Smithsonian Institution
African American Music: Let’s Sing and Play Clapping Games
Two lessons focus on making a beat. Using popular African American music of its time, scholars listen and analyze the rhythm then recreate it with hands drums, and cups.
Education World
Black History Month Rap
Young scholars write a rap or hip-hop lyric about the life of a famous Black American. They explore famous Black Americans in history and explore how the rap form compares to other forms of poetic expression.
Black History Month Report
Black History Month Report
As part of Black History Month, class members investigate in depth the life and work of an African American musician.
Newspaper in Education
Celebrating Black History Month
After examining the accomplishments of George Crum, Ella Fitzgerald, James Baldwin, and Ernie Davis, class members conduct research, compare their lives and accomplishments, and then select from a menu of projects to share their...
National Gallery of Canada
My Mask, My Voice
Recognize Black History Month with an examination of the African diaspora and a hands-on mask-making project. Learners first view and discuss images of artwork before creating their own plaster masks.
John F. Kennedy Center
Harriet Tubman: Secret Messages Through Song
A lesson all about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad introduces scholars to African American spirituals. By way of reading, speaking, and listening, learners discover, analyze, and decode African American spirituals. They...
John F. Kennedy Center
Harriet Tubman: Retelling History Through Dance and Drama
Scholars listen to several pieces of music in preparation for a discussion about how instruments and lyrics convey emotions. With Harriet Tubman as the focus, small groups create an original song or dance. A reflection piece concludes...
Northern Nevada Council for the Social Studies
What Are the Origins and Influences of Rap Music?
Considered an American art form, rap has its roots in places from Jamaica to the Bronx. Using a series of readings, comprehension questions, and videos, scholars explore the history of rap and its connections to the African diaspora....
Curated OER
We Have a Dream
Students work as partners to study Dr. Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech. In this African American history lesson, students work with their cross-grade partner to study, understand, and memorize the speech. Students meet with...
Center for Civic Education
The Power of Nonviolence: Music Can Change the World
Here is a fantastic activity through which class members discover how music has the ability to influence others in a meaningful way. After reviewing selected pieces and modern-day protest songs, learners will research other songs that...
Institut Obert de Catalunya
20th Century Music: Jazz
A 67-page packet provides instructors with a complete course in the history of Jazz. Lessons look at the roots of jazz in early 20th century African American communities in the southern United States and continues to the New Orleans...
John F. Kennedy Center
Musical Harlem: How Is Jazz Music Reflective of the Harlem Renaissance?
Bring jazz music and the Harlem Renaissance to light with a lesson that challenges scholars to research and create. Pupils delve deep into information materials to identify jazz terminology, compare types of jazz and jazz musicians,...
John F. Kennedy Center
Harriet Tubman: An Informative and Impressionistic Look
Informational text and impressionistic art lead a lesson plan about Harriet Tubman. Working in teams, scholars examine a variety of resources. They analyze, compare, and contrast the work. Using their research findings, pupils create an...
Smithsonian Institution
Singing for Justice: Following the Musical Journey of “This Little Light of Mine”
Scholars go on a musical journey to discover the origin, importance, and evolution of the song, "This Little Light of Mine". Class members boost their voice talents and clap to the beat while learning the lyrics in both English and Zulu....
Digital Public Library of America
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
A set of 14 primary sources provides background for a study of Lorraine Hansberry's drama, A Raisin in the Sun. Featured are images from stage productions of the play, white supremacy protests, a clip from a television interview, and...
Digital Public Library of America
Women and the Blues
A 12-piece primary source packet sets the tone for a study of the role women played in the origins, development, and impact of blues music. Legends like Bessie Smith, Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Mamie Smith, and Ida Cox are featured, as are...
Smithsonian Institution
The Vocal Blues: Created in the Deep South of the U.S.
Bring the sounds of the deep South vocal blues to the classroom with a Smithsonian Folkways lesson. In preparation, scholars listen to and count the 12 bar blues patterns in several works and identify the I, II, IV, and V chords as well...
Curated OER
African Americans Seen Through the Eyes of the Newsreel Cameraman
Fifth graders learn about this history of jazz music. In this musical influences lesson, 5th graders read God Bless the Childand listen to a recording of it. Students create a KWL chart on jazz and early 1900s music and dance. Students...
Curated OER
Black Kentuckians and the Civil War
Students demonstrate how the American Civil War affected black Kentuckians socially and politically. They identify and discuss the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which forced the end of slavery in Kentucky months after the...
Smithsonian Institution
Spirits Across the Ocean: Yoruban and Dahomean Cultures in the Caribbean Brought by the Slave Trade
Much of Latin American music owes its origins to the slave trade. Peoples from the Yoruban and Dahomean cultures brought with them the distinctive rhythms, time signatures, and eighth note patterns that now characterize Caribbean music....
Pearson
Langston Hughes
An author study provides learners the opportunity to explore in depth the life of, the influences on, and the works of a single literary figure. Introduce middle schoolers to Langston Hughes with a unit that models how to approach an...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series: Removing the Mask
Describe, analyze, compare and contrast poets from the Harlem Renaissance. Critical thinkers analyze the imagery, characterization, tone, symbolism, and historical context of Jacob Lawrence, Helene Johnson, and Paul Laurence Dunbar. A...
Penguin Books
Up Close: Ella Fitzgerald
A reading of Tanya Lee Stones' biography of Ella Fitzgerald lets middle schoolers get up close and personal with the First Lady of Jazz. Stone recounts details of Fitzgerald's life from her early days through her experiences as a teenage...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Ray Charles
Introduce young learners to the read-aloud process with a short biographical passage about Ray Charles. After listening to the passage, class members respond to factual, inferential, and evaluative questions, and then create a timeline...