Day 98: More Resources for Black History Projects

Here are the resources I blogged about yesterday.  Some of the sites may be a little harder to read depending on the grade level you teach.  In addition, there are many, many sites out there, but I tried to pick a few that had information about a lot of  people (to save parents from hopping all over the Internet).  I hope you can use them!  (If you do use them, drop me  a comment or an e-mail and let me know how it went!)

FYI: I also told the children they could use books or articles; all of their research does not have to be online.  Speaking of which, don't hesitate to add in your local public library website; many have links to kid-friendly research sites.

Anyway, here they are!

www.biography.com (under the History channel website)

http://www.gardenofpraise.com/ 

www.gale.cengage.com (go the free resources link for Black History)

http://www.academickids.com/

http://www.blackinventor.com/

www.bridgew.edu/HOBA/gallery.cfm

Also, here is a list of names (along with gender and designation) that I assigned in my class...with a few extras in case the student picked someone they've already heard about or read about.

1. Thurgood Marshall-male-Supreme Court Justice

2. Shirley Chisholm-female-Congresswoman

3. Mae Jemison-female-Astronaut

4. Marian Anderson-female-Singer

5. George Washington Carver-male-Scientist

6. Ralph Bunche-male-Political scientist

7. Duke Ellington-male-Musician/Composer

8. Booker T. Washington-male-Educator/School founder

9. Mary McLeod Bethune-female-Educator/School founder

10. Elijah McCoy-male-Engineer/Inventor

11. Benjamin Banneker-male-Inventor/Scientist

12. Wilma Rudolph-female-Olympic athlete

13. Jessie Owens-male-Olympic athlete

14. Matthew Henson-male-Explorer

15. Ruby Bridges-female-Civil Rights pioneer

16. Harriet Tubman-female-Abolitionist

17. Arthur Ashe-male-Athlete

18. Alvin Ailey-male-Dancer/Choreographer

19. Sojourner Truth-female-Abolitionist

20. Phillis (also Phyllis) Wheatley-female-Writer

21. Langston Hughes-male-Writer

22. Ida B. Wells-female-Early civil rights activist/Co-founder of the NAACP

I couldn't get the organizer to load; I still haven't figured out how to get the PDF to load on the blog page.  Basically, it's the basics (birth and birthplace, death, place/manner of death, marriage); obstacles faced during life, contributions to American history/society; lessons learned from reading about the person, questions the students would like to ask if they could meet that person; five additional facts learned.

I use the grade as a double grade; one for social studies (research) and the other for language arts (write ups and presentation).  Remember: Work smarter, not harder!