By the OER Project Team
It’s easy to conflate Black American history with Black history in general—but it’s not possible to teach students to understand the glories and tragedies of the contemporary Black experience without looking both wider and deeper. We’ve selected eleven of our favorite learning materials from our collection that you can use to highlight these histories in your classroom. They range from one-page illustrated biographies of notable individuals to videos, articles, and activities on Black social movements, revolutions, and innovations.
Wondering what the course and lesson numbers mean? Each of these materials can stand alone, but they are also pieces of larger, full-year courses like World History Project—you can always explore these free courses to contextualize and expand on the lesson.
Graphic Bio: George Washington Carver
from BHP > Lesson 9.4
OER Project’s innovative graphic biographies use comic book illustrations to introduce students to some of the most interesting people in history, with a special focus on stories that don’t always show up in traditional textbooks. Try this vivid one-pager on George Washington Carver, whose technological breakthroughs helped create sustainable farming as we know it today.
Graphic Bio: George McJunkin
from BHP > Lesson 6.3
This graphic biography looks at George McJunkin (1852-1922), an African American cowboy born into slavery whose discoveries would transform archeology and the understanding of human history in the Americas. If this is your first time teaching with comics, try the Three Close Reads method outlined beneath the article to help students develop a new form of literacy!
Graphic Bio: Henrietta Lacks’ Immortal Legacy
from BHP > Lesson 5.3
Surely one of the strangest stories in recent history is that of Henrietta Lacks, an African American woman whose cancerous tumor exhibited an unusual mutation that made its cells functionally “immortal.” Lacks perished from her cancer in 1951, but unbeknownst to her or her family, a sample had been taken that lived on in laboratories around the world, enabling immensely valuable research. This graphic biography explores how the nonconsensual exploitation of Lacks’ DNA uncomfortably mirrors the slavery endured by her ancestors, and the discrimination experienced by her descendants.
Article: “The Origin of Agriculture in Africa”
from Big History Project > Lesson 7.2
Sub-Saharan Africa is the cradle of the human species—yet despite humans occupying the region for over 200,000 years, it was not the first place to develop agriculture. In fact, agrarianism didn’t take root there till roughly 3000 BCE—or 6,000 years after the first farms of Mesopotamia in Southwest Asia. Why? This Big History Project article explains why local conditions made foraging a better play for survival—and what changes promoted farming’s eventual adoption.
Article: “States and Empires of West Africa”
from World History Project—Origins > Lesson 6.6
Agriculture wasn’t easy in the dry West African Sahel, but people there grew whole kingdoms. Rulers who could manage trade routes, religion, and relationships with pastoralists had the best chance of success. This short article from San Francisco State University Professor of African and World History Trevor Getz provides a great snapshot of this fascinating period.
Activity: Contextualization: Mansa Musa
from WHP—Origins > Lesson 6.5
Mansa Musa of the Mali Empire was unquestionably one of the most powerful African rulers of his time. We recommend this WHP activity to help students put his achievements (and his wealth) in context. After watching a Crash Course World History video featuring John Green, students play an interactive group game and learn more about the world of west Africa in the fourteenth century.
Article: Origins Lesson 6.10: The Middle Passage
from WHP—Origins > Lesson 6.10
The advent of the transatlantic slave trade irrevocably altered the course of millions upon millions of Black lives, and its ramifications continue to be felt both in Africa and across the Black diaspora. This series of lessons from Unit 6 of the WHP Origins course includes articles, videos, and comics that explore this painful historical epoch. We especially recommend the video The Impact of the Slave Trade: Through a Ghanaian Lens, shot on location in Ghana and featuring interviews with African scholars Wilhelmina Donkoh, Akosua Perbi, and Ato Ashun.
(We also recommend using our Teaching Sensitive Topics in Social Studies guide for some before, during, and after discussion strategies that can help with using this article in your classroom!)
Video: Resisting Colonialism: Through a Ghanaian Lens
from WHP—Origins > Lesson 8.9
It’s important to make sure students understand that Africans did not simply accept the yoke of European colonialism. This video, also shot in Ghana with the help of local scholars, explores the ways, both passive and active, that Ghanaians resisted their oppressors. It makes an excellent case study for indigenous resistance movements around the world.
Video: Haitian Revolution
from WHP—AP® > Lesson 5.2
The Haitian Revolution was one of the most inspiring of the so-called “Age of Revolutions” (1750 to 1900 CE)—and, on the face of it at least, one of the most unlikely. This video explores the networks of trade and culture that encompassed Haiti—and made it possible for its population to free themselves of direct French control.
Article: “Movements to End Racial Injustice”
from WHP—Origins > Lesson 9.5
The successes of the American Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and ‘70s is deservedly lauded as one of the great triumphs of contemporary Black culture. But it also inspired other movements around the world, especially in Latin America. This article explains how civil rights victories were won, and connects the various liberation struggles. Use the related Guiding Questions as prompts to get your students thinking!
Article: “Benjamin Banneker: Science in Adversity”
from BHP > Lesson 8.3
Benjamin Banneker, born in Baltimore County in 1731, was a largely self-taught academic whose passions were mathematics and astronomy. As a result of the social prejudices of the time, he had no opportunity to try higher education, and lived most of his life as a tobacco farmer and private scholar. Nevertheless, Banneker’s contributions to science were far-reaching, among them a yearly almanac that calculated the tides, phases of the moon, and occurrences of eclipses, and other natural events. Help students discover this underknown genius of his time.
Oh, and one more thing! It sounds a bit meta, but the history of Black History Month itself is plenty interesting. If you’ve never heard of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), they’re the original founders of Black History Month and continue to do important work to this day. We recommend having a look around their website (https://asalh.org/about-us/) to learn more!