black history for kids Archives

Elementary Frederick Douglass History Lesson for Kids

January 18, 2022 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Frederick Douglass was one of the most vocal and eloquent anti-slavery activists in American history.

His own life story is fascinating, but what he went on to accomplish is even more impressive.

Use this elementary Frederick Douglass history lesson to teach your students about this American activist!

Frederick Douglass History Lesson for Elementary Grades

This resource is a perfect fit for Black History Month. But it’s also excellent for teaching American history all throughout the year.

And it comes in a digital or printable format!

Frederick Douglass Mini History Lesson for Kids

Read on to see how to get your copy of this elementary Black history resource.

And, for more about African-American history, take a look at our list of Black history books to share with kids!

Learn about the life and legacy of Frederick Douglass with this printable elementary Frederick Douglass history lesson!

Elementary Frederick Douglass History Lesson for Kids

To use this Frederick Douglass lesson, you’ll need the following: (Affiliate links are used below. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

Studying Frederick Douglass with Elementary Students

Inside this resource is a two-page biography of Frederick Douglass’ life.

It’s written in age-appropriate language for students to comprehend.

Elementary Frederick Douglass History Activity for Kids

There’s also a blackline version of the biography included.

Elementary Frederick Douglass Mini History Lesson

Along with the life story, there are three comprehension and review activities for students to complete.

An answer key is included for each activity.

And a teaching script is inside too!

How to Use this Frederick Douglass History Lesson with Students

When you’re ready to introduce this Black American to your students, start by reading the biography together.

Be sure to stop frequently to check for student understanding as you go.

Printable Elementary Frederick Douglass History Lesson

If you choose, you can print the blackline version of the biography. Then students can color the pictures as you read through his life story.

Frederick Douglass Elementary Lesson for Kids

The review activities include:

A fill in the blank activity (based on the biography)
A timeline sequencing activity (based on the biography)
And a word unscramble activity (using words taken from Frederick’s life and career)

Learning about Frederick Douglass with Elementary Students

You might choose to complete one or two in class and send the rest with students as homework.

The answer key makes it easy to grade student submissions!

Digital Frederick Douglass History Activity

This resource is also available as a digital product for use with Google Slides!

All of the activities are included and students can either type on the slides to answer the questions or drag and drop their responses.

Get a look at the printable resource in the video below!

Scroll down to get your copy of this Frederick Douglass Elementary Lesson!

Add more Black history teaching ideas to your lesson plan with these activities!

Try these easy ways to teach black history in early grades to teach your primary students about notable Black Americans!

These Black history matching puzzles are a fun way to teach elementary students about notable Black Americans!

To get the digital version of this Frederick Douglass elementary history lesson, visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store! You can also get the digital and printable version as a bundle!

Frederick Douglass Elementary History Activity

To get your copy of the printable elementary Frederick Douglass history lesson, visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store or check it out below!

Elementary George Washington Carver History Lesson for Kids

January 11, 2022 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

As Black History Month becomes more popular, kids are learning about more and more notable Black Americans in history.

That’s a great thing!

One of my favorite Black Americans to study is George Washington Carver. He’s best known for his scientific work with peanuts, but his early life is truly inspiring.

This elementary George Washington Carver history lesson for kids is a great way to introduce students to this American scientist!

This is a fantastic resource for Black History Month, but it’s an excellent American history lesson for any time of year. Especially if you’re talking about STEM and scientists through the years.

George Washington Carver Lesson for Elementary Students

Read on to see how to get your copy. And check out the digital version too!

Be sure to take a look at our list of 20 children’s books about Black scientists and inventors while you’re here!

Teach elementary students about one of the most accomplished scientists in history with this George Washington Carver history lesson for kids!

George Washington Carver Elementary Black History Lesson

To use this George Washington Carver Black history lesson, you’ll need the following: (Affiliate links are used below. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

Learning about George Washington Carver with Kids

This elementary Black history resource includes a two-page biography of George’s life and career – both color and blackline versions.

George Washington Carver History Lesson for Elementary

There are also three review and comprehension exercises for students to complete afterwards.

And an answer key is included for each activity!

How to Use This Elementary George Washington Carver History Lesson with Students

When you’re ready to use this resource, there’s a teaching script included to make introducing this topic easier.

Read through the biography with your students.

Pause throughout the reading to check for understanding. At the end, discuss the “What can you learn from George Washington Carver?” question with your class.

Studying George Washington Carver with Elementary Students

If you will be using this as a take-home lesson, print the blackline version and let students color it in.

George Washington Carver Elementary History Lesson

All of the activities’ answers can be found in the biography.

You may wish to complete the “Fill in the Blanks” activity in class and send the word unscramble and timeline activities along as homework.

Elementary George Washington Carver Lesson

Use the answer key for easy grading!

If you complete the fill in the blank activity in class, walk students through the questions and help them find the answers as needed.

Digital Elementary George Washington Carver History Lesson

This history activity is also available in a digital version for use with Google Slides!

The biography is included, as well as all three review activities. Students can simply drag and drop or type in the fields to complete the exercises.

Get a look at this Black history resource in the video below!

Scroll down to get your copy of this George Washington Carver lesson!

Try some of these other ideas for teaching Black history to elementary students!

These black history coloring pages are a fun way to introduce students to notable Black Americans in history!

Digital George Washington Carver History Lesson

To get the digital version of this George Washington Carver lesson for elementary students, pick it up from my Teachers Pay Teachers store! You can also get the printable and digital version as a Black history lesson bundle!

George Washington Carver History Lesson for Elementary Students

To get your copy of the printable George Washington Carver Elementary History Lesson, visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store or check it out below!

5 Easy Ways to Teach Black History in Early Grades

January 4, 2022 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Black History Month is celebrated every February.

And there’s a good reason for it. The accomplishments of Black Americans are certainly worth studying, particularly in early grades.

Some educators, though, might feel a bit unsure how to introduce this topic to primary students. Especially if they’re not very familiar with this subject themselves.

The good news is that there are several easy ways to teach Black history in early grades and I’m sharing five you can try today!

Learning about Black history should be a fun, engaging activity.

The more we know about this subject as educators, the easier it will be to convey the inclusive, welcoming attitude we want our students to reflect as they learn.

Read on to check out these five tips – and to see some helpful resources that making teaching this subject a breeze!

Why Teach Black History in Early Grades?

Images c/o: Wavebreakmedia & weedezign / Deposit Photos

Before we get into the easy ways to teach Black history with early elementary learners, we should answer the question: Why is teaching Black history important in the first place?

Historically, the work and accomplishments of Black and Brown Americans have not been included in American history lessons.

Using Art to Teach Black History in Early Grades

There has been some progress in this area in the last decade or so, but many curriculum providers and school districts are still highlighting just a couple of figures each year (Dr. King, Rosa Parks, etc.) and not talking about many, many other Black people who have contributed to our society.

Black History Month, while valuable, is often viewed as the only time when it is “necessary” to talk about these individuals. Which is unfair to them and to our students.

Learning about Black history all year would really be the best way to combat this. And, as educators, the way we cover this topic can help to either broaden or narrow our students’ perspectives.

5 Easy Ways to Teach Black History in Early Grades

Now that we know why Black history is an important subject for our learners, even our primary students, how can we teach it? Try these five simple ideas!

Add an art twist.

Anytime I want my students to remember something new, I try to add an art component.

We can keep talking about the topic as they color, draw, or make a craft. But the act of creating does wonders for our memory.

So, if you add an art aspect to your Black history lessons, your students are more likely to remember and enjoy what they learn.

Learning about Black History with Coloring Pages

These Living Color History! Black History Coloring Pages are perfect for this. Check them out for yourself!

Embrace digital resources.

Digital resources have transformed the way we teach, particularly since so many schools have begun using distance learning as needed.

There are some excellent digital Black history resources available, even for primary grades.

Using these can make it simple to incorporate hands-on activities in a Black history lesson, without the need for physical supplies. And they’re simple to grade too!

Take a look at our digital Ruby Bridges mini lesson for an example!

Read engaging, factual picture books.

I am a total and complete book nerd. Anytime I can use a book in a primary grades lesson, I’m going to do it.

Another easy way to teach Black history with young students is to include some factual picture books you can read with the class.

I want to add a note here: It is essential that the book is factual.

All information about Black Americans is not accurate, even if it’s complimentary. We need to complete our due diligence as educators to make sure that what we are sharing is correct.

Fascinating Books about Black Inventors and Scientists for Kids

Over the years, we’ve read some excellent picture books about Black Americans. Take a look at our booklist to read about some of the greatest Black scientists and inventors in history!

Try some hands-on history ideas.

Another way to teach Black history in primary grades is to turn it into a hands-on activity.

Let your students dress up in period clothes and do a living “wax museum”. Each one can represent a specific Black American and prepare a one or two-sentence statement about what they did in history.

A timeline activity is another great way to help students remember important events in each person’s life and career.

You can also have them memorize a quote or two and recite them. These quotes are readily available online. (Again: Do your due diligence to make sure the quote is correctly attributed.)

Invite parental involvement.

The best way to help kids learn about Black history in primary grades is to involve their parents.

Educators can teach children about Black Americans all year long (and they should!), but if they’re hearing or seeing negative portrayals of Black culture in the home, it’s difficult to counteract that.

Many parents aren’t actively discouraging these conversations. They simply don’t know how to talk about race with their children.

Cheat Sheet for Talking about Race with Kids

This parents’ cheat sheet for talking about race is an excellent resource for helping parents have these kinds of conversations with their children.

Topics such as racial differences, civil rights, racial protests, and Black history are included with sample questions and responses.

Having a Conversation about Race with Kids

These responses may also be helpful for answering student questions when you teach about Black history in early grades.

To get your copy of this resource free, click the image or the link below to have it sent to your inbox! You’ll also get our weekly newsletter – coming this Sunday!

**IMPORTANT** If you have a pop-up blocker enabled in your web browser, you will need to disable it to complete the email address window.

>>> Cheat Sheet for Talking about Race <<<

With these fun and simple ways to teach Black history in early grades, you can enlighten your primary learners about the Black Americans who contributed to our society!

Looking for more Black history resources for primary students? Take a look at these!

We Got Jazz Elementary Digital and Print Unit for Kids

We Got Jazz! – A Jazz Black History Unit Study

January 21, 2021 by Selena Robinson 7 Comments

As the kids and I have been studying black history, we’ve found so many incredible stories of great jazz musicians.

I knew of all of these music pioneers, but learning about their lives and experiences has been so enlightening and it’s been a wonderful lesson for our children.

So I thought it would be nice to put what we’ve learned together into a printable black history unit study that’s all about jazz, bebop, and scat!

We Got Jazz Digital and Print Black History Unit

We are very proud to announce the release of We Got Jazz! – Exploring the Pioneers of Scat, Bebop, and Swing!

We Got Jazz! is a jazz unit study packed with jazz history, comprehension reviews, and listening activities for kids in grades 1-3!

Read on to see how to get your copy! And, if you need a digital version for distance learning – there’s one of those too.

If you’re looking for more black history lessons for kids, don’t miss our African Kingdoms unit study for elementary students!

We Got Jazz! Black History Unit Study

We have always enjoyed the sounds of jazz.

While we knew about all of these famous musicians, we didn’t know much about how they got started making music or the challenges they faced during their careers.

As we started exploring these figures with the kids, we found out so many interesting things.

Which is why I hope that your students find this black history unit enjoyable too!

We Got Jazz! features five biography units of jazz greats:

Dizzy Gillespie
Nat King Cole
Ella Fitzgerald
Miles Davis
and Duke Ellington

The section for each artist includes a comprehensive, age-appropriate biography of their life and career.

This is followed by a question and answer review activity to see what students have learned from the biography.

Black History Jazz Unit Comprehension Activities

Then there’s a crossword puzzle, a timeline sequencing activity, and a listening activity (with a link to where to find each artist’s music) to help students learn even more about each artist.

Depending on what your lesson plan includes, you could take one artist a week.

You might try covering the biography with the class. Then students can complete the activities on their own.

Black History Jazz Artist Biographies for Kids

Or you could spend a week discussing them all!

Read the biography with the class and then assign them to complete the review activities for homework or independent work.

Plus, a full answer key is included for easy grading!

See the full product flip through below!

Digital We Got Jazz Black History Unit

Are you distance learning this year? Or just looking to save on printer ink?

We Got Jazz! is also available in a digital version!

The digital version, which is compatible with Google Slides, contains all of the information and just as many activities as the print version.

Digital Jazz Black History Unit for Elementary

After reading about each artist, students can type their answers to the review questions – directly on the slides.

Digital Black History Duke Ellington Unit

They can drag and drop the events in each artist’s life into the correct sequence.

Instead of a crossword puzzle, there is a word unscramble activity for each person.

And you can use the digital answer key (which is delivered in a separate file) to grade student submissions in no time!

See the video preview of the digital version of We Got Jazz below!

Scroll down to get the print or digital version of We Got Jazz for your students!

Check out more black history learning activities below!

Digital and Print Ruby Bridges History Lesson

Looking for the digital version of We Got Jazz? Pick it up in my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

>>> Digital We Got Jazz Unit for Elementary <<<

Elementary Jazz Black History Unit for Kids

To get the print version of We Got Jazz!, visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store or check it out below!

Lady Day Learning! Billie Holiday History Lesson for Kids

January 13, 2020 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

We’ve always been passionate about Black history in our family. In fact, most of American music history includes accomplishments by amazing black musicians and artists.

Which is why we try to teach our kids about Black jazz musicians from an early age.

And there’s no way to talk about early American jazz without discussing Billie Holiday. She was a true pioneer of songwriting, performing, and vocal styling.

So I thought this mini Billie Holiday history lesson would be a great resource to share for your Black history lessons too!

Elementary Billie Holiday History Lesson

This is an excellent resource for Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Jazz History Month, and more!

Plus, it’s a short lesson with simple activities, so you can use it without needing time to prep it in advance.

Teaching Elementary Students about Billie Holiday

Need a digital copy for distance learning? There’s one of those too!

Read on to get yours.

And, for more about the work of Black musicians, don’t miss our We Got Jazz! Black History Thematic Unit!

Learn about the life and legacy of one of the first ladies of jazz with this Billie Holiday elementary history lesson!

Lady Day Learning! Mini Billie Holiday History Lesson for Kids

To use the printable Billie Holiday resource, you’ll need the following: (This post contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

This Black history resource includes a two-page biography about the life and legacy of Billie Holiday.

How to Teach Elementary Students about Billie Holiday

Three comprehension activities are also included – a fill-in-the-blank exercise, a word unscramble, and a timeline sequencing activity.

Answer keys are included for each review activity.

And there’s a blackline version of the biography too!

How to Teach Elementary Students about Billie Holiday

To begin this lesson, start by reading the biography through with your class.

Elementary Billie Holiday Lesson for Kids

If you use the blackline version, kids can color in the pictures as you read.

Then begin the review activities.

Depending on the age of your students, you may wish to complete the fill-in-the-blank exercise as a group.

Then you can send the word unscramble and sequencing activities along as homework.

Printable Billie Holiday History Lesson for Kids

Use the answer keys to make grading a snap!

Get a closer look at this resource in the video below!

Digital Billie Holiday History Lesson for Elementary

Are you using digital resources with your students this year? This product is also available in a digital version!

Digital History Lesson about Billie Holiday

In this digital Billie Holiday history activity, which is compatible with Google Slides, students can read the biography of her life and career.

Billie Holiday Digital History Lesson for Elementary

Then answer the review questions by typing directly on the slides!

Digital versions of the word unscramble and timeline sequencing activities are included too.

And there’s a separate answer key for you to use when grading.

Scroll down to get this elementary Billie Holiday history lesson for your students!

Check out these other Black history learning ideas!

Learn about the life and legacy of Ruby Bridges with this elementary Ruby Bridges history lesson!

Grab the digital version of this Billie Holiday activity in my Teachers Pay Teachers store! You can also get the print and digital versions as a bundle!

>> Digital Billie Holiday History Lesson <<

To get your copy of Lady Day Learning!, a Billie Holiday elementary lesson, visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store or check it out below!

Homeschool Unit Studies: Ruby Bridges Unit Study

February 25, 2016 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

In our family, we don’t celebrate Black History Month. After all, we’re not just black in February. 🙂 Since black history is important, we talk about it year-round. But I wanted to share one of our recent homeschool unit studies with you all now, while more people are thinking about black history.

The book The Story of Ruby Bridges was on our first grade reading list for this year, so when we read the book we made it into a full Ruby Bridges Unit Study! Read on to see the resources we used and the lessons we learned!

Ruby Bridges Unit Study

We began our unit by reading this book: The Story of Ruby Bridges. After reading it, we looked up more about Ruby’s life.

The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles

It’s amazing to think that this happened only about 50 years ago – long after slavery had ended. It just says something about how deeply ingrained certain ways of thinking can become.

I was really moved to see pictures of this little six-year-old girl walking through protesters into an empty school. The same people who took their children out of the school dedicated themselves to standing outside of it for weeks on end, shouting racial slurs at a child.

In fact, the president had to call in the federal marshals to keep Ruby safe from the mobs outside because the local and state police refused to help. You can see one of them in the picture above standing inside the building and smiling. Unbelievable.

We examined this excellent resource at Scholastic featuring a slideshow about segregation during the 1950s and 1960s. Since that was a generation ago, it’s one thing for kids to hear about it, but another thing entirely to see it. My kids couldn’t get over the white and “colored” water fountains.

This video is from the PBS series “The African-Americans: Many Rivers to Cross”. Seeing the footage of people screaming at Ruby really affected the kids. Honestly, it affected me too. I knew about Ruby’s story as a child, but seeing it now as a parent had a completely different effect on me.

I have to take my hat off to Ruby’s parents, because there’s no way I could send my child into an environment like that. But, as I told our kids, someone had to be first. And because Ruby went through that then, my kids didn’t have to deal with those kinds of pressures when they went to school.

I asked the kids to contrast Ruby’s first day of school with their first day of public school last year and write down the differences. Here’s what they wrote:

Six-year-old Roo: “When Ruby went to school, people were yelling at her. But when I went to school, nobody was yelling at me.”

Seven-year-old Pooh: “When Ruby was at school, people hated her. When I went to school, everyone was kind. That must have been hard, scary for her but she did it!”

A while back, Ruby was invited to the White House where she and President Obama looked at the 1964 Norman Rockwell painting she inspired. In 2011, the painting was displayed outside of the Oval Office for a time.

Ruby Bridges got the chance to reunite with one of the federal marshals who escorted her to school back in 2013. You might want to check out this article about it, but *fair warning* you might also want to have some tissues handy.

Links about Ruby Bridges:

We used these links to learn more about Ruby’s life and experience in school.

Books about Ruby Bridges:

Along with The Story of Ruby Bridges, there are some other great kids’ books about Ruby’s life.

Ancient Egypt History for Kids

October 15, 2013 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

Studying African history has always been important in our family. Over the years, many schoolbooks have omitted or glossed over ancient African kingdoms and we wanted to make sure that our children learn the truth about these civilizations, no matter what.

To start, we focused on the Ancient Egyptian civilization, which is world-famous as a kingdom that prized mathematics, law, agriculture, and writing – among other things. But many school lessons have presented a view of Ancient Egypt that is at odds with what historians have discovered, including what the Egyptians looked like, what they accomplished, and who ruled the kingdom over the years.

So we put together our own lesson about Ancient Egypt history for kids! Read on to learn more about this fascinating and accomplished civilization that you can share with your children!

If you love this unit, be sure to check out our list of must-read black history books for kids!

Ancient Egyptian Architecture

Egypt is probably the best known ancient African kingdom. The main reason for this is that there are so many archaeological sites that testify to what life was like in Ancient Egypt.

We looked at some images of Egyptian ruins to get an idea of the extraordinary accomplishments made in architecture, design, and mathematics by Egyptians. We looked particularly at the Great Pyramid of Khufu and the Abu Simbel temples.

The Great Pyramid, for example, took over 20 years to complete. Its design is so mathematically precise that historians still cannot understand how the Egyptians built it. They even doubt that the same structure could be reproduced today.

The Great Pyramid of Khufu and the Sphinx

Image c/o: Fred Hsu

The Temples at Abu Simbel

Image c/o: Dennis Jarvis

The kids made some miniature models of the Great Pyramid of Khufu out of paper. We got this activity from the book History Pockets: Ancient Civilizations.

To make the pyramids, we simply cut out the paper shapes and then colored them.

Then we folded them on the lines and added glue to make them stand up.

All finished!

As you can tell, this craft was a pretty big hit.

Hatshepsut, the Female Pharaoh

We also learned about the first female Pharaoh, Hatshepsut. Tigger, in particular, was interested to find out about her. We picked up the book African Princess: The Amazing Lives of Africa’s Royal Women and read about her life and reign.

She was truly an incredible woman and ruler. In many art pieces and statues, she is portrayed as a man with a beard. At the time, a female Pharaoh was unheard of and scholars think that the succeeding Pharaohs decided to show her as a man to hide her existence. But a few statues of her exist that show her as a woman.

This one is on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston:

Image c/o: Keith Schengili-Roberts

Hatshepsut was so revered as a Pharaoh that she was buried at her own temple at Deir el-Bahari:

Image c/o: Olaf Tausch

What Did Ancient Egyptians Look Like?

One of the things that has long irritated me about the images of ancient Egyptians in popular culture is that they are often portrayed as being very fair-skinned. I’ve personally seen a lot of children’s history resources use cartoons that show Egyptians as Caucasian people dressed in Middle Eastern attire.

To counter this view, we looked at some examples of ancient Egyptian art that clearly shows ancient Egyptians as brown-skinned people:

Image c/o: Angelfire.com/ky/southernrock

Image c/o: StewartSynopsis.com

We also learned that Egyptians were very fond of jewelry and that both men and women wore it regularly. Women typically wore lots of eye makeup, as well as elaborate collars such as this:

Image c/o: woodsboy2011

In fact, here’s a relief at the Hathor Temple showing the same kind of collar:

Image c/o: isawnyu

Where Was Ancient Egypt?

To give the kids a better idea of how the ancient kingdoms of Africa were situated, we decided to make a simple map of them. We purchased the Discover Africa notebooking set from Balancing Everything and used the blank Africa maps as the basis for our template. (It is a truly wonderful geography unit for all 54 countries on the African continent.)

We began by marking the area covered by Ancient Egypt and we’ll be filling in the map with the other kingdoms we feature.

If you’d like to check out the Discover Africa notebooking set, you can see it for yourself by visiting Balancing Everything or by clicking below:

Books and Resources about Ancient Egypt

Here are the books and resources we used for this lesson.

PBS: Wonders of the African World – This website is based on a PBS series from the 1990s written and narrated by Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Sections cover Egypt, Nubia, and Swahili.