Also known as "The Buckeye Bullet," was an American track and field athlete who won four gold medals and broke two world records at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. His long jump world record stood for 25 years.
Activity: Create your own obstacle course using household objects.
George Washington Carver, who derived nearly 300 products from the peanut was an agricultural scientist and inventor who developed hundreds of products using peanuts (though not peanut butter, as is often claimed), sweet potatoes and soybeans. His childhood home would be named a national monument — the first of its kind to honor an African American.
Activity- Make a PBJ sandwich. There are many options to substitute for peanut butter such as Sunbutter.
Jesse Owens
George Washington Carver
Claudette Colvin
Claudette Colvin Few people know the story of Claudette Colvin: When she was 15, she refused to move to the back of the bus and give up her seat to a white person — nine months before Rosa Parks did the very same thing.
Activity: Sing Wheels on the Bus. Position chairs in the formation of a bus. Invite your child to “choose their destination” and drive the bus!
Esther Jones was the real life Betty Boop. “Baby Esther” was a jazz singer in Harlem known for her baby voice and “boop” sounds while singing.
Activity: Listen to Jazz music. Compare and Contrast how Jazz is similar to your child’s favorite music.
George Washington Carver
Esther Jones
Jerry Lawson was an American electronic engineer. He is known for his work in designing the Fairchild Channel F video game console as well as leading the team that pioneered the commercial video game cartridge. He has been dubbed by some as the "Father of Modern Gaming.”
Activity: Allow your child to have some screen time by playing an educational video game or be creative and create your own video game concept.
Jerry Lawson
Madam C.J. Walker, born Sarah Breedlove was the first U.S. woman to become a self-made millionaire. She was a pioneer in the black hair care business. Invented her own formula for pomade, brushing and the use
of heated combs.
Activity: Play Barbershop or Hair Salon. Provide a spray bottle of water, combs, brushes, and hair accessories to style a doll, teddy bear or sibling.
Madame CJ Walker
Bessie Coleman was an early American civil aviator. She was the first African-American woman and first Native-American to hold a pilot licenseShe earned her pilot license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale on June 15, 1921 and was the first black person to earn an international pilot's license.
Activity: Make a paper airplane
Bessie Coleman
Gordon Parks, one of the greatest photographers of the twentieth century, was a humanitarian with a deep commitment to social justice. Activity: Smile for the Camera. Test your photography skills with this Camera craft- Grab your camera craft here.
Gordon Parks
Minnie Riperton was blessed with an angelic five-octave vocal range. As a youth she studied music, drama, and dance at the city's Abraham Lincoln Center and later contemplated a career in opera.
Activity: Plan family karaoke. Invite your child to sing as loud as possible! Try to hit the five-octave vocal range.
Minnie Riperton
Duke Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American composer, pianist, and leader of a jazz orchestra, which he led from 1923 until his death over a career spanning more than six decades.
Activity: Play some jazz music. Compare and contrast the rhythm to that of your favorite genre.
Duke Ellington
Wendell Scott
Wendell Scott was an American stock car racing driver. He was one of the first African-American drivers in NASCAR, and the first African-American to win a race in the Grand National Series, NASCAR's highest level.
Activity- pretend to be a nascar driver and race to the finish line. Have a race with a few toy cars. On your mark, get set, go!
Kamala Harris is an American politician and attorney who is the 49th and current Vice President of the United States. She is the United States' first female vice president, the highest-ranking female elected official in U.S. history, and the first African American and first Asian American vice president.
Activity: Provide 2 choices. Have your child “vote” on which snack by writing their choice on a secret ballot.
Vice President
Kamala Harris
Ruby Nell Bridges Hall (born September 8, 1954) is an American civil rights activist. She was the first African-American child to desegregate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis on November 14, 1960.
Activity- Play school. Invite your child to teach you a lesson on letters, numbers or even music and movement. Grab a pointer- or create your own pointer using a lollipop stick and mini marshmallow.
Ruby Bridges
Susie King Taylor was the first Black Army nurse. Susie Baker King Taylor was the first Black educator to teach openly in a school for formerly enslaved African Americans in Georgia. As the author of Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33d United States Colored Troops, Late 1st S.C. Volunteers, she was the only African American woman to publish a memoir of her wartime experiences.
Activity: Anyone needs a check-up? Invite your child to pretend to be a medical professional by creating this stethoscope craft from Fantastic Fun Learning.
Susie King Taylor
Mae Jemison is an American engineer, physician, and former NASA astronaut. She became the first black woman to travel into space when she served as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour.
Activity: Visit Nasa’s website for activities and videos.
Mae Jemison
Alvin Ailey
Alvin Ailey was a choreographer who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1958. It was a hugely popular, multi-racial modern dance ensemble that popularized modern dance around the world thanks to extensive world tours.
Activity: Watch a video on Emotions from Sesame Street and Alvin Ailey Dance Troupe
Micheal Jackson-Known as the "King of Pop," Michael Jackson was a best-selling American singer, songwriter and dancer.
As a child, Jackson became the lead singer of his family's popular Motown group, the Jackson 5.
Activity- music and movement. Attempt to “Moonwalk” like Micheal Jackson.
Michael Jackson
Jackie Robinson was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB).Robinson broke the baseball color line when he started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947.
Activity- play a game of baseball. If it’s too cold to play outdoors you can make your own paper baseballs and practice throwing them into a bin.
Jackie Robinson
Dr. Shirley Jackson
Dr. Shirley Jackson is an American physicist whose numerous developments in the telecommunication space includes the touch-tone telephone, the portable fax, caller ID, call waiting, and the fiber-optic cable.
Activity: Pretend to make calls on your telephone. This may also be a teachable moment to review your home number or 9-11. Please be mindful that many youngsters may try to call 9-11 after learning about it.
Lewis Latimer
Lewis Howard Latimer was an inventor and engineer. Among his accomplishments, he made the lightbulb more practical and contributed to the invention of the first telephone. Background: Latimer was born in Chelsea, Mass. His parents were slaves who had escaped from Virginia.
Activity: Create this lightbulb craft that is just in time for Valentine’s Day from Glued to my Blog.
Paul Robeson
Paul Robeson-Robeson’s physical strength, size and grace made him one of the elite sports figures of his generation, but his stature in other fields—music, theater, politics, human rights— eventually overshadowed his athletic greatness.
Activity: Read your child’s favorite story. Encourage your child to retell the story in his/her own words. Add on- have your child draw a scene from the story. Older children can use inventive spelling to write down a sentence about their drawing.
Garrett Morgan blazed a trail for African American inventors with his patents, including those for a hair-straightening product, a breathing device, a revamped sewing
machine and an improved traffic signal.
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Activity- create your own traffic light craft.
Garrett A. Morgan
Barack Hussein Obama II is an American politician and attorney who was the 44th president of the United States, from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the United States.
Activity: Color a photo of our former president from Crayola. Older children can attempt to make a silhouette craft.
Former President
Barack Obama
Onesimus- In 1706, an enslaved West African man was purchased for the prominent Puritan minister Cotton Mather by his congregation. Mather gave him the name Onesimus, after a Biblical slave whose name meant “useful. He provided a technique of inoculation that would later help to eradicate smallpox.
Activity- “Drawing blood” add red food coloring to water and add to an ice tray. Invite your child to use a pipette to transfer the water from the ice tray to a cup.
Onesimus
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Simone Biles
Simone Arianne Biles is an American artistic gymnast. With a combined total of 30 Olympic and World Championship medals, Biles is the most decorated American gymnast and the world's third most decorated gymnast.
Activity: Create an olympic ring craft like the one pictured here.
Langston Hughes wrote novels, short stories, plays, and poetry, and is also known for his engagement with the world of jazz and the influence it had on his writing, as in his book-length poem Montage of a Dream Deferred (Holt, 1951). His life and work were enormously important in shaping the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s.
Activity: Read the Poem, “ Dreams” . Invite your child to draw a picture about their favorite part of the poem. Discuss the differences between poetry and stories.
Langston Hughes
Mary Fields
Mary Fields also known as Stagecoach Mary and Black Mary, was a legend in the wild wild west. Mary became the
first African-American female
star route mail carrier in the United States.
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Activity: Create a special valentine for a friend or a family member. Hand- deliver your valentine to show your appreciation.
Black History
Book List
