Black History Month Teaching Resources
Black History Month Teaching Resources
Resources for teaching Black history with more range than the same three biographies: primary sources, cause and consequence, and units that still work in April once the display has come down.
Browse history units →Resources that fit
History units worth teaching in February
These are full teaching units rather than one-off activities, and none of them expire when the month does; tap any cover for the full preview, contents and price.
“I Have a Dream” Speech – Rhetoric, Civil Rights & Equality | Martin Luther King Jr. Analysis Workbook | GRADE 5–9
Martin Luther King, Jr. – Civil Rights, Equality & Nonviolence | Social Studies Workbook | GRADE 5–9
Black American History Month - Complete Teaching Bundle
Diversity in Society – Opportunities, Challenges & Social Transformation
Prejudice, Discrimination and Moral Courage – Ethics Unit: Worksheets, Projects & Slides (Grades 6–9)
Why teachers use these
Why teachers plan this in advance
February has a way of arriving with an assembly, a display and a request for something for the newsletter, usually landing on whoever taught it last year. Students notice when they meet the same three biographies in fourth grade, sixth grade and ninth grade. Planning ahead lets you build something with real historical thinking in it, and a finished unit means the slides and the tiered reading are already done when the request comes.
What's covered
What each download contains
A sequence you can actually teach, not a display pack.
- Reading at four difficulty levels
- Editable slides for the lesson
- Answer keys for each task
- Lesson plan with timings
- Printable and digital versions
Make it work for everyone
Differentiation and evidence of thinking
Source work is where reading level usually stops a lesson. Having the same source at four levels keeps a whole class arguing about the same evidence instead of splitting into a reading group and an activity group. Written responses are the real assessment here, so keep a few and use them when you report on historical reasoning rather than recall.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
How do I avoid teaching the same content every year?
Change the question rather than the figure. A class that met Rosa Parks in elementary school can look at the Montgomery bus boycott as an organizing problem, or at who decided which case would be the test case. Vertical planning with the grade levels above and below you helps more than hunting for new names.
Should I only teach this in February or October?
No, and most teachers find the month works best as a spotlight on something already in the curriculum. Use it to go deeper on a unit you teach anyway, and keep Black history in your regular sequence the rest of the year rather than treating it as an annual event with a start and end date.
How do I handle difficult material with younger students?
Give context before conflict. With grades 3 to 5, lead with community, achievement and everyday life, then introduce injustice through the response to it rather than through the violence itself. Because every file is editable Word, you can cut an image or reword a source the night before, which beats improvising mid-lesson.
Plan February before February
Browse the history units and pick something you would be glad to teach in any month of the year.
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