Although the black past is part of American history, Black History Month offers an occasion to delve further. Each February, we can help kids understand more, explore cultural influences, and track movements to today.

The Association for the Study of African American Life and History has given a Black History Month topic since 1928. The topic for 2022 is Black Health & Wellness. Consider that key topic as you review some of our preferred Black History Month class projects.

Recreate civil rights freedom struggle banners to bring history and art together.

The Civil Rights Movement Warriors site and the Civil Rights Digital Library both provide excellent instances of freedom movement billboards. After reviewing them with your pupils, have them build teams and develop their own to discuss.

Investigate African-American history using authentic resources from the National Archives.

Pick from many materials, such as this Chicago photo series from the 1970s.

Encourage your Black History Month initiatives with artists.

Future The Jacob Lawrences and Elizabeth Catletts will enjoy learning more about creators and broadening their horizons. Take a look at these more Black musicians.

Show a clip about Black History Month.

This collection of 34 Black History movies is appropriate for learners of all ages.

Familiarize yourself with the Black Lives Matter movement.

The Black Lives Matter website describes the organization’s history, whereas works like Dear Martin and The Hate U Give fictionalize the cause.

Put together a newsletter or a journal.

To present to parental figures, have your pupils create their bulletin or literacy journal. Incorporate black author poetry, short tales, and student-created writings and photos related to Black History Month.

Using the Green Book, depict the experience of a Black family.

The History Channel provides a fantastic overview of this guide, which was intended to assist Black Americans in traveling securely during the mid-twentieth century.

Recite poetry in honor of Black History Month.

We’ve compiled inspirational Black History Month Poems for kids of all ages to help us have more meaningful dialogs this month.

Set up a live museum in your class.

Allow your kids to choose a famous Black trailblazer they’d like to learn more about, such as the right to vote and women ‘s liberties activist Fannie Lou Hamer, performer Alvin Ailey, or Betty Reid Soskin, the nation’s longest full-time national parks ranger. Then, in your class, create a living museum. Pupils can costume up and present what they have discovered through their study.

Get to know Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States.

The White House website and this National Geographic narrator provide a solid overview of President Barack Obama. Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, The Audacity of Hope, and A Promised Land are just a few of Obama’s novels that senior kids can appreciate.

Build your digital museum to commemorate enslavement and its consequences.

Thirteen.org provides some excellent student samples and a printable form for doing the exercise in your school.

For Black History Month, adorn your classroom doorway.

To commemorate Black History Month, these educators adorned their room entrances creatively.

13. Pay tribute to some of the army’s most valiant soldiers.

Black men and women have historically fought in the United States military, from the 54th Massachusetts to the Buffalo Soldiers to the Tuskegee Airmen, even when their privileges were not safe.

14. To commemorate the youthful hero Marley Dias, read literature featuring black protagonists.

Dias is a teenage activist who began the #1,000BlackGirlBooks movement when she was in sixth class. She’s put together a great list of books with Black female protagonists. Also, have a look at our collection of books with Black heroes.

Study biographies of African-Americans in picture books.

These photobook biographies honor Black History Month while educating your pupils about how these individuals shaped civilization.

Become acquainted with the skill of stepping.

Stepping is a type of dance in which the dancer uses their own body to generate distinct beats and noises. Step Afrika! is a site with movies and facts on stepping’s past.

Take an online tour of Harlem’s prestigious Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Virtual exhibits, conversations, and podcasts abound in the online collections.

Visit the Whitney Plantation, the country’s first enslavement museum, to learn about the evils of enslavement and forgiveness firsthand.

The wonderful guided tours offered by the museum educate kids about living in antebellum America. Can’t make it? Become a member of the Virtual Book Club!

Pay a trip to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, which is a must-see.

You can search the resource by subject, period, or location on the internet.

Organize a poem reading.

Pupils should study and read poetry by a Black poet for the class. Select a child to perform as the emcee, prepare a program, and set the mood with darkened lights and jazz background music in the intervals. The Poetry Foundation has a wealth of materials to assist you in getting started.

Rethink how you teach geography.

Are you aware that millions of African-Americans fled the South between 1915 and 1970, settling in cities like Detroit, Los Angeles, and New York? Or that several Blacks called Exodusters found their route to the Great Plains following the Civil War? Using a map, educate your children about all sorts of possible questions about Black families moving throughout the nation and how such demographic changes influenced the United States of today. You could also take a subterranean railroad journey that is participatory.

Banners should be shown in the classroom.

These complimentary posters make Black History Month more accessible in the class.

Take the throne.

Your future lawyers will love learning about the significant Supreme Court cases that helped Black people gain rights, the events and initiatives that spurred the cases, and the consequences of the court rulings. Look for Thurgood Marshall, the first Black Supreme Court justice and lead lawyer in the Brown v. Board of Education case.

Pay attention.

RadioPublic provides a great collection of podcasts about Black history to listen to and discuss with your kids.

It’s all about the play.

August Wilson’s American Century Cycle was a playwright exploring Black existence in the twentieth century. To examine that rich history, use the resources focusing on the 10 plays that make up the cycle. Consider choosing one to present to the whole school.