Celebrate Black History Month with 5 Classroom Ready Resources!
EDUCATION

Celebrate Black History Month with 5 Classroom Ready Resources!

Teach Black history beyond slavery with these PBS LearningMedia collections.

By Hazel McLaughlin

Celebrate Black History Month in the classroom with PBS LearningMedia! Below are five fantastic classroom ready collections for K-12 educators, including a NEW collection for the latest history series from Henry Louis Gates Jr. Explore everything from culture and literature to computational thinking.

1. Go on Problem Solving Adventures with Lyla in the Loop

(Available in Spanish)

A colorful illustration with the entire Loop family, plus Stu and Everett, smiling. The lower third reads: "Grades K-2"

Lyla collaborates with family and friends to help others in her community while introducing the audience to foundational computational thinking concepts. Use this collection of resources to learn more about computational thinking in everyday life! Through interactive coding games, experiments, printable activity sheets and more, your class will learn how to problem solve just like Lyla and Stu.


2. Celebrate Black History & Culture All Year

(Available in Spanish)

A graphic which reads: "Celebrating Black History & Culture" with "Grades 3-12" in the lower third.

Showcase Black excellence in your classroom through the contributions, achievements, and ideas of Black Americans across literature and mediathe artscivics and history, and STEM! From exploring Harlem in the 1920s to analyzing musical artist H.E.R.’s performance of “Hard Place” at Austin City Limits in 2019, these visually-stunning classroom resources explore the indelible contributions made by Black Americans in our society and aim to inspire educators like you to intentionally include Black stories in all curricula – even long after February is over.


3. Explore the New Collection: Great Migrations: A People on the Move

 

Photo of a Black family (father, mother, young girl) dressed in 1920's fashion walking with luggage toward abstract representations of skyscrapers. The lower third reads: "Grades 6-12"

Explore the transformative impact of Black migration on American culture and society using the latest history series from Henry Louis Gates Jr. From the waves of Black Americans to the North — and back South — over the last century to the growing number of immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean today, these classroom-ready lessons include video segments from the new series, discussion questions, vocabulary, and student-led activities that aim to help facilitate conversation and spark new ways of thinking.


4. Afrofuturism: From Books to Blockbusters

 

Photo of Princess Weekes, Marvel's Black Panther movie poster and the book cover for Binti by Nnedi Okorafor. Text in lower third reads: "Grades 6-12"

Learn how Afrofuturism is more than just “science fiction plus Africa” and about the roots of this important genre using a video from the digital series It’s Lit. Afrofuturism addresses the cultural issues and concerns of the African diaspora through technoculture and science fiction (a la Black Panther).

A black and white photo of Birmingham civil rights leader Fred Shuttlesworth with the title of the documentary "Shuttleworth" in thick, white letters over his head. The lower third reads:"Grades 9-12"

Shuttleworth tells the story of the unknown freedom fighter who started a movement that changed the world. This collection contains a feature-length documentary about civil rights leader Fred Shuttleworth's work in Birmingham as well as additional interviews with community members that lived through segregation and the fight to end it.

TAGGED:history | Black History

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