Black History Month is observed each February, but Black history belongs in instruction throughout the school year. A thoughtful approach moves beyond isolated facts and famous figures to examine Black experiences, achievements, ideas, and communities across subjects and periods.
Review materials before teaching
Check whose perspectives are centered, whether sources distinguish evidence from interpretation, and whether lessons portray Black people only through oppression. Include primary sources and work by Black historians, writers, artists, scientists, and community members. Use the terms people use for themselves and provide context for historical language.
Connect Black history across the curriculum
- English language arts: Pair literary works with their historical and cultural settings rather than treating one text as representative of every Black experience.
- Social studies: Teach local history, civic participation, migration, economic life, and cultural movements alongside civil rights and slavery.
- Science and mathematics: Examine contributions and careers without reducing people to brief “firsts.” Connect individuals’ work to the concepts students are learning.
- Arts: Study movements, techniques, and influence while crediting artists and communities accurately.
Build inquiry around primary sources
Photographs, speeches, letters, oral histories, maps, newspapers, and public records let students ask who created a source, for what audience, and what other evidence is needed. Prepare students for difficult material, avoid simulations of enslavement or discrimination, and do not ask Black students to speak for a group.
Make room for local voices
Libraries, museums, historical societies, families, and community organizations can help students connect national themes to nearby people and places. Establish the purpose and permissions before inviting a guest or using a community story.
Keep the work going after February
Audit the full-year curriculum: whose work appears, who has agency, which periods receive attention, and where students encounter contemporary Black life. Then identify specific units where stronger sources and perspectives belong. The goal is not to add a disconnected February activity; it is to teach a more complete account of every subject.