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African American History & Heroes

As January nears its close, our attention shifts towards Black History Month, but not before first celebrating baseball legend Jackie Robinson. Born on January 31, 1919, Jackie became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB). Share more about this African American hero with your students, and bring history and other heroes to life, in your classroom!

Grades 4-8

Jackie Robinson - Breaking Barriers in Sports and in Life

Take your students back to 1947, the year that Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball. Use these lessons to help students conquer their own barriers. This site includes lessons, printables, book lists, and more. Standards are included!

Grades K-4

They Had a Dream Too

This unit shares the stories of dozens of famous people who have overcome varying obstacles. The unit can be used as part of Black History Month or in any context when studying obstacles and accomplishments. Explore the lesson plans and activity ideas.

Grades 6-12

Baseball and Jackie Robinson

Peruse the various lesson plans, class activities, and other resources. Standards are included. There are pictures of early teams, documentation on Robinson's entry into the big leagues, and information about primary sources.

Grades K-12

Black History Month Resources

Here you will find several lesson plans and resources that cover a variety of topics: Civil Rights, racial discrimination, race in current events, and more. Use these resources to help differentiate content during Black History Month.

Slavery, Emancipation, Civil Rights, & More

Explore this eclectic collection spotlighting various historical topics related to Civil Rights and slavery. Don't miss the classroom use ideas shared with each review!

Grades 6-12

Civil Rights History Project

View the personal video interviews of Civil Rights activists from the 1950s and 1960s. Each person interviewed is also a member of The Freedom Movement. Learn about what led to their role in the Civil Rights movement. Share videos on your projector.

Grades 8-12

Civil Rights Timeline

NewseumED offers this unique interactive timeline that uses primary source news articles and photographs, with explanations. Learn about the events covering American's civil rights from 1791 - 1969. Have cooperative groups research events and share.

Grades K-12

CurriConnects Book List: Civil War and Slavery

As you study the Civil War and slavery, let students select books from this collection of fiction and historical fiction. Help students to make a more personal connection to the people who lived during those tumultuous times. Share the list on your site.

Grades 9-12

Visualizing Emancipation

Share this map based resource with your older students. View the date and place of hundreds of discrete events, documents, and artifacts from 1861-1865 all of which relate to the end of slavery. Don't miss the lesson plans (standards included).

Cool Tools for Project Options

As your students learn about history and research events of the past and present, have them work from this collection of tools to share what they have learned. This medley of ed tech offers creative alternatives for traditional reports.

Grades K-12

ReClipped

Use this tool for you or your students to share portions of online videos, with the ability to add notes and markers. Create interactive lessons using videos related to African American history. Add your own questions and notes for students to follow.

Grades 5-12

Quizlet Diagram Maker

Create and share diagrams using annotation tools, map locations, images, and definitions. This would be a great tool to show locations of Civil Rights events, the route of the Underground Railroad, or the birth locations of famous African Americans.

Grades 2-12

Fake Text Message

What would Rosa Parks send in her text message to a friend about events in her life? Use this tool to create images that appear to be screenshots of text messages. After researching a person from history, create fictional text messages from him/her.

This Week at TeachersFirst

We have excellent (and free) professional learning opportunities for you this week! Join us on Tuesday at 7pm ET for our weekly virtual workshop; this week's topic is Comics in the Classroom. Join us a few days later on Thursday at 8 pm ET for an engaging Twitter chat focused on how to prepare for Digital Learning Day. And our weekly poll, related to Black History Month, awaits your participation as well!