Beverly Fordham's List: Black History Month

"Watch Reading Rockets' interviews with celebrated African American children's
book authors and illustrators, and children's literature historian, Leonard
Marcus, who talks about the history of multicultural children's books in the
U.S. from the 1960s onward.






Watch the clip "Family history" from our interview with writer Jacqueline
Woodson.



Watch full
interview




Ashley Bryan



Bryan Collier



Christopher Paul Curtis



Nikki Giovanni



Nikki Grimes



E.B. Lewis



Leonard Marcus



Patricia and Frederick McKissack



Christopher Myers



Walter Dean Myers



Kadir Nelson



Jerry Pinkney



Charles R. Smith, Jr.



Jacqueline Woodson



African
American Poets
(Poets.org)
Find links to African-American poets, books,
and lesson plans for understanding and writing poetry.


Gwendolyn Brooks and "We Real Cool"
(Poets.org)
The
Pulitzer Prize winning-poet Gwendolyn Brooks wrote about African American life
in the city. At this website you can listen as she reads her famous poem "We
Real Cool."


African
American Women Writers of the 19th Century
(The Schomburg Center)
This
website contains a digital collection of some 52 published works by 19th-century
black women writers.


Paul Laurence Dunbar

(University of Dayton)
Born in 1872 in Dayton, Ohio, Paul Laurence Dunbar was
the first African-American to gain national stature as a poet. Visit this
website to hear more than 40 of his poems read aloud by the foremost interpreter
of his works.


StoryCorps Griot

A 'griot' is a storyteller in western
Africa who keeps alive the oral tradition and history of a village or family.
The StoryCorps Griot Project is a special initiative that is gathering and
preserving the life stories of African American families.





Recommended children's books



A Celebration of Black History Month



Favorite Books for Black History Month



The Things We Share: Themes for Black History Month



Heroes



Standing Tall



Books for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day



The Coretta Scott King Book Awards
(American Library
Association)




Activities for the classroom, home, and the community


The
National African American Read-In
(NCTE)
The National Council of Teachers
of English asks schools, churches, libraries, bookstores, community and
professional organizations, and interested citizens to make literacy a
significant part of Black History Month by hosting and coordinating Read-Ins in
their communities.

Find more
ideas for Read-In activities
at ReadWriteThink.


Embracing
Black History
(PBS Parents)
Browse this collection of booklists and
activities that celebrate culture and family and teach diversity — such as
growing a family tree, planning a family reunion, or making African vegetable
stew with Maya and Miguel. Also from PBS Kids,
Jazz
Greats
.


Celebrate
African American Heritage
(Scholastic)
This website offers a
comprehensive collection of classroom resources including lesson plans, book
excerpts, author interviews, information about civil rights leaders, scientists,
explorers, musicians, athletes, and little-known African Americans innovators
and achievers.


Culture & Change: Black History in America

(Scholastic)
Meet famous African Americans, listen to jazz music, publish
your own writing, and explore history with the interactive timeline.


The Underground Railroad
(National Geographic)
Take an
interactive journey on the Underground Railroad and learn more about the "faces
of freedom" — including Frederick Douglass and lesser-known activists like
Jermain Loguen and William Still. This new site also includes a timeline, maps
about the Underground Railroad, and more teaching resources.


African
American History Month for Teachers
(Library of Congress)
Put the power
of primary sources to work in the classroom. Browse ready-to-use lesson plans,
student activities, collection guides, and research aids.


Library Activity Ideas
(Programming Librarian)
Find out
what libraries across the country are doing to celebrate African-American
History Month.


Stamp on Black History
(Programming Librarian)
The Postal
Service has issued Black History-related stamps to commemorate black men and
women who have contributed to America's history and who have made a difference.
In 1940, Booker T. Washington became the first black American to be honored on a
U.S. postage stamp. Learn more and try the stamp quiz and other activities.


Rosa Parks Bus
(Henry Ford Museum)
Learn more about Rosa
Parks and her brave actions on December 1, 1955, the story behind the bus, and a
chronology of the Civil Rights movement.


Stories to Tell: Curating an African-American History
Exhibit
(New York Times Learning Network)
Given that history is composed
of many interwoven stories, how do curators and other historians decide which
stories to tell? How can key historical events, people, places and themes best
be represented in a meaningful, engaging exhibit to teach others? In this
lesson, students consider the messages sent by artifacts and then develop an
African-American history exhibit.


African-American Negro
Baseball League

Are you a baseball fan? Visit the website for the
African-American Negro Baseball League Museum to learn about the league's
history, players, and teams.


Family Stories

Children can learn about family heritage at the same time they are improving
their literacy skills. Using family-based writing projects, you can build a
connection with parents, and help children see the value in their own heritage
and in the diversity around them.


Community
Stories

Literacy activities can take on a new meaning when students are
reading and writing about their own community. Children learn the true value of
print when they document the oral histories of the elders in their
town.




People and events


Celebrate Black History Month
(The History Channel)
This
multimedia site includes a brief overview of the civil rights struggle,
biographies of key players, and video clips of Martin Luther King, Jr., Muhammad
Ali, and other famous Americans.


The Martin Luther
King, Jr. Papers Project
(Stanford University)
A collection of multimedia
information about Martin Luther King, Jr., with a special section for teachers
that includes lesson plans, an interactive timeline, and an extensive civil
rights encyclopedia.


Rosa Parks
(The Academy of Achievement)
This website
includes video and audio clips of the civil rights pioneer.


Meet
Amazing Americans
(Library of Congress)
A great introduction to famous
Americans, this website offers energetically written stories about Frederick
Douglass, W.E.B. DuBois, and Duke Ellington among others.


Cathay Williams, Female Buffalo Soldier

She was born a
slave, but once the Civil War ended Cathay Williams didn't want to be dependent
on either family or friends. So in 1866, she joined the U.S. Army disguised as a
man and became the only known female Buffalo Soldier.




Guides to black history


African American World
(PBS)
This extensive site features
an interview with Ruby Bridges Hall, who describes what it was like, as a six
year old, to become the first African American child to desegregate an
elementary school. The site also offers "Visual Voices," which includes
striking photos of Martin Luther King Jr. being arrested, the Tuskegee Airmen,
and others.


African
American History Resources
(Library of Congress)
This site celebrates the
contributions of African Americans throughout U.S. history. Learn about Harriet
Tubman, John Hope Franklin, the Tuskegee Airmen, African Americans in the
military, African American band music and recordings, and the Emancipation
Proclamation. Find a number of primary documents and resources for teachers.


African
American Odyssey
(Library of Congress)
This site showcases the African
American collections of the Library of Congress. Displaying more than 240 items,
including books, government documents, manuscripts, maps, musical scores, plays,
films, and recordings, this is the largest black history exhibit ever held at
the Library of Congress.


Black
History Month
(InfoPlease)
In addition to historical information, this
site offers links to contemporary issues as well as quizzes and crossword
puzzles that can be used in the classroom.


Guide to Black
History
(Encyclopedia Brittanica)
This site includes an extensive
timeline, audio and video clips, and biographies.


Black
History Month
(Biography)
This multimedia site examine the lives of
African-Americans who have made extraordinary achievements in their fields,
including inventors such as George Washington Carver; activists like Malcolm X
and Rosa Parks; athletes such as Willie Mays and Michael Jordan; and
entertainers like Bessie Smith and Oprah Winfrey.




Television programs


Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson

(PBS)
Jack Johnson — the first African-American Heavyweight Champion of the
World, whose dominance over his white opponents spurred furious debates and
race riots in the early 20th century — enters the ring once again in this PBS
documentary by acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns. The website includes a teacher's
guide.


Slavery and the
Making of America
(PBS)
The first slaves were bought in 1619, the last
freed in 1865. In the intervening 250 years, slaves labored to make America
what it is today. This television series was produced by WNET. The website
includes a K-12 Learning section.


Citizen King

(PBS)
This program, part of the American Experience series on PBS,
pushes past the myths that have obscured Martin Luther King's story to reclaim
the history of a people's leader. Using the personal recollections, diaries,
letters, and eyewitness accounts of friends, family, journalists, law
enforcement officers and historians, this film brings fresh insights to King's
difficult journey, his charismatic — if at times flawed — leadership, and his
truly remarkable impact. The website includes a teacher's guide.


Eyes
on the Prize
(PBS)
The landmark documentary series. Through contemporary
interviews and historical footage, the series covers all of the major events of
the civil rights movement from 1954 to 1985. On the extensive website you'll
find a wealth of ideas for classroom activities at different grade
levels.











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