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Black History Month Lesson Plans
Biographies of African Americans Vol. 1 | Vol. 2
Internet Summary Writing | Black History Month Teaching Resources
Black History Month Worksheets | Civil Rights and Immigration
Revolutionaries of African American History 1 | Martin Luther King Jr. Lesson Series
Revolutionaries of African American History 2 | Martin Luther King Jr. Lesson Plans
- African American History Month - Students will be enthusiastic and more engaged in reading and connecting with characters when reading.
- African Proverb Illustration - Students will understand how proverbs are used by different cultures to simplify a philisophical belief or explain a basic life truth.
- BOOK: Nothing But Trouble - The goal of this lesson will be to have student forshadow, learn vocabulary, and comprehend the meaning of this story.
- Comparing Life in the North and the South - The student will be able to compare the lives of Black Americans in the north and the south in the first 50 years after slavery was abolished.
- Exploring Black Musicians from 1900-1950 - The student will be able to present a report on a black musician who performed between 1900 and 1950.
- Exploring Negro Spirituals - The student will be able to explore the lyrics to Negro spirituals and examine how they could have been used to communicate escape routes to slaves.
- High School Life Now and Then - The student will be able to compare high school life for the Little Rock Nine in 1957 with high school students today.
- Inventors and Their Inventions - The student will be able to match African American inventors with their inventions.
- Is That Fair? - The student will be able to understand the idea that some people were treated differently in early America because of their skin color.
- Making an Underground Railroad Safe House - The student will be able to work with the class to build a typical safe house that was used during the time of the Underground Railroad.
- Multi-cultural Collage - The student will be able to create a collage by cutting out people of different ethnicities from magazines.
- Race and Language Politics: 8mile - Explore how Race and Language play an influential role in the formation and pedagogical use of hip hop texts.
- Slavery Debate - The student will be able to work with other class members to debate whether slavery was or was not morally right.
- The Top Ten Most Famous Black Inventors and What They Did - We take a look at the top ten most famous black inventors of all time, studying the countless contributions they have made to science, industry and human life.
- Women of the Blues - How the music of Blues woman reflected history and helped to change it.
- What Would You Invent? - Students use the inventions of African American inventors as inspiration to create their own inventions.
Black History Month Lesson Plans For Other Sites
- 365 Days of African American History - Students create a daily calendar of events in African American history.
- Activities for African Folk Tales - A series of ideas.
- African-American Heroes - Students will identify an important African American and write a letter recommending that this person be honored with a postage stamp.
- African-American History Mural - Students create a mural of famous African Americans.
- African-American Inventors and Inventions - Students learn about inventions created by African Americans and complete a work sheet about the information learned.
- Being Treated Equally- To let children experience prejudice first hand, in reference to Martin Luther King Day.
- Civil Rights Time Line - "Students create a time line about important events in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s."
- Character Traits and People in Black History- Students read a one-page biographical essay and write in paragraph form how an African American has demonstrated a certain character trait.
- Cultural Exposure- This lesson explains why and how colonist attitudes towards the Native Americans and African Americans changed over time.
- Fabulous Firsts in African American History - Students learn fascinating firsts and facts and answer questions about African American history.
- Famous African Americans ABC Book - Help students create an ABC book with short biographies of famous African Americans in history.
- Famous Person: Rosa Louis Parks - Students will be able to describe Rosa Parks' contributions and how they affect us today through the presentation of the mini-unit.
- Investigating Langston Hughes- The students will read and appreciate the writing of great American Authors.
- Local Black History - Students learn about African American history in their city or town using library sources, online sources, and oral narratives.
- Looking Back at Pre-Civil War Slavery- Students understand the nature of slavery, the impact of slavery on African-Americans, and how slavery intensified the conflict between the North and South that eventually led to a major cause of the Civil War.
- Mississippi Bridge - Opening Doors to Social Studies with Children's Literature.
- Roll With the Punches: It's Not in Black and White- Students evaluate the responsibilities of history textbooks in reporting events related to minorities.
- Romare Bearden-Style Collages - Students create collages in the style of African American artist Romare Bearden.
- Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott - Students dramatize the incident that started the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s: Rosa Parks's refusal to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
- Rosa Parks Refused to Do What?- Enables students to learn about an African-American woman whose brave act led to the Montgomery bus boycott organized by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Slavery through the Ages- Students work in groups to define slavery in three different cultures. Students will be given information on slavery in Greek, Roman, and African cultures, and then after some discussion, they will be asked to answer questions on the topic.
- Technology and the African American Inventor - "The purpose of this lesson is to create an awareness and understanding that important technological advances within our culture, in a variety of areas, are the result of the work done by a diverse group of people, many of whom are African Americans."
- The Underground Railroad - Students will use vocabulary related to the Underground Railroad.
- Who Is George Washington Carver, Anyway?- Enables students to learn about an African-American scientist who made significant contributions in science since 1880.
- Why Can't I Vote?- This activity is a relevant way to have students examine the events that led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The students assume the roles of black and white voters prior to the passage of the Voting Rights Act in order to appreciate their own culture, cultures of others and gain perspective of other ethnic groups.
- Why Celebrate Black History Month- To utilize Internet resources for the immersion of students into Black History, they learn about the culture, heritage, family, church, and politics of the African-American and why we honor their accomplishments. Then they make class presentations.
