"History is people's memory and without a memory, man is demoted to the level of lower animals."
--- Malcolm X
"Not having been taught black history -- except for the once-a-year hanging up of the pictures of Booker
Washington, George Washington Carver, and Mary McLeod Bethune that marked Negro History Week -- we did not know how
much of the riches of America we had missed."
--- Alice Walker, author
of The Color Purple
The quilt of America's rich history includes patches from many peoples and many cultures. Black Americans are featured
in abundance on that quilt. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Louis Armstrong are there. Harriet Tubman and Langston Hughes
are too. Rosa Parks and Chuck Berry. Barbara Jordan and Muhammed Ali. Without their inclusion, America's quilt would
lack color, texture, life….
This month -- February, Black History Month -- is a time when many teachers draw special attention to the contributions
of black Americans to "America's quilt." Whatever grade the students are in, teachers can find plenty of rich Black
History resources on the Internet -- Web sites that can help students everywhere "stitch together" a portrait of the
African-American experience.
Today, Education World takes a brief look at some of the best Internet sites for students of Black History. Creative teachers will find valuable, adaptable resources at all of these
sites.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH SITES FOR PRIMARY STUDENTS
Primary teachers, don't miss this site! My favorite site for young children is the Kids
Zone Web site from AFRO-Americ@'s Black History Museum Web pages. Kids Zone pages include a "Discover Africa" page.
Here you'll find a large map of Africa. Click on many of the countries to learn fun facts about the geography and people
of those countries.
At Kids Zone, you'll also find myths and fables -- from Trinidad, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Angola, and more. Of course,
those stories include a couple folk tales from Anansi, most kids' favorite spider! Each story is beautifully illustrated.
You might use the stories as listening activities. (Or you might just read and enjoy!) Check out a folk tale from
Trinidad, How Monkey Looked for Trouble.
Read the story to your students, or let them log on to the site and read it to themselves. Then ask the questions
below to check students' comprehension:
What was the woman carrying to market?
(a gourd full of coconut cakes)
What trouble did she have on her way to market?
(She stubbed her toe on a rock and dropped her
coconut cakes.)
What did Monkey tell the shopkeeper he wanted
to buy? (some trouble)
What was in the bag the shopkeeper gave to
Monkey? (three fierce dogs)
Where did Monkey go to escape his trouble?
(He climbed a tree.)
According to the tale, why do monkeys still
live in trees today? (To stay away from trouble!)
THINKING QUESTIONS (Answers will vary.)
Can you think of another good title that the
author might have used for this story?
What do you think is the lesson of this story?
Kids Zone provides a Black History Quiz too -- the perfect conclusion to your Black History study.
Of course, reading is central to any primary teacher's curriculum. Your school and local libraries are probably
full of great picture books related to the black experience. Collect a variety of picture books to share with students
and to have in your classroom. Be sure to include geography and biography picture books -- with real photos!
"All children deserve to see positive images of children like themselves in the books they read," says Kay E. Vandergrift
in the introduction to her Powerful
African-American Images Revealed in Picture Books Web page. Vandergrift provides a long, long list of titles,
and has made a "special effort to find realistic stories and images, rather than only folk tales and legends..."
BLACK HISTORY MONTH SITES FOR MIDDLE LEVEL STUDENTS
Teachers in grades 3-8 have a wide variety of excellent Internet sites to draw from. Be sure to check out the Stamp
on Black History site, mentioned in the primary section above, if you're looking for bios of famous black Americans.
If it's black history you're looking for, be sure to see the Black
History Tour that is part of that site.
Two other sites for middle graders are worthy of mention -- and they both tap the resources of well-known encyclopedias.
If I had to pick a favorite, mine would be The
Brittanica Guide to Black History. Your choice might be different. This site hooks me because I'm a big fan of
using timelines to teach history (see Timelines:
Timeless Teaching Tools, a January LESSON PLANNING story on Education World). Click on Brittanica's "Black History
Timeline" for a superb resource. Scroll this lengthy timeline from 1517 to the present. Along the way, connect to
Brittanica stories about important people, places, and events. An excellent way to learn!
Looking for additional sites to interest your students? Some other sites for middle graders:
National Civil Rights Museum
Take a virtual museum tour! Learn about the events and meet the people who were involved in landmark events such
as the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the Montgomery bus boycott, the march on Washington, the Selma-Montgomery
march, and more.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH SITES FOR UPPER LEVEL STUDENTS
All the sites in the two sections above provide valuable information that high-schoolers can use. But a couple targeted
sites deserve special mention.
From the Library of Congress comes an excellent Web site, The
African-American Mosaic. This site is a guide to primary source materials related to the black American experience.
The exhibit covers only four topics: Colonization, Abolition, Migrations, and the WPA. The materials available illustrate
the breadth of the LOC collection. Students can link to all sorts of interesting primary source materials, just a
handful of which are listed below:
The African Intelligencer, a newspaper published in July 1820 by the American Colonization Society.
A sermon delivered in 1791 by Jonathan Edwards, Jr., in which he forcefully argues against ten common pro-slavery
positions.
The Slave's Friend, published monthly for children by the American Anti-Slavery Society; an 1836 issue
includes abolitionist poems, songs, and stories.
A bar graph from the eleventh census shows the percentage of whites and blacks for 16 states at each census from
1790 to 1890.
A copy of a 1950 Bureau of Census map shows the distribution of the black population, which at that time accounted
for about 11 percent of the U.S. population.
Another excellent site worth checking out:
AFRO-Americ@'s Black History Museum site
offers interactive exhibits that explore in detail the topics of slavery, the Tuskegee Airmen, Jackie Robinson,
the Black Panther party, and more.
HAVE YOU SEEN THESE LESSONS ON EDUCATION WORLD?
Before moving along to other Internet sites of interest, be sure to see dozens of lesson planning ideas in Education
World's Black History Month Archive.
Black History 101.1. Booker T. Washington, 2. Sojourner Truth, 3. Rosa Parks, 4.
George Washington Carver, 5. Harriet Tubman, 6. Mae Jemison, 7. Frederick Douglass, 8.
Thurgood Marshall, 9. Jackie Robinson, 10. Jesse Owens.
Black History 102.1. Nat Turner, 2. Bessie Coleman, 3. Scott Joplin, 4. Roberto
Clemente, 5. Louis Armstrong, 6. Arthur Ashe, 7. Ida Wells-Barnett, 8. Benjamin Banneker,
9. Joe Louis, 10. Langston Hughes.
Black History 103.1. Jan Matzeliger, 2. Chuck Berry, 3. Leontyne Price, 4. Shirley
Chisholm, 5. Malcolm X, 6. Duke Ellington, 7. Barbara Jordan, 8. W.E.B. DuBois, 9.
Medger Evers, 10. Ralph Bunche.
Black History 104.1. Joseph Rainey, 2. Elijah McCoy, 3. Crispus Attucks, 4.
Mary Terrell, 5. Mary McLeod Bethune, 6. Madame C.J. Walker, 7. Jean-Baptist-Point DuSable, 8.
Carter C. Woodson, 9. Charles Drew, 10. Paul Robeson.
ADDITIONAL WEB SITES OF INTEREST
The Anacostia Museum
Online exhibitions include The Meaning of Kwanzaa; Juneteenth Freedom Revisited; The Real McCoy: African American
Invention and Innovation 1619-1930; and Climbing Jacob's Ladder: The Rise of Black Churches in Eastern American Cities
1740-1877.
The Internet African-American History Challenge
Read essays about the twelve black Americans featured on the 1998 Blackfax Calendar (some familiar and some not so)
and take a quiz after reading!
Black History on
the Internet