Whether or not your youngster can recite from reminiscence the names and philosophies of leaders like W.E.B. Du Bois and Angela Davis, or they want an introduction to the pivotal Black figures who’ve helped form our nation, Black Historical past Month presents a priceless alternative for kids to be taught and develop.

After all, consciousness and appreciation of Black historical past and tradition, together with racial justice, are related all 12 months lengthy when elevating kids in a multicultural society. However, with classes about race and systemic racism being threatened in colleges(Opens in a brand new window) throughout many states — typically in affiliation with nationwide dialog surrounding Crucial Race Principle — Black historical past can typically be carelessly (or deliberately) ignored.

You may bridge these gaps in schooling and bolster your kids’s studying with digital assets. Those under characterize a wide range of instruments from nationwide museums and academic nonprofits, created to coach and interact kids in Black historical past and tradition by way of interactive occasions, entertaining movies, and content material that profile Black visionaries and leaders. Whether or not you are a guardian or a instructor, head on over to those web sites to spark kids’s curiosity or proceed their schooling.

1. Widespread Sense Media

Widespread Sense(Opens in a brand new window), a nonprofit that helps dad and mom and academics select applicable children’ media and expertise, has its personal Have a good time Black Voices(Opens in a brand new window) web page for academic media and actions for all ages. The web site acts as a information for locating content material on-line, which implies it contains each free and paid assets. Widespread Sense says its objective this month is to “spotlight the various tradition, achievements, and experiences of Black folks and the highly effective voices which have formed historical past.” 

Widespread Sense factors households to its “Black Historical past on the Display” lists, which compile Widespread Sense-approved media highlighting well-known Black icons or cultural moments. The media covers a wide range of topics, together with STEM(Opens in a brand new window); Arts,(Opens in a brand new window) Enterprise & Tradition(Opens in a brand new window); Dance, Video games & Sports activities(Opens in a brand new window); and Activism, Civics & Social Justice(Opens in a brand new window). Households can look by way of Widespread Sense’s checklist of Black TV classics(Opens in a brand new window), as properly. There are accompanying movies(Opens in a brand new window) with every checklist, which embrace age ranges for the choices. 

Widespread Sense additionally suggests dad and mom take a look at its ebook lists on Black historical past, which embrace ones for preschoolers and little children(Opens in a brand new window), “huge children” and tweens(Opens in a brand new window), and teenagers(Opens in a brand new window). The books span fiction and nonfiction, and embrace classics alongside modern novels.

Lastly, the group has revealed its personal educating assets for households and educators, together with a information to reflecting on Black historical past as a household(Opens in a brand new window), free studying actions for Black Historical past Month(Opens in a brand new window), and academic, kid-friendly movies and podcasts(Opens in a brand new window) about Black historical past and tradition.

2. The Nationwide Museum of African American Historical past and Tradition

The one nationwide museum devoted solely to the documentation of “African American life, historical past, and tradition,” factors dad and mom of younger kids to its annual Black Historical past Month programming(Opens in a brand new window), together with the weekly Friday sequence, NMAAHC Children Studying Collectively(Opens in a brand new window). This month contains Black character celebrations, which mix dialogue of optimistic representations in films and TV with real-life arts, tradition, and science, in addition to visitor audio system. They’re held just about each Friday all through February at 11 a.m. ET.

For 2022’s celebration, and to honor the earlier 12 months’s theme of Black well being and wellness, the museum put collectively a searchable on-line exhibit(Opens in a brand new window) about Black communities and public well being, together with explanations of the “Tuskegee Experiment”(Opens in a brand new window) and Henrietta Lacks(Opens in a brand new window). The exhibit stays obtainable on-line.

The museum additionally suggests dad and mom and educators reap the benefits of the museum’s Speaking about Race(Opens in a brand new window) on-line portal to assist kids perceive key matters like methods to be anti-racist(Opens in a brand new window) and why the concept of race is such a dominant drive in our world(Opens in a brand new window). There are much more assets for early childhood schooling(Opens in a brand new window) on the museum’s web site, as properly.

3. New York Public Library

The New York Public Library(Opens in a brand new window) runs a Little Learners video sequence(Opens in a brand new window), which presents music, artwork, and tradition programming together with movies on Black historical past and tradition by music and social justice artist Fyütch(Opens in a brand new window), in addition to content material exploring different cultures from world wide. The library additionally encourages dad and mom and their kids to take a look at its Early Literacy hub(Opens in a brand new window), which presents free packages, books, and different assets for younger learners and households.

You’ll find extra Black Historical past Month programming on the library’s on-line calendar(Opens in a brand new window). 

4. PBS

PBS has a number of on-line assets(Opens in a brand new window), categorized by age, to show children about Black Historical past and anti-racism. For instance, dad and mom of children ages 2 to five can use PBS’ drawing exercise(Opens in a brand new window) to assist their kids perceive the facility of advocacy and mirror on the instances they stood up for somebody. They’ll additionally take into consideration and write down the traits of nice heroes with a printable work web page(Opens in a brand new window). Afterward, check out PBS’ Inquiries to Ask Your Little one(Opens in a brand new window) to have interaction your child in a dialogue about Black heroes. You may ask them questions like, “What Black function fashions helped to make the world a greater place?”

Youngsters 6 by way of 8 can watch animated movies about Black folks whose accomplishments secured them a spot within the historical past books. For instance, take a look at scientist and inventor George Washington Carver(Opens in a brand new window), who invented greater than 300 merchandise from peanuts, and author Zora Neale Hurston(Opens in a brand new window), whose work explored Black folks’s tales within the South(Opens in a brand new window). After watching the movies, discover PBS’ supplemental actions, like colorfully illustrated PDFs you possibly can obtain(Opens in a brand new window) that encourage kids to share their very own tales like Hurston did.

As a part of PBS’ anti-racism assets, educators can use PBS’ “Making a Caring Classroom Group” hub(Opens in a brand new window) to learn to nurture a caring classroom, train college students to have a good time variety, and speak about why racism hurts. You may kick off a category with this video(Opens in a brand new window) from the present Arthur that teaches children about racism.

5. Smithsonian Institute Studying Lab

Along with partnering with the Nationwide Museum of African American Historical past and Tradition, the Smithsonian Institute(Opens in a brand new window) hosts its interactive Studying Lab, an internet useful resource for college kids, academics, dad and mom, and the casually curious. The web site contains Studying Lab collections(Opens in a brand new window) — digital variations of museum reveals created by professionals.

Dad and mom and kids can also use the Smithsonian Studying Lab’s on-line lesson(Opens in a brand new window) discussing Black Historical past Month by way of the histories of essential Black figures and Black artwork, that includes works from the Nationwide Portrait Gallery. The guided presentation takes kids by way of the fundamentals of artwork, exhibits well-known portraits with accompanying biographies, and contains questions and actions on the finish. The exercise is appropriate for all ages.

Different collections embrace classes and picture galleries created utilizing objects and reveals from the museum’s archives, like Music and Sound(Opens in a brand new window), that includes well-known Black musicians, and Hair Pleasure,(Opens in a brand new window) a group of photos showcasing Black hairstyles and historical past.

6. Scholastic Magazines+

Scholastic Magazines+(Opens in a brand new window), which presents each paid and free educating assets in affiliation with Scholastic books, revealed a free, nonfiction story assortment(Opens in a brand new window) for younger readers to be taught extra about Black historical past and tradition. The tales are appropriate for grades 1-12.

The nonfiction assets are “devoted to courageous males, girls and kids who’ve made a huge impact on the world,” in keeping with the web site, and share the tales of Black leaders like ballerina Misty Copeland(Opens in a brand new window) and pilot Bessie Coleman(Opens in a brand new window).

Every historical past lesson is paired with educating assets like narrated movies for younger kids, close-reading questions, and vocabulary classes. Together with the tales, Scholastic additionally has an accompanying video sequence interviewing younger Black entrepreneurs(Opens in a brand new window) who’ve based nonprofits, clothes firms, and a coding academy.

You should definitely additionally take a look at Scholastic Journal’s StoryWorks sequence celebrating Black voices(Opens in a brand new window), full with educating assets to accompany every story, and the Black Historical past Month Studying Checklist(Opens in a brand new window) — take the time to go to your native library free of charge copies.

7. Nationwide Training Affiliation

The Nationwide Training Affiliation(Opens in a brand new window), a community of educators and professionals working in public schooling, has its personal Black Historical past Month hub(Opens in a brand new window) stuffed with free, on-line actions created by members and different organizations, like Scholastic books, PBS, and Studying for Justice(Opens in a brand new window). Actions embrace historical past classes, quizzes, and printable workout routines like crosswords, in addition to lesson plans for educators.

The actions are simply divided by grade degree, from kindergarten to twelfth grade. Every grade degree is supplied with numerous classes throughout an array of topics, together with science, artwork, and even sports activities. It is a terrific, curated checklist to start out searching for extra methods to have interaction your kids.

8. The New York Occasions Studying Community

The New York Occasions Studying Community(Opens in a brand new window) is a educating useful resource for educators (in addition to college students or dad and mom) that includes present information and historical past. The web site contains lesson plans, actions, and articles curated for educators utilizing the New York Occasions content material.

The publication has a two-part sequence on Black Historical past Month known as Black Historical past, Continued(Opens in a brand new window), by which the Occasions dives deep into understudied moments and highlights of Black historical past and tradition(Opens in a brand new window). The second a part of the sequence(Opens in a brand new window) features a lesson plan that expands on the historical past contained within the Continued sequence, offering dialogue questions and alternatives to “mirror on the significance of celebrating ignored or under-appreciated features of the American expertise,” in keeping with the Studying Community.

The web site additionally has actions for teenagers and older college students, like the coed opinion exercise How A lot Have You Discovered About Black Historical past?(Opens in a brand new window) The article and accompanying questions ask younger folks to mirror on how Black historical past is taught in their very own colleges, what matters they’d wish to cowl which might be at present overlooked, and the way present curricula ought to change.

9. Black Historical past Month Official Web site 

The official touchdown web page(Opens in a brand new window) for the federal recognition of Black Historical past Month has revealed an extended checklist of studying assets(Opens in a brand new window) for academics, dad and mom, and people in search of a broad take a look at Black historical past in the USA. The checklist makes use of archives and digital schooling websites put collectively by authorities organizations just like the Library of Congress, the Nationwide Endowment for the Humanities, the Nationwide Gallery of Artwork, and even the Nationwide Parks Service. 

These assets embrace picture galleries (like this assortment celebrating icons of the Harlem Renaissance(Opens in a brand new window)), articles(Opens in a brand new window) and studying actions(Opens in a brand new window), and even eBooks(Opens in a brand new window). 

This checklist is a non-exhaustive instance of the plethora of free assets(Opens in a brand new window) obtainable on-line, 12 months spherical. Whichever digital useful resource you employ to discover and have a good time Black historical past and tradition along with your children or college students — in February and past — it will possibly assist construct a basis for a extra educated and anti-racist future.

UPDATE: Feb. 8, 2022, 7:00 p.m. EST This story was initially revealed in February 2021 and was up to date with new info and to incorporate extra assets in February 2022.

UPDATE: Feb. 3, 2023, 11:57 a.m. EST This story was up to date with new info in honor of Black Historical past Month 2023.