- Students should understand the important role that history has played in the formation of African-American cultural identity. A class newspaper full of articles on important people and events can help students understand more about black history by incorporating research and creativity. Students can also include fictitious ads for various products that might appeal to black people from different time periods in history. For example, there could be an ad for a singer at a blues club in 1920s' Harlem, or a school for learning a trade in the ante-bellum South. Creating this newspaper will help students learn not only about important people and events, but also of the lasting impact African-Americans have made on American history.
- African-Americans have contributed to America's musical history in a way that few other cultural groups have. Jazz is a specifically American art form in that it originated in America. Learning about the musical history associated with jazz, the blues, rock-'n'-roll, rap and hip-hop can get students excited and enthusiastic. Teach students about musical history by having them research a genre, bring in samples of songs from that genre (with lyrics) and discuss what the sounds, rhythms and words reveal about the particular artist and African-American culture of the time.
- Some of the most heart-wrenching poems, novels and essays have come from African-Americans talking about what it means to be displaced, isolated and sometimes marginalized. When students read these words, they can sometimes relate as teenagers that must endure some of the same judgment and societal mistreatment. Instruct students to read poems, novels and essays from Paul Louis Dunbar, Langston Hughes, Frederick Douglass and Zora Neale Hurston. Ask students to identify any positive and/or negative aspects the author may express and to analyze the literature through the lenses of their own experience.
