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Black History Month

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Influential Artists of the Culture

There is no way to celebrate black history month without including some of the most influential artists of the culture. The musicians, the actors, the dancers and entertainers. The writers, the painters and sculptors. What a dull world we would have without the profound contributions and talents of these great artists. Schools should celebrate these people year-round, but especially during black history month.

How can teachers call attention to these artists while utilizing the required curriculum and state standards?   Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Black History Month: The Civil Rights Movement

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The Civil Rights Movement was a pivotal and important time in our country. What better time to explore its happenings and outcomes than during black history month?

Schools and teachers easily fit this vital time into academic lessons. The weighty issues and activities changed our country forever for the better, but many struggles took place to gain the way of life we have today. Do students of today truly grasp the agony and hardships endured for freedom?

How can teachers and schools explore this movement more fully? Below are a few tips:  Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Black History Month

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Significant Events that Changed Our Country

With February focusing on the great achievements and heroes in black history, it is important to recognize them in our schools. Students of all races and cultures benefit from these accomplishments, and it makes sense that schools should make the effort to include these happenings in academic lessons.

Use technology to help students research a timeline or a specific event. Have students write a taxonomy of important events in black history.

As a teacher, how do you decide which events students should study or research? Check the time period of whatever you are studying. If you are reading Langston Hughes poetry, research the Harlem Renaissance. If you are learning about Martin Luther King, Jr., research the civil rights movement.

Below are a few key events to get you started:

  • Underground Railroad
  • Uncle Tom’s Cabin published
  • Dred Scott Case
  • Civil War
  • Emancipation Proclamation
  • Lincoln assassination
  • KKK is formed
  • 13th amendment is ratified, prohibiting slavery
  • Black Codes
  • NAACP is founded
  • Harlem Renaissance
  • Jackie Robinson
  • Brown vs. Board of Education
  • Emmitt Till
  • Rosa Parks
  • Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • Civil Rights Movement
  • Malcolm X
  • Black Panthers
  • Affirmative Action
  • Barack Obama

 

Check out this website for further easy researching:  http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmtimeline.html

 

http://www.racebridgesforschools.com/wp/?p=2334
 
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Celebrating Black History Month

……………….. .. Here are four Lesson Plans for your consideration, reflection and use with your students during Black History Month . . ..
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Celebrating Black American Arts

This short, but flexible lesson plan provides a variety of options for students to become familiar with African American culture including through research and presentation.  Options include the contributions of African Americans to dance, art, music, food/cuisine, and science.

Download Celebrating Black American Arts (PDF)

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Connecting The Dots:
Racism, Activism, & Creating a Life
by Storyteller Michael McCarty

African American Storyteller Michael McCarty tells his true story Connecting the Dots: Racism, Activism & Creating a Life.

Racism in Chicago … the Black Panthers …Activism and the institution … Expulsion from High School …. Drugs …. Searching … Journeys around the world … Stories and people that shape us ….Ways and paths to self-discovery … With humor and hope the storyteller “connects the dots” in his life.

Invite your students in to explore their responses to McCarty’s challenges, dead-ends and the people and events that shaped his life’s journey.

Let Michael McCarty’s story inspire conversation among your students (and faculty) about the issues of racism, standing up for one’s beliefs, working for change in the world and in our lives and the power of stories to inspire and connect.

Complete text and audio download of this story come in a short version and a long version.   Connecting the Dots is an ideal discussion starter for college age, young adults and justice and peace groups. Lesson Plan provides questions and activities..

Click here for Connecting the Dots

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We All Have a Race: Addressing Race and Racism

A lesson plan that helps students to understand the concept of race better, to distinguish between prejudice and racism, and to learn ways to stand up against racism and to act as allies with students of different races. This is a basic beggining unit to consider race and racism with respect and discovery.  Teacher guide and student activities.

Click here for We All Have A Race

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A White Girl Looks at Race:
Davey Crockett; Us vs Them; The Dr. King March
3 Short Stories by Storyteller Susan O’Halloran

Three  short stories set in Chicago in the 1960′s amid racial separation, change and conflict.

Susan O’Halloran tells of meeting her first Black child as a young child herself, of the racial attitudes in growing up on the southwest side of Chcago and her memories of feeling’locked in’ when Dr. Martin Luther King came to march blocks from her home.    Gripping and moving stories of the past, challenges for the present.  Texts, teacher guide and student activities with audio downloads.

Click here for A White Girls Looks at Race

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From Flint Michigan to Your Front Door:
Tracing the Roots of Racism
By Storyteller La’Ron Williams

African American Storyteller La’Ron Williams tells about his experience growing up in Flint, Michigan, where he felt nurtured by a supportive African-American community. Yet even at an early age, Williams knew there were threats to his safety when he saw on the front cover of Jet Magazine the picture of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy who had been killed by bigoted Whites in the South.

From that jarring moment onward, Williams describes the experience of growing up in parallel worlds: a Black world that loved and mentored him and a White world that, even in its most benign expression, assumed a “neutral status” that for African-Americans was neither neutral nor benign. Using examples from the media and from his own experiences in a town divided by racial tension, Williams creates a story that tells the truth about American racial hierarchy while also offering hope for all those eager to transcend its legacy. Full text of story, audio downloads and student activities included.

Use this story as a way to introduce topics related to race, to deepen your conversations about the distinctions between personal and institutional racism, to address race and unconscious bias in the media, or to provide another way to celebrate African-American Heritage Month in February

Click here for From Flint Michigan to Your Front Door
 
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Black History Month

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Prominent Leaders of the Culture

As February and Black History Month approaches, it is important to take time to consider the successes of very prominent leaders of the black community. Without these people and their accomplishments, our country would be a very different place. A place sorely lacking in richness of culture, brilliant achievement, exploits of bravery and triumph, and sheer strengths of character.  Read the rest of this entry »

 
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STORY SHORT: Construction

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Construction
by Storyteller Jim May

www.storytelling.org/JimMay
Approximate Length of Video and Audio: 9 Minutes, 30 Seconds.

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THEME
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Race and class shape our lives, but there are ways to overcome racism and classism.
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STORY DESCRIPTION
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In “Construction,” storyteller Jim May tells the story of working on a construction site in rural Illinois while he was in high school. Although the construction work was hard, May was eager to work because it was a well-paid union job, different from the low-paid farming work he was used to in his community. While on his job, May worked with adult, African-American workers and recognized that they were treated differently, less fairly, than the white workers. Yet May was grateful just to have a job that helped him put himself through college, and he is able to recognize how valuable unions were to helping people in his community move from poverty or the working class into the middle class.  Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Diversity: Experiencing the Differences of People

The world is filled with different cultures of people. Education has the great advantage of being able to experience these different cultures and peoples on a daily basis and in a very open context, unlike many other fields. In schools, it is possible to take the time to explore different cultures up close. In the classroom, teachers can create an environment of tolerance and acceptance unlike any other place. Because of these special circumstances, students are able to benefit tremendously through the interactions with other cultures.  Read the rest of this entry »

 
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THE DR. KING HOLIDAY : DAY OF SERVICE Contributing vs. Taking ?

 What is the difference between contributing and taking? Do the students of today understand this distinction? Can they put it into practice? As educators, it is our responsibility to ensure that the youth of today play a role in positively contributing to our society. After all, we want our future leaders and caregivers to build our communities up and expand our resources, rather than become those who tear down our quality of life.

It is important to discuss with students, on a regular basis, the value of contributing. Contributing to conversations, to programs, to the world in a positive way. Contributing means giving or donating. It could refer to time, energy, talents, money, or resources. Students should see that everyone, regardless of age or race, has the ability to contribute to our world in a positive way and make a difference. That is how we learn about each other – values, cultures, beliefs. And that is how we make our world a better place for everyone.  Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted in African American Heritage, Black History Month

 

Not just another day off: How teachers can help students celebrate Dr. King’s Birthday on January 16

Dr. King Day : Turning Dreams Into Deeds

On January 16, will your students be thinking about the real reason for the national holiday? Or will they simply think of it as one part of a nice three-day weekend?

For so many students — and teachers alike — the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. is just another day off, rather than an active celebration of the life of America’s most prominent peacemaker. White students in particular may not think this holiday has much to do with them. And with an African-American leader in the White House, today’s young people may be thinking that racism is a thing of the past — a problem for older generations, not theirs. But in spite of great strides made since the Civil Rights era, racism still presents serious challenges for America.  Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted in ARTICLES, Change Starters, In History, Leaders

 

REFLECTIONS ON KWANZAA (Part 2 )

Be inspired. Be uplifted.

Kwanzaa is an annual festival celebrated in many African American communities, churches, schools and homes December 26 through January 1.  This ritual was created in 1966 by Dr.  Karenga of California State University, Long Beach, CA.  It is celebrated throughout the USA and around the world and is born of values from Africa.

When the Kwanzaa ritual is celebrated fully there are seven values or principles that are remembered and valued on each of the days of Kwanzaa. They embody the strengths, solidarity, struggles, dignity and hopes and goals of the community.

The 7 Kwanzaa principles are :

Umoja (Unity) To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.
Kujichagulia (Self-determination) To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.
Ujima (Collective work and responsibility) To build and maintain community together and make our sister’s and brother’s problems our problems and to solve them together.
Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)  To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses together.
Nia (Purpose) To make our collective vocation the building of our community to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
Kuumba (Creativity) To do as much as we can to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
Imani (Faith)  To believe with our hearts in our people, our parents,our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness of our struggle.

 

The Kwanzaa seven principles have a universal message for all people – good will. These values stress the importance of uniting people through shared beliefs and acts, resulting in the strengthening and celebration of family, community, and culture.*  Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted in African American Heritage, Winter Holidays

 
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