Thinkabara✊🏾 Black History Month
All of February Grades K–5
Every February, Black History Month celebrates the achievements of African Americans and remembers their long struggle for freedom and equal rights.
📅 Next dates
- Monday, February 1, 2027
- Tuesday, February 1, 2028
📖 The story
In 1926, historian Carter G. Woodson started "Negro History Week" in February, the month of the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. He wanted every school to teach the history of Black Americans, which most textbooks left out.
In 1976, the week grew into a whole month, and President Gerald Ford asked all Americans to honor it. Today schools, libraries and museums use February to learn about leaders, inventors, artists and everyday heroes, from Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass to Katherine Johnson, Ruby Bridges and Martin Luther King Jr.
✨ Traditions
- Reading biographies of Black Americans
- School presentations and "living museums"
- Visiting museums such as the National Museum of African American History and Culture
- Listening to jazz, blues, gospel and hip-hop, music created by Black Americans
✂️ Activities
Living Museum Card
- Choose one person from Black history, such as an inventor, athlete, artist or leader.
- Write three facts about them on a card: when they lived, what they did and why it matters.
- Draw their portrait and present "their" story to your class or family.
Inventions Hunt
- Look up inventions by Black Americans, like the three-light traffic signal (Garrett Morgan), the home security camera system (Marie Van Brittan Brown) or the Super Soaker water gun (Lonnie Johnson).
- Find one of these things at home or at school.
- Make a label that tells who invented or improved it.
Black History Month quiz
Who started the celebration that became Black History Month?
In which month is Black History Month in the United States?
Who was Ruby Bridges?
Which famous leader escaped slavery and led others to freedom on the Underground Railroad?
💭 Let’s write
Choose one person you learned about this month. What would you ask them if you could meet them?
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