RasGuides: Black History Month: Activities and Information

National Park Service: War for Freedom

African Americans in the Era of the Civil War
In the four years of the American Civil War, the United States began to redeem itself from the 250-year-long tragedy of slavery. On the battlefields of that war, and in the buildings, artifacts, documents, and stories they contain, four million African Americans won their freedom. These sites, many of which have been preserved by the National Park Service, eloquently testify to the nation’s “rebirth of freedom.”

Smithsonian Museums and Educational Resources

Smithsonian Education Black History Teaching Resources
Each year, the Smithsonian Institution honors Black History Month with a calendar full of activities. Visit the Black History Month web site each February for more information!
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
Black History Month exhibitions, events, projects, and additional information from the NMAAHC.
Smithsonian National Museum of African Art
The Smithsonian National Museum of African Art "fosters the discovery and appreciation of the visual arts of Africa, the cradle of humanity."

Library of Congress Themed Resources on Civil Rights

African American History Month for Teachers
Put the power of primary sources to work in the classroom when celebrating Black History Month each February! Browse a wide variety of ready-to-use lesson plans, student activities, collection guides, and research aids.
Jim Crow and Segregation
Start here for historical context about Jim Crow, teaching suggestions, links to online resources, and more!
Library of Congress Civil Rights
Explore the fight for voting rights as well as the racial history of the United States of America in sports and schools. Study maps, baseball cards, and political cartoons -- in addition to pamphlets, legal documents, poetry, music, and the personal correspondence and oral histories of the famous and the ordinary.
The NAACP: A Century in the Fight for Freedom
Start here for historical context about the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, teaching suggestions, links to online resources, and more!

National Endowment for the Humanities

Crafting Freedom
This user-friendly resource on the African-American experience during the era of slavery features the following: Ready-to-use lesson plans, videos, PDF slide shows, teacher tools, and student handouts. They bridge the gap between the expanding scholarship on the 19th-century black experience and the need for this history to be more widely understood. Nine African Americans are the focus of the site. Their dramatic stories of courage and ingenuity bring critical themes to life.

Books by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Check for these books in your local public library:

Strength to Love. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1963. This is a collection of Dr. King’s most requested sermons.

Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1958. Dr. King’s first book; the story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the beginning of the Nonviolent Civil Rights Movement.

The Trumpet of Conscience. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1968. (Foreword by Coretta Scott King.) This book is taken from the 1967 Massey Lectures which King gave through the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. King addresses issues including the Vietnam War, youth and civil disobedience and concludes with the “Christmas Sermon for Peace.”

Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1967. An assessment of America’s priorities and a warning that they need to be re-ordered.

Why We Can’t Wait. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1963. The essential writings of Martin Luther King, Jr. , James M. Washington, ed.