No matter your background, Black History Month is a great opportunity to sit down with your family and learn about the vastness of Black history and culture. While the history is fraught with injustice, there is also so much resilience, brilliance, and joy. Educating, exploring, and engaging in stories of Black change makers, barrier breakers, and icons will help your child broaden their perspectives and find more beauty in life during Black History Month and every other month of the year.

To help you start and continue these conversations with your family, the team at Sawyer has outlined some of the Black History Month resources we use with our own children. We hope this list provides inspiration for you and your family. And if you are looking for more Black History Month activities for kids, check out our guide!

Black History Month resources for kids

• Black History Month books for kids
• Online lessons and classes for kids about Black history
• Black history movies for kids

Black History Month books for kids

Reading books with your child is a great way for them to engage in historical content without feeling overwhelmed by facts. There are so many beautifully illustrated and written children’s books about Black history that you can use as jumping off points for conversations and additional learning.

1. Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad by Ellen Levine | Picture book about an enslaved adult who mails himself to freedom
2. My Name is Truth: The Life of Sojourner Truth by Ann Turner | A beautiful and historically accurate telling of Sojourner Truth’s life
3. Seeds of Freedom: The Peaceful Integration of Huntsville, Alabama by Hester Bess | A lesser known story of how the citizens in Huntsville worked together to integrate
4. The Jazz Man by Karen Ehrhardt | An interactive tribute to nine jazz icons that also teaches little ones to count
5. Teammates by Peter Golenbock | A picture book full of historical photos and watercolors showing the story of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in baseball
6. Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans by Kadir Nelson | This beautiful 100+ page picture book narrates the dark history and incredible contributions of African Americans in the US
7. Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison | This board book highlights the biographies of 40 Black women who have changed the world
8. Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly | The picture book version of the incredible story of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden
9. Life Doesn’t Frighten Me by Maya Angelou | A powerful book of poems written by Maya Angelou and accompanied by beautiful images to empower and encourage children
10. What Color Is My World?: The Lost History of African-American Inventors by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | This interactive book highlights all of the inventions that were actually created by African Americans
    

If you are looking for guidance on how to make your child fall in love with reading, check out our article so that reading together becomes a regular occurrence! 

Online lessons and classes for kids about Black history

Sometimes, it is best to look to the experts for ways to engage children on difficult or expansive subjects like Black history. Whether they are learning about these topics in school or not, adding extracurricular education to cover these important issues is beneficial to their growth and development. Plus, it’s helpful for children to see their parents engage in this education and celebration as well. 

Here are some online lessons and classes for kids about Black history that have been keeping our children engaged and learning.

Common Sense Media: Celebrate Black Voices

What is Common Sense Media?

Common Sense is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of all children and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and voice they need to thrive in the 21st century. They help parents find the right content for their children by age and topic. In addition, parents can find TV shows, movies, books, games, and apps that are educational, enriching, and safe for their children.

What Black history resources do they provide?

Parents and children can celebrate and honor Black culture, stories, and achievements through the Celebrate Black Voices page offered by Common Sense Media. They outline movies and TV shows that highlight Black people in STEM, activism, the arts, business, education, sports, dance, and more. They also provide age-based reading lists, videos, podcasts, and learning resources to help children expand their knowledge of Black history and culture.

Go to Common Sense Media: Celebrate Black Voices.

PBS Learning Media

What is PBS Learning Media?

PBS Learning Media is a resource that can be used by both teachers and parents to provide high quality, thoughtful, and unbiased education to children of all ages. Their online lessons and activities are interactive, so children remain engaged and interested. They offer materials for all subjects, including math, science, social studies, engineering, world languages, and more.

What Black history resources do they provide?

If you search “Black history” on PBS Learning Media, you get over 8,000 results! That might be overwhelming, so we suggest filtering based on the type of content you want (video, interactive lesson, document, webpage, collection, and more), length of lesson, grade level, and language. This will help you narrow down your search so you can find the right resources for your family. We recommend The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, which is a series that covers the entire history of African Americans. It is suitable for children in second grade and older.

Go to PBS Learning Media.

National Museum of African American History & Culture - Early Childhood Education

What is the National Museum of African American History & Culture?

The National Museum of African American History & Culture is a part of the Smithsonian Museum family. It is the first, and only, national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history, and culture. They offer a variety of classes and events both online and in-person.

What Black history resources do they provide?

The entire museum is dedicated Black history and culture, but NMAAHC also has an early childhood education center where they offer fun, age-appropriate experiences and resources for children ages 0 to 8 years old. Some of these offerings include a downloadable set of interactive Joyful ABC books for infants and toddlers, Joyful Fridays, where they do art and education programming online, and more.

Go to National Museum of African American History & Culture: Early Childhood Center.

Black History Month movies for kids

If you are looking to diversify your movie nights, these are some of the Black history movies for kids that our families are enjoying.

1. March On! The Day My Brother Martin Changed the World | A personal account from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s sister about the march on Washington
2. The Color of Friendship | A Disney movie about two girls - one Black, one white - who come together and learn about race, friendship, and perseverance
3. Garret’s Gift | An animated movie telling the story of inventor Garrett Morgan
4. A Ballerina’s Tale | A behind-the-scenes look at the challenges and triumphs of Misty Copeland, the first African American named principal dancer of the American Ballet
5. Ruby Bridges | The story of 6 year old Ruby Bridges and the integration of schools

With these resources at hand, you and your families should be able to continue learning and celebrating Black history and culture in February and every month after. Knowledge of Black history helps children and adults live anti-racist lives. If you are looking for more guidance on how to have conversations about race with your children, check out our article.