This year, I decided to spend 2 months covering black history events.  We started in Africa in the 1300’s – 1500’s, and then we traveled to the United States in the time of slavery.  We got through the Civil War and the Reconstruction period.  We then covered the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights Movement, and where we are now as it relates to equality.

Students were assigned one or two individuals to research and create a digital board as well as a tri-fold presentation board.  All of the reading lessons were tied to a skill and a the week’s study.  We found facts and opinions in a newspaper from the time of slavery.  We compared and contrasted kings and queens in Africa.  We looked at the elements of drama through a play that focused on the Greensboro sit ins.  We planned out a new Civil Rights Museum using area and perimeter concepts.  We converted fractions to decimals and found equivalent fractions for our Black History Timeline.  The students absolutely LOVED this unit, and it was a joy to be able to help them learn about a part of our country’s history that is all too often skipped over.

The students also created an Equality Quote Quilt with famous quotes from important figures in the fight for equality.

At the end of the unit of study, I organized a commemorative Selma to Montgomery March, which was 50 years after the actual march in Alabama.  In our march, 4th and 5th graders marched around the school, singing “I ain’t gon’ let nobody turn me around” in harmony.  The march ended in the library with a beautiful slideshow of images from black history with “Lift Every Voice” – the National Negro Anthem – playing in the background.  The students all sat quietly glued to the screen, where many of them saw these images for the first time.

I remember days later, one of the 5th grade teachers came up to me and told me that next year, we really need to plan (even earlier) to incorporate more black history into our lessons.  I could not agree more!