28 Days of Black History

28 DAYS OF

BLACK HISTORY

© 2021 by A Black Child Can

INTRODUCTION February 1-5, 2021 is Black Lives Matter at School week. This national movement to promote racial justice in schools was founded in Seattle, Washington in 2016 to translate the work of the national movement to the school setting. By the following school year, the movement had grown to over 20 cities across the country, in an effort to affirm the lives of Black students, teachers, school leaders, and families. I encourage you to visit the movement’ s website, BlackLivesMatterAtSchool.com, to learn more about the organization, and to tap into the bevy of resources the organizers have for educators and families to approach these conversations.

When Carter G. Woodson first instituted Negro History Week in 1926, it was his hope that we’ d one day outgrow the need for a week celebrating the accomplishments and societal contributions of Black people in this country, because our stories would be integrated into mainstream curricula, just as they have been integrated into the fabric of our nation. Unfortunately, that has not been the case, and we are seeing a new wave of pushback against teaching Black history in schools, despite the fact that quantitative and qualitative data show that Black students do better in school when they are taught material that is relevant to their lived experiences.

Fifty years after the first Negro History Week, President Gerald Ford expanded the celebration to the entire month of February. In the pages that follow, you will find cultivated biographies and historical snippets celebrating the accomplishments and contributions of Black people in our country. I have worked to represent a range of Black experiences, across centuries of history, distilled into “28 Days of Black History.” Each lesson is accompanied by mini lesson plans broken down into age-appropriate activities to help students explore Black history through math, science, civics, social-emotional concepts, and of course, reading, writing, and research.

I’ ve relied heavily on resources that were already available through organizations like D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice, Black Lives Matter at School, and teacher resource sites like Teachers Pay Teachers to make sure activities align with national education standards. In my own annual celebration of Black History Month, I am intentional about recognizing many firsts in our history, but equally intentional about not allowing Black history month to be reduced to simply celebrating Black acceptance into white spaces, and you will notice that many of the figures and events on the pages that follow do not fit the traditional “first” mold. You may also notice that I am intentional about highlighting alumni of historically Black colleges and universities, and making note of the designation when appropriate. Because Black colleges (also) matter.

This guide focuses on the experiences of Black Americans, but it is intended as a learning resource for students of all backgrounds. After all, Black history is American (and world!) history, and all lives can’ t matter until Black Lives Matter. It is my sincere hope that you will use this booklet to springboard your independent study of Black history. The Black Lives Matter organization has a number of activity books, available in multiple languages, to help learners of all ages understand its guiding principles, if you’ re looking for a starting point.

Finally, I hope you’ ll share your students’ work with me via email at info@ablackchildcan.org — I’ d love to read/see/watch their Black history in the making!

Autumn A. Arnett, Founder, A Black Child Can

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FEBRUARY 1

"GREENSBORO FOUR" PROTEST RACIAL SEGREGATION AT AN N.C. LUNCH COUNTER On this day in 1960, four North Carolina State A&T University students — David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr., and Joseph McNeil — sat at a Whites-only Woolworth’ s lunch counter to protest segregation in public places.“I felt so at peace and so self-accepted at that very moment. Nothing has ever happened to me since then that topped that good feeling of being clean and fully accepted and feeling proud of me,” said said McCain at the 50th anniversary of the act in 2010.

According to some, the well-publicized February 1 Greensboro Woolworths sit-in was actually planned and originally supposed to be executed by students at Bennett College, a Black women’ s college in Greensboro, N.C. Because most of Bennett’ s students lived on campus and went home for the holidays, leaders were concerned about who would sustain the movement when the Belles went home for the Christmas break.

Five years before the Four, on a cold January day in Baltimore, Morgan State College student Helena Hicks and a group of her classmates went in Read’ s Drug Store to order a hot beverage. They were refused service, but they sat quietly at the counter waiting to be served anyway. One of her classmates, a student from Africa, risked deportation for breaking the law. But the students’ actions eventually led to a desegregation of Baltimore’ s lunch counters. After graduating from Morgan, Hicks enrolled at Howard University for graduate school — and she picked the cause back up, going into all the eateries up and down Rt. 1 on the journey 45 miles south to Washington, D.C.

The Greensboro Four revisited the Woolworth's counter for the 50th anniversary of their historic protest in 2010.

K3 - 2nd grade: Print and color this coloring page. Then hang it on your refrigerator to remind you of the importance of taking a stand for what you believe in!

3rd - 5th grade: Think about a time you did something that made you feel really proud of yourself. Imagine you have a pen pal, and write a friendly letter telling them about that experience. What did you do? Why did you do it? Was anyone else impacted by what you did, or was it just for you?

6th - 8th grade: Write a poem or other performance piece (monologue, one-act play, song, or others — be creative!) about why it is important for everyone to take a stand against injustice.

9th - 12th grade: Think about the impact made by students who are just a little older than you. Relate what the Greensboro Four and other HBCU students were facing in the 1960s with what we see happening in the country today, and discuss what you see as your role in ensuring justice and equity for everyone.

FEBRUARY 2

CELEBRATING VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS

On January 20, 2021, Kamala Harris was sworn in as the first woman vice president of the United States, making her the highest-ranking woman official in U.S. history. In 2017, she became the second African-American woman and the first person of South Asian descent to serve in the United States Senate after winning a seat to represent California in the 2016 election.

Before arriving in Congress, she served as the Attorney General for the state of California (2011-2017), and the District Attorney of San Francisco (2004-2011).Vice President Harris grew up in Oakland, California. She and her sister Maya are firstgeneration Americans; their mother immigrated to the U.S. from India, and their father from Jamaica. She and her sister experienced discrimination from other families in California, who wouldn’ t allow their children to play with Kamala and Maya when they visited their dad in Palo Alto, because the Harris sisters were Black.

Our vice president is a graduate of Howard University — an historically Black university in Washington, D.C. — and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, a service and social group for Black women, which was founded at Howard University in 1908.

Alpha Kappa Alpha was also the first Black sorority in the country. After Howard, Vice President Harris returned to her home state to attend law school at the University of California. She served as president of her campus’ s Black Law Students Association while at UC’ s Hastings College of the Law.

K3 - 2nd grade: Write a letter or record a short video (1-3 minutes) to the vice president. What do you want to tell her? What questions do you have for her? What do you want her to know about you?

3rd - 5th grade: Complete this iCivics activity on the role of the vice president.

6th - 8th grade: Complete this iCivics activity on the role of the vice president.

9th - 12th grade: Watch this Study.com video on the role of the vice president and take the quiz.

FEBRUARY 3

JACK JOHNSON WINS THE COLORED HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE OTD IN 1903 Jack Johnson became the first African-American heavyweight champion of the world after knocking out Canadian boxer Tommy Burns in 1908. But Johnson faced strict persecution under Jim Crow laws — the laws that mandated the separation of Blacks and Whites in American society, particularly the South. And prior to his win in the 1908 bout, which was held in Sydney, Australia, the Colored Heavyweight Championship of the World was the only championship title available to Black boxers.

After Johnson won in 1908, white sports writers in the U.S. began calling for a “great white hope” to beat Johnson and restore the title to a white boxer, but no one could.

After Johnson beat yet another white boxer, formerly undefeated heavyweight champion James Jeffries on July 4, 1910, riots ensued across the United States. Many White Americans, livid over the fact that their champion had lost to a Black boxer, incited violence in cities across the country. More than 20 people were killed, and hundreds were injured, most of whom were Black. Racists in the country had succeeded in denying Black people access to education, political power, and economic advancement, but they could not stop Jack Johnson from achieving success in the sport of boxing.

Johnson would remain the heavyweight champion of the world until 1915.He was one of America’ s first celebrity athletes, with product endorsements just like today’ s top athletes. He lived a flashy lifestyle and was well-known for his love for fast race cars.

Johnson continued to irritate racists in the South by bucking against Jim Crow laws his entire life.

K3 - 2nd grade: Make a poster showing how you will respect others and stand up for them when they are being treated unfairly.

3rd - 5th grade: Read the porquoi (meaning “why” in French) tale, “Why frogs and snakes never play together.” Then, find objects in your house — or make your own puppets! — to act out the play. Think about these questions as you act out the play: How should people treat other people who may be different from them? How do people develop prejudice, racism and intolerance of others?

6th - 8th grade: Jim Crow was the law of the land until the Civil Rights Movement sparked change. Read this short article about the Civil Rights Movement, then answer these three questions in a short essay. Your essay should have an introduction, a conclusion, and three body paragraphs. 1. According to Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad what are some of the similarities and differences between the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s and Black Lives Matter? 2. How do you think that the challenges for Black Lives Matter compare to the challenges faced by Dr. King and those involved in the Civil Rights Movement? 3. Should young people involved in BLM learn from and work with older generations or is it important for them to work independently?

9th - 12th grade: Reflect on why the success of Jack Johnson made so many people upset in a one-page essay. Optional viewing: “Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson”

FEBRUARY 4

BENJAMIN BANNEKER: INVENTOR OF THE WOODEN CLOCK, AND AMERICA'S FIRST BLACK CIVIL ENGINEER

Benjamin Banneker was born as a free man near Baltimore, Maryland in 1731. They did not have schools for Black children when he was growing up, but he loved to read and borrowed books from anyone who would lend them to him so he could educate himself on various topics. He was particularly good at math. At the age of 20, he invented a wooden clock. To build his clock, he had borrowed a pocket watch from a wealthy friend. Banneker took the watch apart, deconstructing all of its pieces and drawing detailed drawings of each part, which he later carved out of wood. He reassembled the watch and used his drawings to guide him to build his clock. Banneker also studied astronomy, or the study of planets and celestial beings. Astronomy relies very heavily on math, physics, and chemistry to better understand the origins of our world. Banneker accurately predicted a solar eclipse in 1789.

Banneker used his talents to help plan the layout of Washington, D.C., which would become the capital of the United States. He also wrote an annual almanac based on his predictions in medicine and astronomy, the first copy of which he sent to Thomas Jefferson, who was at the time U.S. Secretary of State, along with a letter questioning Jefferson’ s role as a slaveholder. In his letter, Banneker pointed out the contradictions between the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights and the continuation of slavery and the mistreatment of Black people in the U.S. Banneker carefully thought through why he was the right person to challenge Thomas Jefferson; by sending a copy of his almanac, he was showing his intellectual ability — directly challenging Jefferson’ s idea that Black people were morally and intellectually inferior to whites. He believed his own accomplishments were proof of what Black people could do if they weren’ t facing the pressures and tyranny of slavery.

Benjamin Banneker is considered the first Black “scientist of distinction” and one of the first Black civil engineers in the U.S.

K3 - 2nd grade: Do this fun time telling activity in honor of Benjamin Banneker, inventor of the clock! You’ll need dice, paper, and buttons or paper fascinators.

3rd - 5th grade: Watch this video about Benjamin Banneker and his clock. Then use a paper plate to create a clock where mathematical expressions replace the numbers. Try one version using only prime numbers, and a second using only composites.

6th - 8th grade: Watch this video about Benjamin Banneker and his clock. Then complete this activity to make your own clock. You should write problems involving fractions and algebraic instructions.

9th - 12th grade: Benjamin Banneker had to rely on the principles of scaling and proportion to get his clock right, because his wooden clock’s parts were larger than those of a pocket watch. Complete this scaling activity with a comic (or any picture of your choice) to better understand the process of calculating the pieces to scale.

FEBRUARY 5

BARACK OBAMA BECOMES THE FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT OF THE HARVARD LAW REVIEW OTD IN 1990 Former President Barack Obama became the first Black president when he was elected on November 4, 2008. It was an historic first for our country, but not the first time President Obama would make history. That honor came February 5, 1990 when he was elected president of the Harvard Law Review. In the 1990s, Harvard Law School was fraught with racial protests, as students demanded the university hire more Black and Latino professors, and to make sure a Black woman was hired to the faculty.

President Obama, as he was jokingly called even then by his peers, aligned with Professor Derrick Bell, the first Black tenured professor at Harvard’ s Law School and a pioneer of critical race theory, which guides much of our thinking on race and inequities today. Watch this video on President Obama talking about the realization that while he was making history, many of the opportunities he’ d had were not available to kids who looked like him.

President Obama’ s classmates at Harvard Law School remember him as the same cool, calm and collected figure many admired about him as president. He was a good diplomat, who was good at bridging divides between groups on campus, and a really good basketball player. One of his classmates said he was “like Michael Jordan out there with a college team.” He was also very well respected by professors and classmates, and even though he was often the smartest person in any room he was in, he wasn’ t the kind of person who needed to remind you of it, classmates said. “Everyone thought they could talk to him, and he would listen, and there would be places he could find common ground with you,” said one of his former Conservative classmates.

K3 - 2nd grade: Watch this animated narration of President Barack Obama’s children’s book, “Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters,” and talk with your parents on the kind of America our former president hopes for for children like you!

3rd - 5th grade: Watch this interview with former President Barack Obama and “Kid President” Robby Novak about how kids and adults can work together to create a more equal America. Then, use your parents’ phone to record a video in which you and a family member discuss how you can work together to build a more fair America.

6th - 8th grade: President Obama celebrated progress for himself while recognizing not everyone had the same opportunities. Are there areas in your life where you feel like you’ve had a chance to do something that others may not have been able to experience? What privileged you to be able to do that thing? What kept others from being able to do the same? Write a journal entry acknowledging the ways we have made progress as a country and talk about how you can help others have similar experiences.

9th - 12th grade: Create a performance piece (song/poem/monologue/one-act play) about the different Americas — one in which we can see a first Black woman inaugurated as vice president exactly two weeks after anarchists stormed the Capitol to protest the election results that put her in that office while waving a flag that inherently represents the enslavement of people who look like her. How do you feel about these two very different experiences? How can you help reconcile them?

FEBRUARY 6

MARCUS GARVEY & THE “BACK TO AFRICA” MOVEMENT

On February 6, 1820, the first group of emancipated formerly enslaved people left New York headed for Sierra Leone. Both Black and White people were torn on the idea — some dissenters said it was a white supremacist idea that let the country off the hook for reconciling the ways in which slavery was harming Black people in this country. But supporters of the movement said America was too racist for Black people to thrive, and they should return to the land of their ancestors.

Marcus Garvey was only two years old when that first boat left the U.S. to head back to Africa, but he became one of the most vocal supporters of the “Back to Africa” movement.

Garvey was a political activist and entrepreneur who spent his life helping to define the Black Nationalist and Pan African Movements. He wanted to unite Africans, and people of African descent, no matter where they lived, and encouraged Black people to develop their own cultural, political, and economic systems. In other words, Garvey thought if Black people across the globe all decided to go back to Africa and band together against colonization and white supremacy, they could build their very own Wakanda.

Garvey once said, “I trust that you will so live today as to realize that you are masters of your own destiny, masters of your fate; if there is anything you want in this world, it is for you to strike out with confidence and faith in self and reach for it.”

K3 - 2nd grade: Watch this video on the life of Marcus Garvey and discuss with an adult.

3rd - 5th grade: Write a story about what your own Wakanda would look like. It can be a comic book, like “Black Panther,” or a children’s storybook. Be sure to illustrate it in a way that introduces readers to your new country!

6th - 8th grade: Think about what it means to be the master of your own destiny. What would that look like?

What could you achieve if there were no barriers in your way? Write a short story about a young person your age who is embodying Garvey’s quote about self determination.

9th - 12th grade: Read “the Declaration of Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World.” Do you feel these demands are still relevant? Is there anything you’d add or take out to achieve a more equitable society?

FEBRUARY 7

DR. CARTER G. WOODSON & THE ORIGINS OF NEGRO HISTORY WEEK

Carter G. Woodson believed Black people should know their past in order to participate intelligently in the affairs in our country. He was one of the first scholars of AfricanAmerican history, and the founder of Black History Week, which we now celebrate as Black History Month. Woodson was known for saying, “Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history.” He believed history was part gathering of facts and timelines, and part recording of societal factors that contributed to those facts and dates.

Woodson was born to two formerly enslaved parents, and he grew up very poor. In fact, he often missed school to help the family work their farm. Nevertheless, he grew up to be one of the most important scholars and thinkers of our time. A former teacher and principal, Woodson received his bachelor’ s degree from Berea College, which was the first college in the South to be racially integrated and coeducational — meaning anyone could study there without discrimination. He was a school supervisor in the Philippines before earning a master’ s degree from the University of Chicago, and later a Ph.D. from Harvard University. His enduring hope was that one day we would no longer need Black history month, because all Americans would willingly recognize the contributions of Black Americans as an important and necessary part of American history.

The first Black History Week celebration began February 7, 1926. The celebration expanded to the full month of February when then-President Gerald Ford officially recognized it during the country’ s 200th birthday in 1976.

K3 - 2nd grade: Even though this is the time we set apart to celebrate Black history month, everyone can celebrate Black history all year! Watch this cool Black History month song on youtube and dance along!

3rd - 5th grade: We’re all history makers, and all have a role to play in preserving and advancing our history.

Ask your parents to use their phone to help you record a short video about how you are or will make history, and send it to us so we can celebrate you!

6th - 8th grade: Carter G. Woodson hoped one day we would not need Black History Week or Month, because everyone would be taught the contributions of Black Americans in their regular classes. Write a persuasive letter to Dr. Woodson explaining whether you think we still need Black history month. Use evidence to support your answer.

9th - 12th grade: Many states and the federal government have threatened to withhold funding from schools that teach slavery, and many white parents have fought against efforts to introduce Black history curriculum into schools. Why do you think this is? What can be done to ensure everyone in the country is aware of the important and necessary contributions of Black Americans? Draft a letter to your district’s superintendent sharing three concrete ideas for how to solve this problem, and why it’s important. Then mail it, and encourage your friends to do the same!

FEBRUARY 8

DEBI THOMAS: THE BEST BLACK FIGURE SKATER IN HISTORY

Debi Thomas is known as the best Black figure skater in history. And on this day in 1986, she won the World Championship for figure skating. She had also won the U.S. national title and was named ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year award that same year.

She was the first female athlete to win those titles while attending college full-time since the 1950s. She was a pre-med student at Stanford University at the time, which was very unusual for a top skater. Though many other athletes compete in college, most colleges don’ t have figure skating teams, and thus most top skaters do not try to go to college while they’ re competing. But Debi Thomas was different.

She was the first Black woman to hold the U.S. National titles in ladies' singles figure skating, and she received a Candace Award for Trailblazing from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women. In 1988, she became the first black person — man or woman — to win a medal in the Winter Olympics. She won bronze.

She later graduated from Stanford, and went on to graduate from Northwestern Medical School. She became an orthopedic surgeon and opened her own practice. Here’ s a video of Debi Thomas skating in the 1986 Olympics.

K3 - 2nd grade: Talk about it: It was really hard for Debi Thomas to focus on being a top skater while being a college student. In fact, most figure skaters don’t even try to do both! Talk about a time you did something that was really hard. Did you do two things at once like Debi Thomas, or just one really hard thing? How did you use good problem solving skills to get through it?

3rd - 5th grade: Write a short story about a character who has to balance two hard things at the same time.

How does your character manage both things? What helps the character get them done? Is there maybe a superpower your character has, or a really helpful friend?

6th - 8th grade: Balancing multiple demanding priorities can be challenging. Have you thought about your goals for the future? Write one easy goal and one hard goal for: 1) The rest of this school year; 2) The next 5 years; 3) The next 10 years. Then, under each goal, write 3 things you will do to make sure you achieve it.

9th - 12th grade: Balancing multiple demanding priorities can be challenging. Have you thought about your goals for the future? Write one easy goal and one hard goal for: 1) The rest of this school year; 2) The next 5 years; 3) The next 10 years. Then, under each goal, write 3 things you will do to make sure you achieve it.

FEBRUARY 9

SHIRLEY CHISHOLM, FIRST BLACK WOMAN IN CONGRESS, AND THE FIRST WOMAN TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT

Shirley Chisholm was born in Brooklyn to two Caribbean immigrant parents; her dad was born in British Guiana and raised in Barbados, and her mom was from Barbados. She was raised for a time by her grandmother in Barbados, whom she said taught her strength, dignity, and love, and taught her that she was somebody important.

In college, Shirley Chisholm became a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority — a social and service club for Black women — and a member of the Harriet Tubman Society, where she advocated for an integrated military that would treat Black servicemen equally.

She was a teacher and a community organizer before deciding to go into politics. In December 1964, she was elected to the New York State Assembly — which is like the state’ s version of Congress. There, she argued for language inclusion in the state’ s literacy test, saying that just because a person is more comfortable with his or her native language, that doesn’ t mean that person is less smart.

In 1968, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where she would take her seat as the first Black woman in Congress, and the first member of Congress from Brooklyn. In 1971, she and other Black members of Congress formed the Congressional Black Caucus to organize the collective voting power of Black legislators. On January 25, 1972, she launched her campaign for president, becoming the first Black major-party candidate and the first woman to run for president.

K3 - 2nd grade: Talk about it: What would you do if you were president for a day?

3rd - 5th grade: Shirley Chisholm was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, one of the two houses of the legislative branch. Complete this exercise to learn about what the representatives do, and who is representing you!

6th - 8th grade: You get to be a legislator for a day! Play iCivics’ LawCraft game to see what Shirley Chisholm’s job entailed in Congress.

9th - 12th grade: Complete this activity to learn about the role of Congressional committees.

FEBRUARY 10

THE NEGRO LEAGUES — AND THE BLACK COLLEGES THAT POWERED THEM Major League baseball recently reclassified the Negro leagues as major leagues and decided to recognize the statistics and contributions of those players to the game. But for Black Americans, the Negro Leagues have long been considered major leagues, and many argue that the accomplishments of these players, who played on unfair grounds and with often inadequate equipment, are even greater, given the barriers they faced. But during the time the leagues existed, between 1920 and 1948, Black players — and to a lesser extent, Latino players — were not allowed to play in the all-white Major League Baseball.

The best untold story of Black baseball in the United States is the one in which the pursuit of a higher education was front and centerfield in the lives of many Black baseball players.

“When we go back and we look at the stereotypical perception of Black athletes, particularly in that era, it was that they weren’ t smart enough to play in the major leagues,” said Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. The perception that Black players were not smart enough to play in the major league was particularly ironic given that more Negro League players had a college education than Major Leaguers, seeing as Major League baseball recruited players right out of high school into its farm system.

An estimated 40 percent of Negro League players had college educations, and most were from historically Black colleges and universities, according to Kendrick.“The Negro Leagues didn’ t have a minor league system like the major leagues did. Their primary source of recruiting their workforce was on the HBCU campuses,” said Kendrick, who added that Negro League teams did spring training on HBCU campuses as well as played in exhibition games against the HBCU teams. “These men weren’ t the vagabonds or tramps they’ re being sold as,” Kendrick said. “They were very well-educated men who did significant things with their lives after their (baseball) careers.”

K3 - 2nd grade: Negro league players, like all baseball players, had to have great vision to make sure they swing at just the right time. Get a grown-up to help you complete this activity to test your baseball vision.

3rd - 5th grade: Negro league players, like all baseball players, had to have great vision to make sure they swing at just the right time. Complete this activity to test your baseball vision.

6th - 8th grade: Could you make it in the Negro Leagues? Complete this reaction time activity to see if you have what it takes.

9th - 12th grade: Imagine you are building a new stadium for your favorite Negro League team. Complete the “Stadium Consultants” activity to learn how to get the most for your money.

FEBRUARY 11

KAREN WEAVER'S FAMILY FULL OF FIRSTS Karen Williams Weaver became the first female mayor of Flint, Michigan when she was elected in 2015. Her father, Dr. T. Wendell Williams, was Flint’ s first Black member of the school board, and her mother, Marion Coates Williams, was its first Black public school teacher. She left home to attend Tougaloo College, an historically Black college in Mississippi.

After receiving her doctorate in clinical psychology, she practiced psychology in Flint and was an advocate for getting clean water to the city. Once she took over as mayor, she was instrumental in getting state and federal leaders to acknowledge the crisis and allocate money toward it, freeing up some of the pressure on the city’ s funds. Student leaders at Tougaloo recently organized a water drive to support their fellow Bulldog in her efforts to get safe drinking water for residents of her city.

She worked hard to get the city’ s lead pipes replaced and establish the physical and behavioral health service support systems for people hurt by the city’ s contaminated water. Weaver also fought to improve the economic climate of a city where more than 40% of people live in poverty. “I’ m not scared. I like to take a risk and I don’ t give up easily,” she said in a recent interview.

K3 - 2nd grade: A mayor is the leader of a local town or city, someone who is very focused on the community in which they live. Talk with a friend or family member and answer these questions: What is community? How and why is your community special? Are we more than the labels that are sometimes applied to us, such as “teacher” or “student”? How can our ideas be presented so others will understand them well?

3rd - 5th grade: Mayors are leaders of local towns or cities. They focus on the problems of the communities in which they live. Complete this coloring page and activity on the importance of community.

6th - 8th grade: Karen Williams Weaver wanted to follow her family’s footsteps and improve the quality of life for residents in her hometown. Watch this short video, then in a short essay, address the question: How do we help people acknowledge that there is a problem and then engage in respectful discourse?

9th - 12th grade: Crises like lead in water in predominantly Black cities are an example of environmental injustice. Watch the video “Crash Course in Philosophy: Justice” and take notes on the different kinds of justice. Then think about these questions: Should entitlement be a factor in the distribution of justice? What things should be in place for a just society? Which type(s) of justice do you believe is practiced in our society?

Use your thoughts on these questions to create a (an ideal) definition of justice.

FEBRUARY 12

THE NAACP & JAMES WELDON JOHNSON, ITS FIRST BLACK EXECUTIVE SECRETARY

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded on this day in 1909 by an interracial group that included some of the best Black thinkers of the time, including W.E.B. Du Bois and Ida Wells-Barnett.

James Weldon Johnson, the organization’ s first Black executive secretary, was born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1871. At the age of 16, he enrolled at Atlanta University, which was founded just six years before his birth as the first Black graduate institution in the U.S. At Atlanta University, Johnson partook in the institution’ s traditional classical education. It was there that he learned he had a responsibility to help his race. Following his freshman year, he taught formerly enslaved students at a rural school in Georgia, and he would continue teaching in segregated schools even after he graduated. After graduation, he moved to New York, where he was heavily involved in civil rights activism, especially around anti-lynching policy.

In 1897, Johnson was the first Black person admitted to the Florida Bar Exam since the Reconstruction era ended. He was also the first Black person in Duval County to seek admission to the state bar. One of the examiners left the room in protest, because he didn’ t want to see a Black man admitted to the bar. He wrote a poem, "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" to honor Booker T. Washington, a formerly enslaved man who went on to found Tuskegee Institute to teach vocations to formerly enslaved people in Alabama. The poem was recited to Washington, who was visiting the Stanton School where Johnson was teaching, as a tribute to Abraham Lincoln's birthday, which is also February 12. His brother Rosamond Johnson put the poem to music, and today it is known as the Black National Anthem.

President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him as United States consul at Puerto Cabello, Venezuela from 1906 to 1908, and to Nicaragua from 1909 to 1913. In 1917, he began his career with the NAACP as a field secretary, but by 1920, he had worked his way up to executive secretary, one of the highest positions in the organization.

K3 - 2nd grade: Watch this illustrated read-along/sing-along of “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” and see if you can sing along!

3rd - 5th grade: Watch this version of “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” with spoken word and monologues. What do the words in the video mean to you?

6th - 8th grade: Watch this version of “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing with spoken word and monologues. Then write a performance piece (poem, spoken word or short monologue) that you might add to this collection of voices in the video.

9th - 12th grade: Watch this version of “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing with spoken word and monologues. Then write a performance piece (poem, spoken word or short monologue) that you might add to this collection of voices in the video.

FEBRUARY 13

REMEMBERING THE OAKLAND COMMUNITY SCHOOL The Oakland Community School was founded in 1973 by the Black Panther Party. It was initially started as a place to educate the children of the movement while their parents were on the frontlines, but it would become a laboratory for what poor, Black children could achieve in an educational environment built for them.

The Black Panther Party’ s demands for education were outlined in point five of the party’ s 10-point plan: “We want decent education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American society. We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in present-day society. We believe in an educational system that will give our people a knowledge of self. If you do not have the knowledge of yourself and your position in society and the world, then you will have little chance to know anything else.”

Former school director Erica Huggins said the school leaders focused on critical thinking — “teaching students how to think, not what to think” — and making sure Black students were taught their history and contributions to society. Today, school leaders call this “culturally relevant” teaching, but for the Panthers it just made sense that Black children should be taught about themselves. The Oakland Community School pioneered much of what we know to be the best ideas in schooling today, but its leaders are often not recognized as the pioneers they were. They laid the foundation for the free breakfast program that many students today benefit from; most of the students were poor, and their parents worked long hours, so they were fed breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the school. Students participated in meditation and mindfulness activities, and there were peer-led justice committees to deal with disputes and conflict. Today, we call this restorative justice.

K3 - 2nd grade: Talk about it: If you could invent your own school, what would happen at your school? How would it be the same as your current school? How would it be different? What would your teacher teach you?

3rd - 5th grade: Talk about it: How do the ideas and demands of the Black Panther Party relate to Carter G. Woodson’s ideas about education? Why do you think it was important to both Woodson and the founders of the Black Panther Party that students learn Black history?

6th - 8th grade: How do the ideas and demands of the Black Panther Party relate to Carter G. Woodson’s ideas about education? Why do you think it was important to both Woodson and the founders of the Black Panther Party that students learn Black history? Write an essay answering these questions. Your essay should have an introduction and a conclusion, and three body paragraphs.

9th - 12th grade: Carter G. Woodson and the Black Panther Party had similar ideas — nearly 50 years apart — about the importance of teaching Black history in schools. Today, we are still seeing most districts across the country grappling with whether to incorporate Black history courses. Some have opted to add them as an elective, and some are still not teaching Black history at all. Why do you think this conversation has continued with little movement for nearly a century? What do you think it will take to make real progress? Write an essay answering these questions. Your essay should have an introduction and a conclusion, and at least three body paragraphs.

FEBRUARY 14

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FREDERICK DOUGLASS! Frederick Douglass was born into slavery on this day in 1818 in Maryland. At the age of 12, he began secretly teaching himself to read and write, by observing the white children as they worked on their studies. Once he learned to read, he read as many newspaper articles about the growing abolition movement as he could find. He taught other enslaved people how to read for themselves, which got him in a lot of trouble.

On September 3, 1838, he successfully ran away by disguising himself as a sailor. He boarded a train for the north, and landed in New York, where he reunited with Anna Murray, a free Black woman whom he had secretly married 11 days earlier. Once free, he gave himself the last name Douglass. The couple moved to Massachusetts, where Douglass began giving speeches about his life as a former slave. Those speeches stirred white abolitionists to fight harder to end slavery. He wrote several books about his experiences, including, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, My Bondage and My Freedom, and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. He is also known for publishing the North Star, a weekly abolitionist newspaper.

In addition to being a strong supporter of human rights and the anti-slavery movement, Frederick Douglass was also a strong supporter of women’ s rights, and an advocate for the rights of Black soldiers who fought in the Civil War. He visited with Congress and president Abraham Lincoln to push for equal pay and fair treatment of the Black soldiers. Under pressure from Douglass, Lincoln warned the Confederate Army that for every Black prisoner of war they killed, the Union Army would kill one of their soldiers.

Douglass was once nominated vice president of the United States by the Equal Rights Party, and he worked with President Andrew Jackson to get Black men the right to vote, which was granted in 1870 by the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

K3 - 2nd grade: Take this quiz on the life of Frederick Douglass.

3rd - 5th grade: Complete this primary source activity, based on the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.

6th - 8th grade: Independent research: Complete lesson one from this activity on media literacy. Then, find three credible sources to help you fill in this graphic organizer.

9th - 12th grade: Reading was a revolutionary for Frederick Douglass; slave masters prevented enslaved Americans from reading or writing, and they could get in trouble, or even be killed for doing it. Why do you think this was? What revolutionary acts can you take to advance the causes of Black people in this country?

Make a brochure encouraging fellow classmates to take action with you.

FEBRUARY 15

KATHERINE JOHNSON’S GIRL POWER Katherine Johnson was born in 1918. She was good at math from a young age, but when she was growing up, public schools for Black children in West Virginia stopped after 8th grade.

Her family decided she would attend Institute, West Virginia, a high school located on the campus of West Virginia State College (now West Virginia State University), which was a college founded for Black students in the area. At the time, Black students and white students were not allowed to go to the same schools. Katherine enrolled in the high school at the age of 10, and graduated when she was 14. When she graduated, she went on to attend West Virginia State College, where she took every math class offered on campus. Her professors actually created new math classes just for her. She graduated summa cum laude — the highest honors! — at the age of 18 with degrees in math and French, and went on to be a school teacher.

After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states which provided a school to white students had to provide in-state education to blacks as well (States could satisfy this requirement by allowing blacks and whites to attend the same school or creating a second school for blacks), she was one of three Black students hand selected to integrate West Virginia University’ s graduate school. She was the first Black woman to attend WVU’ s graduate school. She left teaching in public schools and decided to pursue a career as a research mathematician.

In the summer of 1953, she was hired as a “computer” at the brand new NASA research center in Langley, Virginia. In the ‘ 50s, before computers existed, humans had to do the calculations for complex math problems by hand. Katherine and the other computers analyze data from flight tests and examining turbulence in the wake of plane crashes. She calculated the trajectories for the May 5, 1961 flight that launched the first American into space. In 1963, astronaut John Glenn refused to get in the rocket that would launch him to be the first American to orbit the earth. She worked on the calculations for many other missions, including the Apollo 11 and Apollo 13 launches.

K3 - 2nd grade: Print and color this coloring page. Then hang it on your refrigerator to remind you that you can be a math superstar, whether you are a boy or a girl!

3rd - 5th grade: Complete the chart about Katherine Johnson’s life. You can either print the chart or fill it in on your computer.

6th - 8th grade: There has been lots of talk about statues and monuments and who deserves to have one in public spaces. Do you think Katherine Johnson should have a statue in your city? Why or why not? Write a five paragraph persuasive essay to the mayor of your city explaining your position. Your essay should have an introduction, a conclusion, and three body paragraphs.

9th - 12th grade: Katherine Johnson faced being a double minority — Black and a woman — in a field that primarily employed men, and few Blacks. Think about what you might like to study in college, and write a personal essay that examines any barriers to pursuing that field. They could be perceived barriers, like you’re not sure if you’d be good at the thing, or actual barriers, like the ones Katherine Johnson faced. Then come up with a plan for how you might overcome those barriers. Will you seek out mentors in the field who look like you? Dedicate extra study time? What is your plan of attack to make sure you achieve your goals? Your essay should have an introduction and conclusion statement, and should be between 500 - 650 words.

FEBRUARY 16

ALICIA GARZA, OPAL TOMETTI, & PATRISSE CULLORS: BLACK LIVES MATTER! In 2013, three Black women started a movement. The man who had killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was walking home from the corner store with snacks when he was shot, had just gone free. The women, like many Black people around the country at the time, were frustrated with the fact that the justice system seemed to continue to show that the lives of Black men, women, and children were not valued the same as the lives of others. Alicia Garza wrote, “"I continue to be surprised at how little Black lives matter...

Our lives matter” on her Facebook page, and a movement was born. Black Lives Matter is not a political statement; it is an affirmation of Black people’ s humanity, contributions to this society, and strength and resilience in the face of deadly oppression.

Alicia Garza was born in Oakland, California in 1981. She grew up in a mixed-race, mixed-religion neighborhood in the city, and was raised as Alicia Schwartz, adopting her Jewish stepfather’ s name and religion. As a teenager, her interest in activism was sparked, and she rallied for school sex education and the availability of birth control. She enrolled at the University of California at San Diego, where she would consider her activism. Garza is married to trans man, Malachai Garza, and she herself identifies as queer; part of the Black Lives Matter priorities is ensuring all Black voices are amplified, including those from the LGBTQ community, which has often been silenced.

Opal Tometti grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and is the daughter of Nigerian immigrants.

She attended the University of Arizona, and received a master’ s from Arizona State University before co-founding the first national immigrant rights organization for people of African descent, the Black Alliance for Just Immigration.

Patrisse Cullors was forced out of her parents’ home at the age of 16 after confiding in her parents her queer identity. As a young teen, she was involved in activism around labor movements in her community, and studied the history of revolutionaries, critical theory and social movements from around the world, while practicing activism. But Cullors also had experienced her brother being brutalized while in prison, which led her to focus heavily on prison, militarization and police abolishment. Before co-founding Black Lives Matter, she served as executive director of the Coalition to End Sheriff Violence in L.A. Jails, which called for a civilian commission to oversee the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in order to curb abuses by officers.

K3 - 2nd grade: A lot of people mistakenly confuse Black Lives Matter as a group that advocates for violent protests. But in fact, one of the principles of Black Lives Matter is loving engagement, which means working to treat everyone fairly and peacefully. Complete this activity on loving engagement, then color the first page and hang it on your fridge to remind you to treat everyone with fairness and peace!

3rd - 5th grade: A lot of people mistakenly confuse Black Lives Matter as a group that advocates for violent protests. But in fact, one of the principles of Black Lives Matter is loving engagement, which means working to treat everyone fairly and peacefully. Complete this activity on loving engagement, then color the first page and hang it on your fridge to remind you to treat everyone with fairness and peace!

6th - 12th grade: Patrisse Cullors was thrown out of her house as a teen for telling her parents she was queer. Complete this activity on what it means to be queer affirming, and reflect on a time you felt like your parents would be disappointed in you. How did that feel? How can you commit to making sure other people feel affirmed, no matter how they may be different from you? (Alternatively, you can complete this activity on loving engagement as you reflect on the same questions.)

FEBRUARY 17

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HUEY P. NEWTON! Black Panther Party founder Huey P. Newton was born in Monroe, Louisiana on this day in 1942. Monroe had a history of violence against Black people; a 2015 report found the county in which it sat had the fifth-highest number of lynchings in the country.

Newton’ s family moved to Oakland, California to escape the violence when he was young, but he said Oakland made him feel ashamed to be Black. “I did not have one teacher who taught me anything relevant to my own life or experience. Not one instructor ever awoke in me a desire to learn more or to question or to explore the worlds of literature, science, and history. All they did was try to rob me of the sense of my own uniqueness and worth, and in the process nearly killed my urge to inquire,” he wrote in his autobiography, Revolutionary Suicide.

As a result, Newton graduated from Oakland Technical High School still unable to read. He taught himself how to read and enrolled at Merritt College in Oakland, where he earned an associate’ s degree, pledged Phi Beta Sigma fraternity — an organization founded at Howard University for Black men — and met Bobby Seale, who would join him as co-founder of the Black Panther Party. When he graduated from Merritt in 1966, it was common for Black people in Oakland to be targets of police violence and harassment, so Newton and Seale started the Black Panther party for Self Defense to patrol Black neighborhoods and protect the residents. The party would expand to include over 60 different programs to help the Black community, including food banks, medical clinics, sickle cell anemia tests, a bus service for people who had a family member in prison to go visit their loved ones, legal aid, clothing banks, housing communities, and their own ambulance service. They also founded the Oakland Community School on the idea that the best thing for Black children was to have Black teachers and be taught Black history.

Newton said he began to question everything after he learned how to read, especially what was happening in his family and the community around him. He was hungry for knowledge and enrolled back in college; he went on to earn a bachelor’ s degree at the University of California at Santa Cruz, and continued on to earn his Ph.D. He also cofounded the Black Panther Newspaper Service, which became one of the most widely distributed Black newspapers in the country.

K3 - 2nd grade: Watch this animated video to learn more about Huey P. Newton’s life 3rd - 5th grade: Complete this worksheet on the life of Huey P. Newton.

6th - 8th grade: Read the Black Panther Party’s Ten Point Plan. Do you think their requests were fair? Why or why not? Create a poster with your own Ten Point Plan. What things are most important to you in forming a more perfect union, which the founders of this country described as a goal in the U.S. Constitution?

9th - 12th grade: Read the Black Panther Party’s Ten Point Plan. Then watch this video on the preamble of the Constitution of the United States. How are the things Huey Newton and the founders of the Black Panther Party valued similar to the things the founders of this country valued? How are they different? Why do you think Newton needed to re-emphasize and expand on rights and values that were supposed to be part of the fabric of this nation? What does this tell you about how democracy works in our country, and who is traditionally left out? Write your own social contract with America for a more perfect union. What values are most important to you? What role should the government play in making sure people can access those values?

FEBRUARY 18

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TONI MORRISON!

Toni Morrison grew up in a poor family in Lorain, Ohio, where her father had moved to escape the terror of lynchings in the South. Morrison attended Howard University, an historically Black university in Washington, D.C. She went on to earn a master’ s degree from Cornell University. After graduation, she taught English at Texas Southern University, an historically Black college in Houston, and at her alma mater, Howard. It was her parents who instilled in her a love of stories; she learned heritage and language through their traditional African-American folktales, ghost stories, and songs. She would grow up to mix all of these literary forms into her novels about racism and the Black American experience.

She won many awards as she shed light on the experiences and conditions of Black people, especially Black women, in this country. One of her novels, Beloved, was made into a movie. Morrison won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993, making her the first Black woman to win the honor. She was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom

by President Barack Obama in 2012, and she was inducted into the National Women’ s Hall of Fame in 2020, one year after her death.

K3 - 2nd grade: Toni Morrison told stories about people who were not always treated fairly. Complete this activity and coloring page on globalism, then hang it on your refrigerator to remind you to think about ways to keep things fair for everyone around the world.

3rd - 5th grade: Toni Morrison wrote stories about people whose stories weren’t often represented. Think about the idea that winners get to tell the stories that shape our understanding of the world. What do you think this means about the stories we are not hearing? Pick a character in your favorite story who is either painted as a villain or who we don’t know much about. Then, write your own story about that character. Who is the character really? What experiences have shaped his or her personality and led to the actions we do know from the story? What should people know about this character that the “winner” in the traditional story left out?

6th - 12th grade: Toni Morrison was a masterful storyteller. Watch this TED talk on “the danger of the single story, and answer the following questions: Why did Adichie tell the story of Fide and her experience visiting his village? How does this example help her deliver the message of her speech? What is the harm in reducing a person, group, or even continent to a single story? Why do you think that we often only have a single story about people from foreign lands? What historical and political reasons does Adichie offer? Think about your life. Can you recall a time when you felt someone reduced you to a single story? How did it make you feel?

How can we reject the single story?

FEBRUARY 19

MINNIE JOYCELYN ELDERS, THE FIRST BLACK SURGEON GENERAL OF THE U.S.

Minnie Joycelyn Elders became the first Black United States Surgeon General when she was appointed to the post by President Bill Clinton in 1993. It was only the latest of the firsts she had achieved.

The daughter of sharecroppers in Arkansas, she graduated valedictorian of her high school class and became the first in her family to go to college when she enrolled at Philander Smith College, an historically Black college in Little Rock, Arkansas. After graduation, she would go on to be the first person in the state of Arkansas of any race to become board certified in pediatric endocrinology, and the first African-American public health administrator. Then-Governor Clinton appointed her Director of the Arkansas Department of Health in 1987, making her the first woman and the first African-American to hold that office as well.

Elders was fully aware that her being Black and female put an additional target on her back.“Some people in the American Medical Association, a certain group of them, didn’ t even know that I was a physician. And they were passing a resolution to say that from now on every Surgeon General must be a physician — which was a knock at me,” she said.

“They don’ t expect a black female to have accomplished what I have and to have done the things that I have.”

“I am who I am because I’ m a Black woman,” she said.

K3 - 2nd grade: Talk about it: Minnie Joycelyn Elders said “I am who I am because I’m a Black woman.” What Black women do you know? What words would you use to describe them?

3rd - 5th grade: Minnie Joycelyn Elders said “I am who I am because I’m a Black woman.” Complete this activity on a Black woman you admire and hang it on your refrigerator!

6th - 8th grade: Read “Poetry in a Time of Protest.” Then, in a short essay, answer the following questions: What do you think of the statement in the opening image? How can and have women made a difference? Why is it important to recognize the influence and power of black women? Your essay should have an introduction and a conclusion and three body paragraphs.

9th - 12th grade: Create a performance piece (poem/monologue/one-act play, etc) that reflects on the following: Share/name the Black women you are connected to/have relationships with, and Black women you admire from a distance (musicians/actors/political figures/etc). If you have limited/no relationships with Black women, reflect on why you think that is.

FEBRUARY 20

CELEBRATING BESSIE COLEMAN Bessie Coleman was born January 26, 1892 in Atlanta, Texas. Her father descended from Cherokee grandparents, and her mother was Black. When she was four years old, her parents moved to Waxahachie, Texas. Bessie had to walk four miles every day to attend a segregated, one-room school, but it didn’ t stop her from loving to learn.

She particularly loved reading and math. She enrolled at Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University in Langston, Oklahoma (today called Langston University), where she studied until her family ran out of money and she had to go home.

She dreamed of being a pilot, but there were no Black flight schools, and because of segregation laws, she couldn’ t attend flight school in the U.S. So she went to France to earn her pilot license, becoming the first Black woman and the first Native American to hold a pilot’ s license. She was the first Black person to hold an international pilot’ s license. Coleman dreamed of opening a Black flight school, saying, “The air is the only place free from prejudices. I knew we had no aviators, neither men nor women, and I knew the Race needed to be represented along this most important line, so I thought it my duty to risk my life to learn aviation.” She died in 1926 while testing a new aircraft, before she could realize her dream.

K3 - 2nd grade: Play this fun Pilot Pals game from the National Air and Space Museum!

3rd - 5th grade: Complete this “How things fly” experiment from the National Air and Space Museum 6th - 8th grade: Build a paper airplane and learn about the forces of flight with this National Air and Space Museum activity.

9th - 12th grade: Play this controlled flight RocketLab from the National Air and Space Museum to learn about control and the external forces that impact flight. Then develop a hypothesis about what may have gone wrong in Bessie Coleman’s 1926 test flight.

FEBRUARY 21

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BARBARA JORDAN! Barbara Jordan was born on this day in 1936 in Houston, Texas. She was the greatgranddaughter of Edward Patton, one of the last African American members of the Texas House of Representatives before Jim Crow laws barred Blacks from serving in the state legislature. She attended Texas Southern University, an historically Black university in Houston, because segregation laws barred her from attending the University of Texas at Austin. At TSU, she was a national champion debater, and beat competitors from the top schools in the country. After graduating from Texas Southern, Jordan received a law degree from Boston University. She taught at Tuskegee University, an historically Black college in Alabama founded by Booker T. Washington, before returning to Houston to start her own law practice.

Before long, Jordan felt the call to follow in her great-grandfather’ s footsteps. She was elected to the Texas Senate in 1966, making her the first Black state senator since 1883 and the first Black woman elected to the Texas Senate. In 1972, she became the first woman from Texas elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She was the first Black person and the first woman to deliver a keynote address at the Democratic National Convention, which she did in 1976, and she worked hard on behalf of both Black and Hispanic Americans to ensure civil rights and equality. She is the first Black woman to be buried in the Texas State Cemetery.

K3 - 2nd grade: Watch this awesome read-along of “What do you do with a voice like that,” a story about Barbara Jordan.

3rd - 5th grade: Watch this awesome read-along of “What do you do with a voice like that,” a story about Barbara Jordan. Then think about What you can do with your voice. How will you use it for good?

6th - 8th grade: Barbara Jordan became well known for her opening remarks in the impeachment proceedings against former President Richard Nixon, who resigned before he could be formally impeached.

Former President Donald Trump recently made history as the only president to be impeached twice. Watch this video to better understand what impeachment is and when Congress can use it as a corrective measure against a president.

9th - 12th grade: Barbara Jordan became well known for her opening remarks in the impeachment proceedings against former President Richard Nixon, who resigned before he could be formally impeached.

Former President Donald Trump recently made history as the only president to be impeached twice.

Complete this activity to better understand the process of impeachment and why Congress might use it as a corrective action against a president.

FEBRUARY 22

DR. RUTH SIMMONS & A TRADITION OF BLACK EDUCATION EXCELLENCE

Ruth J. Simmons grew up in a segregated neighborhood in Grapeland, Texas. Her parents worked as sharecroppers until moving the family to Houston during her childhood. She attended Dillard University, an historically Black university in New Orleans, Louisiana, and went on to earn a master’ s and a doctorate from Harvard University.

In 1995, she became the first Black woman to serve as president of a major college or university when she was named president of Smith College. She was no stranger to allwomen’ s education; she previously served as provost of Spelman College, an historically Black women’ s college located in Atlanta, Georgia. As president of Smith, she started the first engineering department at an all-women’ s college in the U.S. In 2001, she became the first Black president of an Ivy League institution when she succeeded Gordon Gee as president of Brown University. While at Brown, she led an inquisition to better understand the role the university’ s founders had played in the slave trade and to reconcile those findings with the university’ s history. She retired from Brown in 2012, expecting to settle quietly into retirement in her home state of Texas.

But when Prairie View A&M University — an historically Back university just outside of Houston, Texas — came knocking, she said she thought about the impact the institution had on her brother, a graduate, and the the role her alma mater, Dillard University, had played in her life. She credits Dillard for helping her to grow a self confidence that made her believe she could achieve at high levels, and said she wanted to do the same for students who would come to Prairie View: Offer a strong education that will prepare students for the careers they want, in a social and cultural context that helps them develop the confidence to perform after graduation.

K3 - 2nd grade: Talk about it: Dr. Ruth Simmons has been a leader of lots of schools in her career. In what ways are you a leader in your school?

3rd - 5th grade: Dr. Ruth Simmons has been a leader of lots of schools in her career. In what ways are you a leader in your school? Write a pledge to use your talents to help others, and read it every day.

6th - 8th grade: Dr. Simmons attended an historically Black college, went on to lead Ivy League institutions, and came back to an historically Black university. What does this say about her sense of responsibility to her community? In a short personal essay, reflect on what you see as your responsibility to your community. How will you leverage your talents to serve others?

9th - 12th grade: Dr. Simmons attended an historically Black college, went on to lead Ivy League institutions, and came back to an historically Black university. What does this say about her sense of responsibility to her community? In a short personal essay, reflect on what you see as your responsibility to your community. How will you leverage your talents to serve others?

FEBRUARY 23

W.E.B. DU BOIS & THE "TALENTED TENTH" William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born on this day in 1868. He was born and raised in Massachusetts, and attended Fisk University, an historically Black university in Nashville, Tennessee. During the summers, he taught Black children in segregated rural Tennessee schools. Du Bois went onto Harvard University, where he would earn both a master’ s and a doctorate, making him the first Black person to earn a doctorate from Harvard. Du Bois went on to teach at Wilberforce University, the first university founded

by Black people for the education of Black people, before landing at Atlanta University.

Atlanta University in Georgia was the nation’ s first Black graduate institution, and it was there where Du Bois said he’ d produce his “real life work,” including his famous book, The Souls of Black Folk. In Souls, Du Bois said the real problem of the 20th century was the color line, or the racism that persisted across the country.

Du Bois was perhaps most famous for publicizing the idea of the “Talented Tenth” — an idea that said the purpose of higher education was to develop the greatest thinkers and leaders in the Black community. Many of his contemporaries, as well as the philanthropists who were giving money to start schools to educate Black people in this country, many of whom were formerly enslaved, believed the primary purpose of education was to teach Black people skills so they could get jobs and earn a living to improve their conditions. But Du Bois thought education as an institution had a responsible to teach Black people how to think, not what to think, and to help shape them into good moral citizens.

"The Negro race, like all races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men," he wrote in his 1903 essay, The Talented Tenth. "If we make money the object of (education), we shall develop money-makers but not necessarily (people of good character); if we make technical skill the object of education, we may possess artisans but not, in nature, (citizens). (Good people) we shall have only as we make (personhood) the object of the work of the schools — intelligence, broad sympathy, knowledge of the world that was and is, and of the relation of (people) to it."

K3 - 2nd grade: Watch this animated biography of W.E.B. Du Bois. Then think about the idea of “the Talented Tenth,” and how it relates to your life. When you grow up to be a brilliant leader, how will you embrace the responsibility to make sure others who don’t have the same opportunities don’t get left behind?

3rd - 5th grade: Du Bois said the biggest problem of the 1900s was the problem of the color line. Interview an adult you know about this idea. Ask them if they think racism was the biggest problem in their lives. How do they feel about the problem of the color line today? Do they think it is still a big problem? Why or why not?

Is there another problem they think is bigger in today’s society?

6th - 8th grade: Du Bois said the biggest problem of the 1900s was the problem of the color line. Interview an adult you know about this idea. Ask them if they think racism was the biggest problem in their lives. How do they feel about the problem of the color line today? Do they think it is still a big problem? Why or why not?

Is there another problem they think is bigger in today’s society? Then ask yourself: Do you think the race of the person you interviewed impacted the way they answered the questions? Why or why not? How might they have answered differently if they were of a different race, and why?

9th - 12th grade: Read Du Bois’ essay, “The Talented Tenth.” Reflect on the idea of needing to cultivate a leadership class to save the race. Do you think this is a good approach to achieving racial justice? Why or why not? If you were going to write a plan for racial uplift, what, if anything, would you change about Du Bois’ plan?

What, if anything, would you keep the same?

FEBRUARY 24

BISHOP DANIEL PAYNE & THE FIRST BLACK COLLEGE FOUNDED BY BLACK PEOPLE Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne worked his whole life, just as Frederick Douglass had, to prove that Black people were just as smart, just as cultured, and just as capable of being fully equal as white Americans. He was born on this day in 1811 to free Black parents in South Carolina. He opened a school for Black children in his hometown when he was only 19 years old, but the state passed a law prohibiting schools for Black students, and it was forced to close.

In the years that followed, Payne moved north to Pennsylvania, where he joined the Lutheran church and became the first Black person to be ordained as a Lutheran minister in the country in 1839. Just two years later, he left the Lutheran church to join the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and where he’ d rise to the rank of bishop. Under his leadership, the AME Church grew considerably.

In 1856, Payne became the first Black president of a college in the United States when he was selected to lead the newly-founded Wilberforce University. Wilberforce was founded in Xenia, Ohio by the AME Church, and was the first university founded and led

by Black people for Black students. Payne’ s nearly lifelong dream of running a school for Black students had finally come true.

K3 - 2nd grade: One of the guiding principles of Black Lives Matter is the idea of unapologetic Blackness, or never needing to apologize for being Black or supporting Black people. We can think of few things more unapologetically Black than a Black university led by a Black bishop of a Black religious denomination!

Complete this activity examining the idea of unapologetic Blackness. If you are not Black, you can fill it in with ideas for how you can unapologetically use your voice to support Black people.

3rd - 5th grade: One of the guiding principles of Black Lives Matter is the idea of unapologetic Blackness, or never needing to apologize for being Black or supporting Black people. We can think of few things more unapologetically Black than a Black university led by a Black bishop of a Black religious denomination!

Complete this activity examining the idea of unapologetic Blackness. If you are not Black, you can fill it in with ideas for how you can unapologetically use your voice to support Black people.

6th - 12 grade: One of the guiding principles of Black Lives Matter is the idea of unapologetic Blackness, or never needing to apologize for being Black or supporting Black people. We can think of few things more unapologetically Black than a Black university led by a Black bishop of a Black religious denomination!

Complete this activity examining the idea of unapologetic Blackness. If you are not Black, you can fill it in with ideas for how you can unapologetically use your voice to support Black people.

FEBRUARY 25

CELEBRATING THE GENIUS OF JAMES BALDWIN James Baldwin is considered one of the greatest American writers of all-time. His essays and novels on the Black experience married the tone and rhetoric of a Pentecostal minister with the themes of racism, white privilege, classism, homosexuality, bisexuality, nationalism, and social isolation. He was mentored by Richard Wright, who was the most famous Black male author of the time, and who would help shape Baldwin’ s own writing.

Perhaps his most favorite quote, Baldwin once said this, embodying many of those themes in one statement: “To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a state of rage almost, almost all of the time — and in one's work. And part of the rage is this: It isn't only what is happening to you.But it's what's happening all around you and all of the time in the face of the most extraordinary and criminal indifference, indifference of most white people in this country, and their ignorance. Now, since this is so, it's a great temptation to simplify the issues under the illusion that if you simplify them enough, people will recognize them. I think this illusion is very dangerous because, in fact, it isn't the way it works. A complex thing can't be made simple. You simply have to try to deal with it in all its complexity and hope to get that complexity across.”

Baldwin moved to Paris, France at the age of 24 to escape the racial and sexual discrimination he faced as a Black, gay man living in the United States. In Paris, he thrived as a Black intellectual, reconnecting with Richard Wright and meeting Maya Angelou, with whom he would remain close until his death.

K3 - 2nd grade: Watch this animated biography of famous writer James Baldwin. What are three ways you can use your writing to make a difference in the world?

3rd - 5th grade: James Baldwin talked a lot about connecting with your own pain to recognize how it connects you to other people. Complete this empathy exercise and think about how the ways we are all different actually bring us together.

6th - 8th grade: James Baldwin talked a lot about connecting with your own pain to recognize how it connects you to other people. Read this 2016 New York Times Op-ed, ‘I’m Prejudiced,’ He Said. And Then We Kept Talking.' Then write a paragraph addressing the following questions: What are some of the roadblocks to changing your mind? What makes you more willing to change your mind?

9th - 12th grade: James Baldwin talked a lot about connecting with your own pain to recognize how it connects you to other people. In a short personal essay, reflect on the following questions: Do you know any people who have less empathy for certain people than others? Do you think you have MORE empathy for certain groups of people than others (i.e. - “you will never really know what it feels like to be…” or “I have never really thought about what it’s like to be…”)? Why or why not? What are some ways you can take a step back to try to better understand other people’s journeys?

FEBRUARY 26

WALTER SAMUEL MCAFEE, MATH WIZARD

Walter Samuel McAfee is best known for his role in the world’ s first experiments to hear an echo on the moon. He was raised in northeastern Texas, and was homeschooled by his mother, who was trained as a teacher at Wiley College, an historically Black college in east Texas best known for its world-class debate team. McAfee followed his mother’ s footsteps and graduated from Wiley College with honors. He went on to earn a master’ s degree from Ohio State University and later earned a doctorate from Cornell University.

After being rejected by numerous jobs because he was Black, he joined the Army Signal Laboratory to work on Project Diana, which had a goal to bounce radio signals off of the moon. McAfee had published numerous papers on radar-echoing areas, radar cross sections and refraction studies in the atmosphere while in graduate school, and there was perhaps no one better qualified for the position. The project was successful, and is considered the beginning of the American space program.

In 1965, McAfee became the first-ever Secretary of the Army Research and Study fellow. He was inducted into the Wiley College Science Hall of Fame in 1982, and in 1997, the McAfee Center was dedicated at Fort Monmouth, the first center of its kind named after a civilian.

K3 - 2nd grade: Walter McAfee was working on a team to hear an echo bounce off the moon — something that had never been heard! Complete this activity from NASA and see what kinds of new sounds you can hear, too.

3rd - 5th grade: Walter McAfee’s work on Project Diana helped birth the American space program. Did you know a phone’s GPS is made possible by the country’s work in space? Explore this cool video about how GPS signals work. Then imagine how your life would be different if there were no GPS devices. (Hint: You can ask your parents; they grew up in a time before GPS!) 6th - 8th grade: Complete this activity on scaling the moon’s rotations, in honor of Walter McAfee 9th - 12th grade: Complete this activity on scaling the moon’s rotations, in honor of Walter McAfee

FEBRUARY 27

SIMONE BILES: THE GREATEST GYMNAST IN THE WORLD

Simone Biles is the most decorated American gymnast of all-time. She has 25 World medals, including 19 World golds. She has four Olympic gold medals and one bronze, which she earned in the 2016 Summer Olympics at the age of 19. Biles is the first American gymnast to win a gold medal in every event, and the first American female gymnast to win a medal in every event at a single Olympic Games or World Championships since 1988.

Biles was born March 14, 1997 in Columbus, Ohio, but spent much of her early childhood bouncing between foster homes until her grandfather permanently adopted her in 2003. She spent the rest of her childhood in Spring, Texas, just outside of Houston.

Her mother is from Belize, and Biles is a dual citizen of the United States and Belize. She often calls the Latin American country her second home.

Biles admitted that she used to be self-conscious about her body, because her thick frame is different than the frames of other gymnasts. But she finally decided to embrace her body, realizing she was built the way she is for a reason, and she figured out how to use it to her advantage. She says competing on a global stage and showing the world what she can do has taught her a lot about herself as a person, too.

K3 - 2nd grade: Simone Biles is set to again compete in the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2021. Color this picture of her and countdown to the Opening Ceremonies, currently scheduled for July 23!

3rd - 5th grade: Simone Biles is not just the best Black woman gymnast, she’s the best American gymnast of all-time. What is something you’re really good at? Make a list of things you can do to get better at it every day so one day you can be the best in the world too!

6th - 8th grade: Simone Biles admitted to being self-conscious about her body. Are there things you are selfconscious about? How can you turn those things into positives and learn to work with what you have? Write a journal entry outlining three things you love about yourself. Try to add something new every day.

9th - 12th grade: Simone Biles admitted to being self-conscious about her body, because it looked different from other gymnasts she had seen. How do media representation and social media affect the way you see yourself? Do you think other people grapple with the same things? Do you think the media and what you see on sites like Instagram and TikTok are accurate representations of what people really look like? Do more people at your school look similar to those images, or different? How can you use what you have to your advantage, like Simone has? Write one body positive affirmation and commit to repeating it every day.

FEBRUARY 28

REMEMBERING SYLVIA DEL VILLARD, 'LA MAJESTA NEGRA' Sylvia del Villard was born February 28 1928 in Puerto Rico. The Afro-Puerto Rican activist was raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Because of her really good grades, she was awarded a scholarship to attend college in the U.S. She chose Fisk University, an historically Black university in Nashville, Tennessee best known for its jubilee singers. But del Villard was not prepared for the harsh anti-Black racism she would experience in the United States, and she transferred to the University of Puerto Rico to finish her studies.

After graduation, she moved to New York and enrolled in the City College of New York, where she joined a ballet group called Africa House and began to trace her family’ s roots back to the Yoruba people of Africa.

Del Villard has been called the Afro-Boricuan Angela Davis. She was inspired by the experiences she had at Fisk and the rich cultural movements taking place in New York in the 1960s, and became a major voice on issues of equality for people who looked like her.

She went on to establish the Afro-Boricua El Coqui Theater, which the Panamerican Association of the New World Festival named “as the most important authority of Black Puerto Rican culture,” and spent her life fighting for equal rights for Afro-Puerto Rican artists. In 1981, she became the first and only director of the office of the Afro-Puerto Rican affairs of the Puerto Rican Institute of Culture.

K3 - 2nd grade: Watch this short video on Sylvia del Villard. Then, make up your own dance to celebrate this famous performer’s birthday!

3rd - 5th grade: Watch this short video on Sylvia del Villard. Then, make up your own dance to celebrate this famous performer’s birthday!

6th - 8th grade: Sylvia Del Villard identifies as both Black and Puerto Rican. In many Latino cultures, colorism is still prevalent — an ugly leftover of the impact of colonialization. Read this graphic essay about colorism in comics. Then, in a short essay, reflect on the following questions: Which characters and skin colors/complexions are being questioned?How do skin colors and race affect the meaning of the stories told in the frames? What might the race of characters in a story tell us about power and privilege? About bias and beauty? Your essay should have an introduction and a conclusion and three body paragraphs.

9th - 12th grade: Sylvia Del Villard identifies as both Black and Puerto Rican. In many Latino cultures, colorism is still prevalent — an ugly leftover of the impact of colonialization. Read this article on colorism, and then write a short essay answering the following questions: Think about examples of color privilege you have seen in your family, school, or in pop culture. How does it impact the opportunities of the individuals involved?

How can you stand up against colorism, even when the involved individuals may be members of the same racial and ethnic group? Your essay should have an introduction and a conclusion and three body paragraphs.

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