Black History Resources
Links verified 2/8/2023
ABOUT BLACK HISTORY, ACTIVITIES, AND GAMES
African American History Month for Teachers - Put the power of primary sources to work in the classroom. Browse ready-to-use lesson plans, student activities, collection guides and research aids.
Black History Month: Everything You Need - Meet African American icons, leaders, activists, and inventors with these teaching resources from Scholastic
Black History Month from Science Net Links - Science NetLinks and AAAS have developed a number of resources that will help you honor the achievements and scientific work of African Americans. Consider using their resources in your classroom
Black History Month Lessons and Resources - integrating African American culture & history into your curriculum (from the NEA)
Black History Month: Resources for Students and Educators - This list features resources on African-American history from the collections of the State Library and Archives of Florida.
Black History Month - Teacher Resources from Teacher Vision - Explore the many contributions of African-Americans with our cross-curricular lessons, printables, quizzes, and activities at TeacherVision.
EDSITEment's Guide to Black History Month Teaching Resources - EDSITEment's most recent compilation of Black History Month resources
Six Teaching Tools for Black History - resources from Edutopia
Enchanted Learning's African American Biographies
Michael Jordan's Career Biography
Family Fun Educational Black History activities.
History.com's Black History section
DLTK Kids Black History craft ideas and printables
Speak Up - opening a dialogue with youth about racism
Black History Lesson For Every Day in February
PIONEERS, INVENTORS, and FAMOUS AFRICAN AMERICAN CONTRIBUTORS
Who is it? - Can you guess the names of these famous African Americans? Try this "Famous African Americans" Quiz!
Famous African Americans - Links to detailed biographies of African Americans from all walks of like
Famous Firsts- Famous African Americans who accomplished firsts in law, government, & science and medicine.
Mathematicians of the African Diaspora - Famous Mathematicians from Ancient history up to present time including Profiles of 500 Black Mathematicians, The Greatest Black Mathematicians and more.
Africans in America by PBS - America's journey through slavery is presented in four parts. For each era, you'll find a historical Narrative, a Resource Bank of images, documents, stories, biographies, and commentaries, and a Teacher's Guide for using the content of the Web site and television series in U.S. history courses.
The History of the Negro League Professional Baseball - 75 Years of Glory. How and when the league was founded, and hall of famers.
Culture and Change, Black History in America - from Scholastic.Meet famous African Americans, listen to jazz music, publish your own writing, and explore history with our interactive timeline
American Slave Narratives - From 1936 to 1938, over 2,300 former slaves from across the American South were interviewed by writers and journalists under the aegis of the Works Progress Administration. These former slaves, most born in the last years of the slave regime or during the Civil War, provided first-hand accounts of their experiences on plantations, in cities, and on small farms.
All About Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and MLK Day - Basic facts, lesson plans, and project ideas.
"I Have A Dream" - The text of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963. After reading the text of his speech you may want to watch a video of the speech posted on You Tube
Martin Luther King Jr. Papers Project - This site contains secondary documents written about Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as primary documents written during King's life. The folks at the Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers Project at Stanford University continuously update and improve this site. You have probably read his "I Have A Dream" speech, but have you also read his "I See The Promised Land" sermon (aka "I've Been To The Mountaintop") King's last sermon delivered on April 3, 1968? Come to this site to read that and more written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Aboard the Underground Railroad - At the most dramatic level, the Underground Railroad provided stories of guided escapes from the South, rescues of arrested fugitives in the North, complex acts of bravery and suffering in the quest for freedom for all. This site gives a good introduction of the Underground Railroad, information on the slave trade, early antislavery, and details on the operation of the UGRR.
Exploring Amistad - The Amistad Revolt was a shipboard uprising off the coast of Cuba that carried itself, inadvertently but fatefully, to the United States--where the Amistad Captives set off an intense legal, political, and popular debate over the slave trade, slavery,race, Africa, and ultimately America itself.
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself - Harriet Jacobs - You can find the entire text of the book online. In addition you can find links to images related to her book itself, and images related to slave life during her time.
Harlem 1900 - 1940 - An African American Community - An exhibition portfolio from the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. They offer an excellent timeline to accompany the exhibition.
The Dred Scott Case - Arguments about slavery in the print and in public debate had a direct impact on the Scott's and the people who surrounded them. The records contained in this exhibit document the Scott's' early struggle to gain their freedom through litigation and are the only extant record of this significant case as it was heard in the St. Louis Circuit Court.
EXPLORING THE HISTORY
African American Odyssey - This Special Presentation of the Library of Congress exhibition, The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship, showcases the Library's incomparable African American collections. The presentation is not only a highlight of what is on view in this major black history exhibition, but also a glimpse into the Library's vast African American collection. This display is divided into nine sections:
- Slavery-The Peculiar Institution
- Free Blacks in the Antebellum Period
- Abolition
- The Civil War
- Reconstruction
- Booker T. Washington Era
- World War I and Postwar Society
- Depression, New Deal, and World War II
- Civil Rights
African American Perspectives from the Library of Congress - The Daniel A. P. Murray Pamphlet Collection presents a panoramic and eclectic review of African-American history and culture, spanning almost one hundred years from the early nineteenth through the early twentieth centuries, with the bulk of the material published between 1875 and 1900. Among the authors represented are Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Benjamin W. Arnett, Alexander Crummel, and Emanuel Love.
African Heritage in Classical Music - "Here you will meet 52 composers, conductors and instrumental performers - Africans, African Americans and Afro-Europeans.Over 100 sound samples can be heard at the Audio page and at the biographical pages. The links at left lead to a Black History Quiz covering everyone profiled at the site" (
The Internet African American History Challenge is an interactive quiz that helps you sharpen your knowledge of African American History. It's an "open book" test. So if you're not sure of an answer, you can check the reference material for help. Level I is the easiest and has 7 questions while levels II & III have 10 questions each and are a bit more challenging. Teachers, it looks like you are able to set up an online grade book for your class. Check it out.
Timeline of African American History
African Flags - posted by the university of Pennsylvania African Studies department
- Speak Up - opening a dialogue with youth about racism [from USC Rossier’s
The Role of Music in Black History
Marian Anderson: A Life in Song- This exhibition celebrates the artistic development and musical career of Marian Anderson. Renowned throughout the world for her extraordinary contralto voice, she is also remembered for her dignity and grace under pressure.
- Ray Charles - Music legend overcame poverty, blindness.
- Billy Eckstine - This legendary jazz man came from Pittsburgh.
- Jimi Hendrix - His guitar playing was a psychedelic symphony.
- Mary Lou Williams - She was the ''Little Piano Girl'' of Pittsburgh.
- Ma Rainey - Black vaudeville gave her a start in show business.
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