Black History Month Activities & Resources

February is Black History Month. Help your students learn about and celebrate the important Black contributions to the American and global story with our cross-curricular lesson plans, worksheets, projects, quizzes, and activities below.

Why Do We Teach Black History Month?

As with any number of topics, approaches to teaching Black history have evolved and changed over the years. While it's roots go back to the early 20th century, Black History Month as a national observance was created as a way to focus attention on the contributions of Black Americans that had been overlooked, marginalized, and outright ignored as part of conventional American history lessons. As President Ford said when announcing the month-long observance in 1976, “In celebrating Black History Month, we can seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”

For the most part, this led to a fairly "traditional" look at Black historical figures in the classroom - with a heavy emphasis on inspirational people and stories, but little context around the "hard history," as Black educator Rann Miller calls it, of the Black experience. "I was told of Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman, and Frederick Douglass. I heard very little of Malcolm X, the FBI’s campaign against civil rights leaders...I was taught about the marches and firehoses in Alabama, but I had to teach myself about the acts of terrorism committed against Black people in Rosewood, Florida; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Wilmington, North Carolina," says Miller in a widely-read and influential essay.

Over the past several years, as high-profile events like the murder of George Floyd have forced a reckoning look at systemic racism and inequality in the United States, the teaching of Black history has become more contextual and less personality-driven. It's still important to highlight the considerable achievements of Black Americans for students - but many teachers are also using Black History Month to "explore the impact of racism in the Black experience," as Miller puts it. 

What to Teach for Black History Month

These TeacherVision resources were commissioned or curated to give teachers a wide selection of approaches to integrating Black History Month into existing curriculum. You'll find lesson plans, student choice activities, printables, videos, and more for all of the major curriculum areas - Social Studies, Reading, Math, and Science.