February 1 marks the official start to Black History Month; however, the history, legacy, traditions, and many contributions of African Americans should be celebrated throughout the year. Did you know, this annual celebration grew out of “Negro History Week,” started by historian Carter G. Woodson in 1926 and is designated as a time to recognize, not only the achievement of African Americans, but also, their central role in U.S. history? Each year Black History Month has a designated theme, and this year the theme is “The Black Family: Representation, Identity and Diversity.” As your school prepares to celebrate Black History Month, I have compiled a list of a few resources for you to checkout and share with your staff. • NEA Black History Month Resources • Public Broadcasting (PBS) Newshour Teacher Resources NCDPI Resources • The History Channel has a website dedicated to Black History Month containing photos, videos, and speeches to explore. • The National African American History Month website lists selected relating to Black history and culture. • AfricanAmericanHistoryMonth.gov has resources for teachers (exhibits, collections, audio, video, primary documents and images) from The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial. • PBS has lesson plans and discussion guides available targeted towards specific grade levels. • The Smithsonian has a variety of teaching resources including art, poetry, and reading lists. • The Smithsonian Learning Lab has over a million resources by Instructional content, like social studies, that allow you to search, create Resources educational experiences, and share your work. It includes a collection on the Tuskegee Airmen and more. Be sure to search 'black history" to see what is available. • Carolina K-12 and UNC-Chapel Hill’s Southern Oral History Program teamed up to produce lesson plans for teaching about the American Civil Rights Movement. • NC Museum of History's has a new exhibit called Freedom! A Promise Disrupted North Carolina 1862-1921. Discover the story of the 'Reconstruction' era, when the promises of freedom were cut short in North Carolina due to a backlash of racism. There are other resources including a video on demand and lessons of the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum and a list several must see upcoming events. • FREE Film Kits from Teaching Tolerance "Bring social justice topics to life with these classroom friendly films and user guides. Teaching Tolerance film kits are FREE for use in K–12 schools, schools of education, public libraries, houses of worship and youth-serving nonprofit organizations. Click on each of the films to order or stream online, based on availability." • Fighting for the Right to Fight: Electronic Fieldtrip: Watch the webcast about the challenges African Americans faced during WWII. Students will be able to see artifacts and do a Q&A with museum experts. Watch here! • NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Check here for lists of events in the Eastern, Western, and Piedmont regions of NC! Events include musical performances, art exhibits, and on-site visits to places significant in NC African American culture. • The African American Culture Kit from Carolina Navigators is a collection of books and items from the National African American Museum of History and Culture in Washington D.C. Items include Mae Reeves hat stickers, aviator goggles, finger puppets of 7 famous African Americans, Carolina Plantation Rice, a plastic blue crab, a souvenir book from the museum, children’s books, coloring books, and paper dolls, a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation, DVDs on the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans in Sports poster, and a Kwanzaa card. To learn more, visit the website. • 28 Ways to Celebrate Black History Month is an article that includes the contributions made by African Americans and ideas of how each day can be a way to acknowledge their accomplishments. • PBS Newshour has some additional resources to help teach Black History Month including the lessons on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, Nelson Mandela, and Muhammed Ali. • The article “20 Pertinent Classroom Resources for Black History Month” and site Poets.org have resources, including role plays, speeches, poems, and literature that are either by African Americans or feature their experience. The resources can be used for discussions or analyzed for meaning and historical significance. Both sites have resources that integrate social studies and ELA. • For Middle and High School Teachers across North Carolina, EVERFI offers 306 - African-American History an immersive and inspiring digital journey through American History. Through 14 lessons, starting in the era of Slavery, moving through Emancipation, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow, and ending in the Civil Rights and modern era, students learn through the lens of African-American leaders in each era, and engage with primary source documents. In this celebratory month of African-American History, 306 brings to life the empowering stories of the African-American community and helps students draw inspiration from remarkable women and men! To learn more about getting started, please contact Peter Kelpin, • EVERFI North Carolina Consultant at [email protected]. Educators are also able to self-start with EVERFI via this link. • Teaching Tolerance – Black History Month: Teaching the Complete History Additional Website Resource Center for Racial Justice: Black History Month Resource Guide for Educators and Families