Posts tagged ‘black history’

Feb 8

Tip of the Week: Black History Month Resources 2013

To be honest, I’m a bit torn about the whole idea of Black History Month. The concept started way back in 1926 when historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History announced the second week of February to be “Negro History Week.” That particular week was chosen because it marked the birthday of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.

The hope was that the week would eventually be eliminated when black history became fundamental to American history teaching. In 1976, the federal government followed the lead of the Black United Students at Kent State and established the entire month as Black History Month. President Ford urged Americans, and especially teachers and schools, to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”

The hope was that essential people, events, and places, routinely ignored, would be incorporated throughout the instructional year as part of social studies instruction.

But I’m torn.

Feb 3

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Black History Month resources and lesson plans

Update 2/8/2013 – I’ve updated the list! When you’re done here, head over to the 2013 version.

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Finding Black History Month lesson plans and teaching resources is not that tough. Finding good ones . . . a bit more difficult.

Bessie Coleman, first ever licensed African-American pilot at Bio.com

So I’ve spent some time over the last few days, trying to sift through the hundreds of places that are posting Black History Month materials. And I think I’ve come up with a pretty good list. The stuff from the National Archives and the Library of Congress seems especially good.

African American History Month from the Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum:

pays tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society.

NARA has its own Black History Month site. New resources are clearly marked and all look great!

ThinkFinity, the great metasearch tool from the Verizon Foundation, put together a series of nine lesson plans.

eHow created an interesting take of the Black History Month lesson plan idea called How to Write Lesson Plans for Black History Month.

Education World offers a wide variety of resources including lesson plans, activities, games, recipes, sounds and resources.

The Teach-nology people have developed a very nice list of over 50 lesson plans, biographies and numerous worksheets that could lead to great conversation.

I also like the very extensive list of lesson plans posted by the LessonPlansPage. They also have nice list of additional resources.

And finally, the Bio.com folks have an awesome, interactive site with biographies, timelines, videos, games, photos and basic historical background section.

Good luck! And enjoy.

Feb 13

Tip of the Week – Black History Month Resources

Over the last 12 months or so, I’ve had the fun of participating in a wide variety of conversations concerning the political and social impact of President Obama’s campaign, election and inauguration. I believe these recent events can help make the Black History Month conversations with your kids even more powerful. February is a great time to continue (or start) these types of discussions and integrate them as part of your year-long scope and sequence.

Start with ideas from Teaching Tolerance

Resources

Claudette Colvin set the stage for Rosa Parks

ThinkFinity resources

University of Illinois

Federal Resources for Educational Excellence

Edutopia teaching resources

Your Guide to African American History & Culture from PBS

Africans in America series from PBS

Lesson Plans

Activities from the Teacher’s Corner

Great stuff from the Smithsonian