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Black History Month

Black History Month and Martin Luther King Day Lessons and Teacher Resources

Lesson Plans | Additional Resources

Introduction:

Black History Month is a remembrance of important people and events in the history of the African diaspora. It is celebrated annually in the United States and Canada in February and the United Kingdom in the month of October. The remembrance originated in 1926 by historian Carter G. Woodson as “Negro History Week” Woodson chose the second week of February because it marked the birthdays of two Americans who greatly influenced the lives and social condition of African Americans: former President Abraham Lincoln and abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass.
– Wikipedia.com

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a United States holiday marking the birthdate of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., observed on the third Monday of January each year, around the time of King’s birthday, January 15. It is one of four United States federal holidays to commemorate an individual person. King was the chief spokesman for nonviolent activism in the civil rights movement, which successfully protested racial discrimination in federal and state law. -Wikipedia.com

Lesson Plans:

• Explore “The Color of We” with puppetry, poetry and paint-mixing here(P-2)
• This is an African-American music history awareness lesson(3-6)
• Students print meaningful geometric Adinka Design patterns in the Ashanti tradition in this multi-disciplinary lesson(8-11)
• Here students compose their own version of Dr. King’s “I have a Dream” speech(1)
• This is a geometry lesson on shapes found in an African village(1)
• Fite’s “We’re Just Like Crayons” is the centerpiece of this diversity lesson(1-2)
• This lesson is for studying Kenya(2)
• This lesson focuses on using art to record history and involves Martin Luther King Jr. and Faith Ringgold (2)
• This lesson on making a quilt to record history also involves Martin Luther King Jr. and Faith Ringgold(2-3)
• Here is brief idea about the Underground Railroad (2-5)
• Students experience the impact of segregation here and a Martin Luther King Day video is made from it(2-7)
• Here is a lesson on African art and tribal tattoos(3)
• This lesson looks at Black History in America’s western expansion(3-6)
• This empowering lesson plan utilizes an economically-centered African American board game (3-12)
• This exceptional interdisciplinary 10-day unit explores the secrets of the Underground Railroad: (4)
  • Unit introduction, timeline, essential questions, objectives, national standards, adaptations
  • Day 1: Derailment of Human Rights:
    A Life of Slavery
  • Day 2: Conductors of Freedom:
    The Role of Abolitionists and Quakers in the UGR Movement
  • Day 3: Hear the Whistle Blow! –
    Musical Messages of Freedom
  • Day 4: Tracking the Quilting Codes
  • Day 5: Tracking the Quilting Codes – Continued
  • Day 6: Underground Research
  • Day 7: Underground Research – Continued
  • Day 8: Route to Freedom:
    Mapping North Carolina’s UGR routes
  • Day 9: Riding the Rails:
    Personal Journeys to Freedom
  • Day 10: Riding the Rails:
    Personal Journeys to Freedom – Continued
  • UGR Unit Rubrics
    • Project Rubric
    • Presentation Rubric
    • Map Rubric
    • Diary Writing Rubric
    • Cooperative Group Work Rubric
    • Self-Report Affective Assessment Rubric
  • UGR Unit Bibliography And Webliography

 

• This lesson will help your students appreciate diversity(4-5)
• This literature lesson introduces Coretta Scott King Award-Winner books(4-5)
• Here is a lesson on Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad(4-6)
• Rosa Parks history is incorporated with reading comprehension in this lesson(4-6)
• This lesson deals exclusively with Martin Luther King(5)
• Students create a big dipper “telescope” and write their personal meaning of freedom in this “Follow the Drinking Gourd” activity (5)
• This excellent lesson on Freedom Riders and the “We Shall Overcome” civil rights anthem teaches the historical power of music, the impact individuals can have on society and society’s responsibility to protect the rights of all (5-8)
• This lesson is on Black History Month(5-9)
• This non-objective art lesson also ties in with Martin Luther King Day and Black History Month (5-12)
• Studying “The Watsons Go To Birmingham” is a great Black History Month novel unit idea (6)
• This “Youth and the Civil Rights Movement” research project uses Kuhlthau’s ISP and subject directories (6-8)
• The Ballou High School Band Documentary Film Unitchallenges students to improve their schools and community and to consider education as a civil right (6-12)
  • Unit Intro: The documentary film “Ballou” follows a struggling inner city school band as it overcomes obstacles and uplifts its community on the way to a national competition
  • Lesson 1: Students examine Ballou High School in terms of the America’s Promise Five Point Initiative and create proposals for reducing school drop out rates
  • Lesson 2: Students learn about Civil Rights Movement leaders in the film “Ballou,” discuss the impact of the movement on their education, and reflect on celebrities as role models
  • Lesson 3: Here students assess their school in comparison to BHS and then send letters proposing improvements

• This civil rights lesson is based on the movie “Remember the Titans” (6-12)
• In this Modern American Abstract Art history lesson, subjects are depicted “by the content of their character” (6-12)
• This is an African-American history research scavenger hunt (7-9)
• Students experience what discrimination is like in this civil rights lesson (7-12)
• Here is a jazz musician’s crossword puzzle idea (7-12)
• In “All that Jazz,” students create a collage in the style of African-American artist Romare Bearden (7-12)
• This concept formation lesson involves the concept of “equality under the law” (8-12)
• Here’s a well-developed internet project on the Civil Rights Movement (9-12)
• This technology-based unit on slaveryincorporates PowerPoint, a WebQuest, and Inspiration software (9-12)
  • This PowerPoint lecture is titled “On the Backs of Slaves”
  • This is an “Underground Railroad” WebQuest
  • In “Path of a Slave,” students make PowerPoint presentations mapping the journey of a slave from Africa to the Thirteen Colonies.
  • In “Inspiration to Map Slavery,” students chart the process of slavery including the Triangle Trade Route, regions of slavery, reasons, consequences, etc. using Inspiration software

• This lesson on “passing” is part of a discrimination unit on strategies people used and still use to obtain equal rights and equal access to benefits (9-12)
• This “sending Pocket Poems to our troops” idea has its roots in Black History (10)
• African American folktales, songs, and hymns during the time of slavery are analyzed in this lesson (10)
• “America poems” shows how gender and race influence a poet’s viewpoint (10-11)
• This lesson explores the influence Langston Hughes and his poetry had on history (11-12)
• The Syllabary/Analogy method is used here to decode polysyllabic words in a Rosa Parks book (11-12)
• This multidisciplinary unit focuses on the significance of Martin Luther King Day and the civil rights movement (Multiple-Other)

Additional Resources:

Martin Luther King Day recommended links:

• Get Martin Luther King Day and Black History Month printables at edhelper.com
• See Dr. King’s biography and get answers to frequently asked questions at NobelPrize.org
• Kids can access a biography, timeline,
  speech excerpts, quotes, quizzes, crosswords and more about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at FactMonster.com
• The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University hosts
  • The King Papers Project, a comprehensive collection of Dr. King’s most important correspondence, sermons, publications, and speeches
  • The King Online Encyclopediawith information on over 1000 civil rights movement figures, events and organizations
  • The Liberation Curriculum and King Digital History Project with model lesson plans on Dr. King and the African-American freedom
    struggle.
• The Seattle Times features a special newspaper in education study guide on Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement including student essays, quizzes, reflections and a wealth of other information suitable for the classroom
• Kodak.com features “Powerful Days in Black and White” – photographs of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement by photojournalist Charles Moore
• Life Magazine also features a photo tribute to the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.
• The National Parks Service offers lesson plans and a teacher resource guide titled “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Legacy of Racial and Social Justice: A Curriculum for Empowerment“
• This is the site for the Martin Luther King Day of Service
  

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  Black History Month recommended links:

• Teacher’s Domain provides a good collection of educational videos about African Americans, their struggles and accomplishments
• Here are excellent Black History Month student activities and educational resources from Smithsonian Education
• The National Visionary Leadership Project has produced a free web-based multimedia lesson on the Civil Rights Movement. Take a look!
• Explore an interactive timeline and videos of milestones through slavery, the civil rights movement, and the election of President Obama at History.com. Similarly view the biographies of famous African-Americanswith study guides at Biography.com
• Challenge your students, your friends and yourself with The Internet African American History Challenge
• Celebrate African American history with these exclusive interviews with and about prominent African Americans
• Take a field trip on the web for a virtual tour of the Civil Rights Movement Museum
• The complete online text of Booker T. Washington’s classic Up from Slavery is a must read for high schoolers and home schoolers
• For additional African American history information, consult Encyclopædia Britannica’s Guide to Black History
• More African American history resources can be found in our Juneteenth collection