Black History Month Resources for Educators
Black History Month Resources for Educators
As classrooms and school districts across the nation kick off their 2023 Black History Month celebrations, let us remember the urgency and importance of teaching Black history beyond the month of February. The histories, stories, and voices of Black people should be centered, honored, and uplifted in school curricula every day.
Rooted in the San Diego County Office of Education Equity Blueprint for Action and its foundation of socially conscious leadership, this resource is designed for leaders who seek to serve, inspire, and empower.
SKIP TO SECTION
Elementary Resources Middle and High School Resources For Educators
Socially Conscious Leadership
 Asset-Based Systems |
 Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Instruction |
 Family and Community Voice |
 Student Agency and Voice |
It is our mission to invite educators to explore their own intersecting identities, analyze their mindsets, and hone their skills. We seek to create equity-centered, asset-based systems by implementing and sustaining positive changes that benefit those we serve. Our efforts are focused on creating equitable access with consistently strong outcomes for all students, paying special attention to the needs of historically marginalized populations. This resource guide will center and uplift the struggles, triumphs, and excellence of the Black community by providing information and resources to support the celebration of Black History Month.
Elementary Resources
Curricular Resources
- Classroom Resources for Black History Month, PBS
- Black Lives Matter at School- Early Childhood Resources
- 10 Inspiring Black History Month Activities for Students
- Centering the Intergenerational Black Lives Matter Guiding Principle
- Second Graders Study Activism
- Third Graders Learn about Restorative Justice Through the Civil Rights Movement
- Fourth Graders Discuss ‘Don’t Touch My Hair’
- Freedom Reads: Anti-Bias Book Talk Series
- Black History Month Lessons and Resources
- Black Lives Matter Principle Poster Activity
Video Resources
- I Love My Hair Song (Mando's Spanish Version)
- A Song About Celebrating You!
- Will.i.am Sings "What I Am"
- Black History Month Song for Kids
- Black Lives Matter Protests
- Civil Rights: A Kid-Friendly Explainer
- Kid President Has a Dream!
In order for educators to really value our experience as a Black learner, they have to learn how to value our experience as Black people first.
- San Diego County student
Black History Month Interactive Presentation
Pomona Unified School District shares this interactive Black History Month presentation featuring videos, virtual tours, lesson plans, web-based resources, and much more.
Centering Black Joy
- Don’t Teach Black History Without Joy
- Supporting Black Businesses
- Hair Joy: Celebrating Hair
- Black Panther and Black Superheroes
- Black History Through National Portrait Gallery
- Afrofuturism and Black Joy
- Black Contemporary Artists
- Celebrating Black Abundance and Achievement
If teachers uplifted the joys, inventions, and contributions we’ve made, it would make a huge difference.
- San Diego County student
Nine Picture Books Illuminating Black Joy
- Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut, written by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Gordon C. James
- A Girl Like Me, written by Angela Johnson, illustrated by Nina Crews
- Jayden’s Impossible Garden, written by Mélina Mangal, illustrated by Ken Daley
- Max and the Tag-Along Moon, written and illustrated by Floyd Cooper
- Me & Mama, written and illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera
- Ruby’s Reunion Day Dinner, written by Angela Dalton, illustrated by Jestenia Southerland
- Saturday, written and illustrated by Oge Mora
- Seeing Into Tomorrow: Haiku, by Richard Wright, biography and illustrations by Nina Crews
- The Thing About Bees: A Love Letter, by Shabazz Larkin
17 Middle Grade and YA Books That Spotlight Black Joy
- Rebound by Kwame Alexander
- Clayton Byrd Goes Underground by Rita Garcia-Williams
- The Season of Styx Malone by Kekla Magoon
- From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks
- Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia
- Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks by Jason Reynolds
- Love Double Dutch! by Doreen Spicer-Dannelly
- Shuri: A Black Panther Novel by Nic Stone
- My Life As an Ice Cream Sandwich by Ibi Zoboi
- The Mamba Mentality: How I Play by Kobe Bryant
- A Phoenix First Must Burn: Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope by Patrice Caldwell, ed. Viking
- The Voting Booth by Brandy Colber
- Now That I’ve Found You by Kristina Forest
- Charming As a Verb by Ben Philippe
- All the Things We Never Knew by Liara Tamani
- Given by Nandi Taylor
- Pride by Ibi Zoboi
Middle and High School Resources
Curricular Resources
- Black History Resource Guide for Educators and Families, Center for Racial Justice
- 6 Teaching Tools for Black History Month, Edutopia
- The Who We Are Project
- The 1619 Curriculum Project
- For Our Lives
- Black. Stepping Out from Oppression and Into Power
- Identity and Agency in US History
- African American History Month
- Teaching Black History Month-A Modern Update
- ADL Presents: Black History Month
Video Resources
- Black History is American History, Okalani Dawkins (video below)
- The History of Black History Month, Good Morning America (video below)
I want to see my culture and history represented in the curriculum because it’s important not only for me to learn about my history, but others as well.
- San Diego County student
For Educators
- SDCOE Equity Blueprint for Action
- Young, Gifted and Black - Black Student Experience Panel (video below)
My Ideal Bookshelf has created a graphic illustration of the top books to read to support adults in their anti-racism journey. Check out the book checklist as well as the young adult literature selections as well.
Teaching Resources
- 10 Ideas for Teaching Black History Month
- Teaching for Black Lives
- Black History Month Guide for Teachers and Families
- 6 Teaching Tools for Black History Month
- Talking to Kids About Race and Racism
- Black History Month: Teaching the Complete History
- Black Lives Matter in PHLed
Resources for Families
How to Celebrate Black History Month with Kids
White parents, it's time to do the work honoring Black history
The Black Families' Guide for Talking About Racism
Discussing Intersectionality
- What is Intersectionality? by Kimberlé Crenshaw (video above)
- Teaching About Intersectionality
Queering Black History by Rethinking Schools
Queering Black history means lifting up the stories of Black LGBTQ people. It means resolving that not one more student earns about the I Have a Dream speech without learning about Bayard Rustin, the man who led the planning of the March on Washington — at least not on our watch. It means really learning about him: knowing his contributions to the Civil Rights Movement, reading Time on Two Crosses right next to The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr., having discussions in our classrooms and on our social media about Letter from a Birmingham Jail while also discussing why Bayard Rustin too was arrested, how he was relegated to the background by his peers, and what we must do to prevent that from ever again happening in the Black freedom movement.
Additional Reading
- Black Stats
- Teaching for Black Lives
- In All Lanes
- The Politics of Black Joy
- Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome
- Young Gifted and Black
- Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?
- RATCHETDEMIC - Reimagining Academic Success
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