How to Plan Black History Month Lessons

Black History Month focuses on events and people that helped achieve freedom and equality for blacks. In the United States, Black History Month is celebrated in February.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Incorporate the stories of heroes from the Civil Rights Movement. From 1950 to 1960, racism was challenged in the United States. Heroes from this era, like the Little Rock Nine, stood up for equality and gained a place in history. Rosa Parks and Harriet Tubman were female heroes of black history. You can use Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and Thurgood Marshall as male heroes.

2. Create a timeline of events. A timeline can help students understand how long it took from slavery to freedom to equality. You can make a timeline for slavery or for civil rights. As you create the timeline, plan a lesson to correlate to the events on the timeline.

3. Assign reading. There are several literary works that depict what life was like for the blacks throughout their history. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe and "Black like Me" by John Howard Griffin are two well known books. You can also create a bibliography of books relevant to the topic and allow students to choose from the list of books. Assign a book report or an essay based on their reading.

4. Schedule an interview. There are many people who were students or teachers during the civil rights movement. They can tell the class what it was like during segregation and integration in schools. Allow time for questions and answers.

5. Find lessons online. Teacher Vision offers a variety of activities to help students learn about Black History Month. You can get coloring pages, worksheets and quizzes from the site.

Resources

• Use lesson plans, quizzes and other activities from Teacher Vision.