National African American History Month, National Park Service: Lesson Plans

National African American History Month title image

Teachers

image of a slave community story board from Booker T. Washington National Monument

Booker T. Washington National Monument: For Teachers
It is the mission of Booker T. Washington National Monument's education program to satisfy the curriculum needs as specified in the Standards of Learning for Virginia Public Schools utilizing the park as a classroom. The programs and activities included in the Educational Guide to Booker T. Washington National Monument are designed to meet these requirements while introducing students to the life of the young slave boy, Booker.

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Places Teach!
Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) uses properties listed in the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places to enliven history, social studies, geography, civics, and other subjects. TwHP has created a variety of products and activities that help teachers bring historic places into the classroom. Here are just a few of the more than 100 online lesson plans:

Chicago's Black Metropolis Large housing projects and institutions take up much of the land in this area of the South Side of Chicago. But between them there is a gap where old buildings survive, all that remains of an area that was called Black Metropolis.		The Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March: Shaking the Conscience of a Nations Millions of people all over the United States were watching television on Sunday night, March 7, 1965, when their programs were interrupted with shocking images of African American men and women being beaten with billy clubs in a cloud of tear gas.
Two American Entrepreneurs: Madam C.J. Walker and J.C. Penney At a busy intersection in the bustling city of Indianapolis, Indiana, stands the imposing four-story brick structure known as the Walker Building. Buff-colored terra cotta is used for decorative details, and each doorway is embellished with brightly colored African masks.		New Philadelphia : A Multiracial Town on the Illinois Frontier New Philadelphia looked like a typical west-central Illinois pioneer town to travelers cresting the hill overlooking the place in the mid-1800s. Imagine villagers filling baskets with a bounty of apples, corn, and wheat, while chickens clucked and pigs rooted in nearby pens.

Cowboys came from many cultures. Some were Americans from the east, and others were immigrants from European countries. More than one quarter of all cowboys were African American.