Black History Month

Writers, illustrators, and storytellers

Video interviews with children's book authors and illustrators
Watch Reading Rockets' interviews with celebrated African American children's book authors and illustrators, and children's literature historian, Leonard Marcus, who talks about the history of multicultural children's books in the U.S. from the 1960s onward.

• Ashley Bryan
• Bryan Collier
• Christopher Paul Curtis
• Nikki Giovanni
• Nikki Grimes
• E.B. Lewis
• Leonard Marcus
• Patricia and Frederick McKissack
• Christopher Myers
• Walter Dean Myers
• Kadir Nelson
• Jerry Pinkney
• Charles R. Smith, Jr.
• Jacqueline Woodson

African American Poets (Poets.org)
Find links to African-American poets, books, and lesson plans for understanding and writing poetry.

Gwendolyn Brooks and "We Real Cool" (Poets.org)
The Pulitzer Prize winning-poet Gwendolyn Brooks wrote about African American life in the city. At this website you can listen as she reads her famous poem "We Real Cool."

African American Women Writers of the 19th Century (The Schomburg Center)
This website contains a digital collection of some 52 published works by 19th-century black women writers.

Paul Laurence Dunbar (University of Dayton)
Born in 1872 in Dayton, Ohio, Paul Laurence Dunbar was the first African-American to gain national stature as a poet. Visit this website to hear more than 40 of his poems read aloud by the foremost interpreter of his works.

StoryCorps Griot
A 'griot' is a storyteller in western Africa who keeps alive the oral tradition and history of a village or family. The StoryCorps Griot Project is a special initiative that is gathering and preserving the life stories of African American families.

Recommended children's books

• A Celebration of Black History Month
• Favorite Books for Black History Month
• The Things We Share: Themes for Black History Month
• Heroes
• Standing Tall
• Books for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
• The Coretta Scott King Book Awards (American Library Association)

Activities for the classroom, home, and the community

The National African American Read-In (NCTE)
The National Council of Teachers of English asks schools, churches, libraries, bookstores, community and professional organizations, and interested citizens to make literacy a significant part of Black History Month by hosting and coordinating Read-Ins in their communities.

Find more ideas for Read-In activities at ReadWriteThink.

Embracing Black History (PBS Parents)
Browse this collection of booklists and activities that celebrate culture and family and teach diversity — such as growing a family tree, planning a family reunion, or making African vegetable stew with Maya and Miguel. Also from PBS Kids, Jazz Greats.

Celebrate African American Heritage (Scholastic)
This website offers a comprehensive collection of classroom resources including lesson plans, book excerpts, author interviews, information about civil rights leaders, scientists, explorers, musicians, athletes, and little-known African Americans innovators and achievers.

Culture & Change: Black History in America (Scholastic)
Meet famous African Americans, listen to jazz music, publish your own writing, and explore history with the interactive timeline.

The Underground Railroad (National Geographic)
Take an interactive journey on the Underground Railroad and learn more about the "faces of freedom" — including Frederick Douglass and lesser-known activists like Jermain Loguen and William Still. This new site also includes a timeline, maps about the Underground Railroad, and more teaching resources.

African American History Month for Teachers (Library of Congress)
Put the power of primary sources to work in the classroom. Browse ready-to-use lesson plans, student activities, collection guides, and research aids.

Library Activity Ideas (Programming Librarian)
Find out what libraries across the country are doing to celebrate African-American History Month.

Stamp on Black History (Programming Librarian)
The Postal Service has issued Black History-related stamps to commemorate black men and women who have contributed to America's history and who have made a difference. In 1940, Booker T. Washington became the first black American to be honored on a U.S. postage stamp. Learn more and try the stamp quiz and other activities.

Rosa Parks Bus (Henry Ford Museum)
Learn more about Rosa Parks and her brave actions on December 1, 1955, the story behind the bus, and a chronology of the Civil Rights movement.

Stories to Tell: Curating an African-American History Exhibit (New York Times Learning Network)
Given that history is composed of many interwoven stories, how do curators and other historians decide which stories to tell? How can key historical events, people, places and themes best be represented in a meaningful, engaging exhibit to teach others? In this lesson, students consider the messages sent by artifacts and then develop an African-American history exhibit.

African-American Negro Baseball League
Are you a baseball fan? Visit the website for the African-American Negro Baseball League Museum to learn about the league's history, players, and teams.

Family Stories
Children can learn about family heritage at the same time they are improving their literacy skills. Using family-based writing projects, you can build a connection with parents, and help children see the value in their own heritage and in the diversity around them.

Community Stories
Literacy activities can take on a new meaning when students are reading and writing about their own community. Children learn the true value of print when they document the oral histories of the elders in their town.

People and events

Celebrate Black History Month (The History Channel)
This multimedia site includes a brief overview of the civil rights struggle, biographies of key players, and video clips of Martin Luther King, Jr., Muhammad Ali, and other famous Americans.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project (Stanford University)
A collection of multimedia information about Martin Luther King, Jr., with a special section for teachers that includes lesson plans, an interactive timeline, and an extensive civil rights encyclopedia.

Rosa Parks (The Academy of Achievement)
This website includes video and audio clips of the civil rights pioneer.

Meet Amazing Americans (Library of Congress)
A great introduction to famous Americans, this website offers energetically written stories about Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. DuBois, and Duke Ellington among others.

Cathay Williams, Female Buffalo Soldier
She was born a slave, but once the Civil War ended Cathay Williams didn't want to be dependent on either family or friends. So in 1866, she joined the U.S. Army disguised as a man and became the only known female Buffalo Soldier.

Guides to black history

African American World (PBS)
This extensive site features an interview with Ruby Bridges Hall, who describes what it was like, as a six year old, to become the first African American child to desegregate an elementary school. The site also offers "Visual Voices," which includes striking photos of Martin Luther King Jr. being arrested, the Tuskegee Airmen, and others.

African American History Resources (Library of Congress)
This site celebrates the contributions of African Americans throughout U.S. history. Learn about Harriet Tubman, John Hope Franklin, the Tuskegee Airmen, African Americans in the military, African American band music and recordings, and the Emancipation Proclamation. Find a number of primary documents and resources for teachers.

African American Odyssey (Library of Congress)
This site showcases the African American collections of the Library of Congress. Displaying more than 240 items, including books, government documents, manuscripts, maps, musical scores, plays, films, and recordings, this is the largest black history exhibit ever held at the Library of Congress.

Black History Month (InfoPlease)
In addition to historical information, this site offers links to contemporary issues as well as quizzes and crossword puzzles that can be used in the classroom.

Guide to Black History (Encyclopedia Brittanica)
This site includes an extensive timeline, audio and video clips, and biographies.

Black History Month (Biography)
This multimedia site examine the lives of African-Americans who have made extraordinary achievements in their fields, including inventors such as George Washington Carver; activists like Malcolm X and Rosa Parks; athletes such as Willie Mays and Michael Jordan; and entertainers like Bessie Smith and Oprah Winfrey.

Television programs

Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (PBS)
Jack Johnson — the first African-American Heavyweight Champion of the World, whose dominance over his white opponents spurred furious debates and race riots in the early 20th century — enters the ring once again in this PBS documentary by acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns. The website includes a teacher's guide.

Slavery and the Making of America (PBS)
The first slaves were bought in 1619, the last freed in 1865. In the intervening 250 years, slaves labored to make America what it is today. This television series was produced by WNET. The website includes a K-12 Learning section.

Citizen King (PBS)
This program, part of the American Experience series on PBS, pushes past the myths that have obscured Martin Luther King's story to reclaim the history of a people's leader. Using the personal recollections, diaries, letters, and eyewitness accounts of friends, family, journalists, law enforcement officers and historians, this film brings fresh insights to King's difficult journey, his charismatic — if at times flawed — leadership, and his truly remarkable impact. The website includes a teacher's guide.

Eyes on the Prize (PBS)
The landmark documentary series. Through contemporary interviews and historical footage, the series covers all of the major events of the civil rights movement from 1954 to 1985. On the extensive website you'll find a wealth of ideas for classroom activities at different grade levels.