+
Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "The Tradition" by Jericho Brown

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
To begin this activity, class members examine Antonius Hockelmann's painting "Tree Flowers II," record elements of the painting that they notice, and share their observations with a partner. Next, pupils do a close reading of Jericho...
+
Lesson Plan
1
1
Learning for Justice

The Color of Law: Creating Racially Segregated Communities

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
It is pointed, powerful, and painful! The first of three lessons about laws and practices that support inequality looks at how government policies created and reinforced segregated communities. Young social scientists read excerpts from...
+
Lesson Plan
PBS

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech as Visual Text

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Young historians watch a video of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivering his "I Have a Dream" speech and answer questions that test their knowledge of the event. After discussing the fact sheet, they reread the speech, select a phrase or...
+
Lesson Plan
PBS

History of Juneteenth and Why It’s Now a National Holiday

For Teachers 6th - 12th
June 19 is now a United States federal holiday. Young historians examine the background of the first Juneteenth celebrations and why on June 15, 2021, Congress finally approved "Juneteenth National Independence Day" as a federal holiday.
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Three-Way Match: Famous Black Americans

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Pupils research famous African-Americans using an online resource. They complete a three-way matching activity.
+
Lesson Plan
National Woman's History Museum

Shirley Chisholm, Unbossed and Unbought

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
An engaging resource introduces young historians to Shirley Chisholm, the woman, the Black congresswoman, the activist, and the candidate for President in 1972. Class members study primary sources, watch a video of her announcing her run...
+
Lesson Plan
Alabama Department of Archives and History

Convict Leasing in Alabama: a System That Re-Enslaved Blacks After the Civil War

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The post-Civil War convict leasing program, rarely covered in textbooks, is the focus of a lesson that asks class members to use information drawn from primary source documents to assess the program. While the focus is on Alabama's...
+
Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Power to the People

For Teachers 11th
Black berets, black leather jackets, raised black fists, chants of "Power to the People!" These are the images that many associate with the Black Panther Party. Often forgotten are the programs the party created during the Civil Rights...
+
Lesson Plan
PBS

Jackie Robinson's Complicated — and Important — Legacy

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Americans tend to lock their heroes in history, holding these icons to a particular event or time. Jackie Robinson is such a hero, remembered by most for becoming the first African American to play in the Major Leagues. Young historians...
+
Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

Major League Baseball and the Negro Leagues: Correcting an Injustice

For Teachers 6th - 9th Standards
It's been a long time coming! In 2020, MLB Commissioner Robert D. Manifred, Jr. stated that "the Negro Leagues would be recognized as official major leagues." Middle schoolers investigate the history of the Negro Leagues and use evidence...
+
Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Old South Meeting House" by January Gill O'Neil

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
The vaulted ceiling of the Old South Meeting House has heard many voices. Young scholars read an excerpt about its importance in American history and then do a close reading January Gill O'Neil's poem, "Old South Meeting House." After...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Journey to Civil Rights

For Teachers K - 1st
Students explore Civil Rights. In this Civil Rights lesson, students read about Ruby Bridges and define the words segregation and supremacy. Students make a timeline of important events in Civil Rights and write a paragraph about why the...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Black Kentuckians and the Civil War

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students demonstrate how the American Civil War affected black Kentuckians socially and politically. They identify and discuss the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which forced the end of slavery in Kentucky months after the...
+
Lesson Plan
1
1
BrainPOP

Civil Rights Lesson Plan: Tracking History Through Timelines

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Use the accompanying assessment to determine your class's prior knowledge on Martin Luther King, Jr. before beginning a lesson plan on the famous civil rights movement leader. The resource has young historians thinking about life for...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

An Academic, Economic, Cultural, and Political Lesson Plan

For Teachers 4th - 12th
Students reflect on how many board games they've played have African Americans, their culture or history incorporated within. They identify four street games and three card games that appeal to African Americans. They play the...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Now This is a Contender, Allow Me to Prove It

For Teachers 10th
Tenth graders persuade others to see their Blank History Month postage stamp as the best choice. In this African-American history lesson, 10th graders research noteworthy African-Americans and create postage stamps and write proposals...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Researching African Americans Who Made a Difference

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Celebrate Black History Month with this instructional activity, in which middle schoolers create an essay about a famous African-American. Writers conduct research online, take notes to write an essay in proper format, and use ideas,...
+
Lesson Plan
PBS

Ken Burns: Jackie Robinson Taking the Measure of a Man

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
During his first few games as the first black player in Major League Baseball, Jackie Robinson proved that he could withstand the wily curveball of Johnny Sain as well as the racial epithets shouted from opposing teams' dugouts. A short...
+
Lesson Plan
American Institute of Physics

The Tuskegee Weathermen: African-American Meteorologists during World War II

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Chances are good that young scholars have heard of the Tuskegee Airmen but few would predict that these pilots had their own support in the form of the Tuskegee Weathermen. These Black meteorologists were recruited and trained to provide...
+
Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

Spirits Across the Ocean: Yoruban and Dahomean Cultures in the Caribbean Brought by the Slave Trade

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Much of Latin American music owes its origins to the slave trade. Peoples from the Yoruban and Dahomean cultures brought with them the distinctive rhythms, time signatures, and eighth note patterns that now characterize Caribbean music....
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Famous Firsts Challenge

For Teachers 5th - 6th
In this Black history month worksheet, learners read the statements about Black history month. Students select the best answer to complete the 10 statements.
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Steps to Freedom

For Teachers K - 4th
Students complete discussion and reading comprehension activities for the novel Almost to Freedom by Vaunda Micheax Nelson. In this African American history lesson, students discuss the Underground Railroad and complete a reading...
+
Lesson Plan
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media

Fred Seibel, the Times-Dispatch, and Massive Resistance

For Teachers 4th Standards
A lesson plan challenges scholars to analyze editorial cartoons created by Fred Seibel, illustrator for the Times-Dispatch, during the Massive Resistance. A class discussion looking at today's editorial pages and Jim Crow Laws leads the...
+
Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

African American Music: Let’s Sing and Play Clapping Games

For Teachers K - 2nd
Two lessons focus on making a beat. Using popular African American music of its time, scholars listen and analyze the rhythm then recreate it with hands drums, and cups. 

Other popular searches