Central
Still in development, Du Bois Online will become one of the largest, free online collections of primary materials for the study of African American history and culture.

The History of Jim Crow
Stories, interactive maps, activities and tools, and lesson plans and activities for grades 6-12. Four part series may be available in local libraries and off-air taping rights are available for educators.

Black Labor History
Lessons and links on the life histories of people whose struggle was part of a larger social and economic movement to improve the lives of the working class.

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.

African American Lives
First series of four episodes hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Lessons for grades 6-12 and other print resources and links to online resources. DVD may be available at local libraries.

African American World
The site features a timeline, reference room with video and audio links, kids’ section, and lessons for grades 3-12 covering history, arts and culture, race and society, and biographies.

Black History - Biography - Celebrate Black History Month & People
Biographies, timelines, photos, video, game, quiz, and 101 fast facts.

Arts

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.

Jazz in Time
Students in grades 6-12 can read this interactive timeline about the development of jazz (about 30 minutes) and listen to imbedded audio clips.

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.

Gordon Parks
A brief look at the life and work of Gordon Parks, novelist poet, painter, composer, pianist, and photographer. The site includes a brief biography, image gallery, and interview video clips.

The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed
African American History by region.

Science

The Faces of Science: African Americans in the Sciences
Profiles of American men and women scientists.

African American Inventors
Brief biographies of African American inventors.

Sport

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum: Electronic 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, including lessons for grades 9-12.

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.

Printables

Video

Legacy: Being Black in America (60 minutes)
A documentary on the 2007 Washington tribute dinner to honor the Civil Rights generation and a look at the lives of African-Americans today. Check local listings to see when it airs on a local PBS station.

The Black Press: Soldiers without Swords (86 minutes)
The site provides a timeline, transcript of the film, interactive activities, lesson plans for grades 3-4, biographies of past journalists and interviews with modern journalists. The DVD may be available in local libraries.

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, lesson plans for grades 9-12, and a teacher’s guide. The DVD may be available in local libraries.

African American Lives 2 (240 minutes)
This website for features clips from the series, background on the research, scholarship, and science, and resources for people to trace their own family history. Lessons for grades 6-12 are included. The DVD may be available in local libraries.

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. A teacher’s guide has student activities. (The program is in 13 chapters and can be watched online.)

Cora Unashamed (93 minutes)
Based on Langston Hughes' story, this film tells of a Depression-era African-American domestic who lives only for her daughter and the neglected child of her employers. A teacher’s guide suggests viewing strategies and activities. The DVD may be found in local libraries.

Audio

Science Update: Spotlight on African-American Scientists
Students in grades 6-12 can listen to interviews with a select group of black scientists working in North America today.

Delta SEE Radio
Students in grades 6-12 can listen to interviews with African-Americans in science, engineering, and mathematics.

Blues Journey (23:17 minutes)
This four part audio series explores the history of the blues.

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