In January 1863, President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, and the Union Army began recruiting Black Americans to fight the Civil War. Thousands answered the call. Soldiers of the 54th Massachusetts infantry regiment came from all over the country, dedicated to both the destruction of slavery and the advancement of racial equality nationwide. Their heroism transformed the conflict from a battle to preserve the Union to a grand struggle for freedom. Discover the true story of the men whose fame was restored to public memory by the celebrated 1989 film Glory.

Born into poverty in rural Georgia and raised under the shadows of Jim Crow segregation and the Great Depression, Alice Coachman fought through gender taboos and racial barriers to become a record-breaking track star. Then, in the 1948 London Olympics (the first to be held after WWII), she leapt to victory in the high jump and became the first black woman in history to win Olympic gold. One of postwar America’s most high-profile athletes and the first African American woman to be spokesperson for a national brand, Coachman’s life and achievements were honored during the 1996 Atlanta Olympic games.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves was a highly respected and wildly successful peace officer in western Arkansas and neighboring Indian Territory for over thirty years, starting when he was first commissioned by Judge Isaac Parker in 1875. His life saw the enormous transformations that swept through the country during the Civil War, the days of the “wild west” in the federal territories, and the settling of the frontier. His adventures as he fought and captured thousands of outlaws made him famous in his own time. This lesson tells the story of Reeves, his world, and the deeds that made him a legend.The Woodson Center’s K-12 black history and character curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.

In this early American history lesson, students are introduced to Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806), a free Black landowner from Maryland who found notoriety as a largely self-taught surveyor, astronomer, and natural historian. A friend and neighbor of the Ellicotts, an influential family of abolitionist Quakers, Banneker became a national figure in the young republic through his popular series of almanacs, and is remembered for his scientific achievements, public opposition to slavery (including a famous exchange with Thomas Jefferson), and role in surveying the boundaries of the District of Columbia.

Born to poor sharecroppers in Texas, Bessie Coleman (1892-1926) was the first African American woman aviator, earning an international aviation license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. Throughout her career as a daredevil stunt pilot in thrilling airshows, she consistently defied expectations and broke through racial and gender barriers to dazzle audiences and inspire future generations of Black American pilots, aviators, and astronauts. This lesson tells the story of Coleman’s life in the wider context of the “barnstorming” early days of flight and the rising opposition to racial segregation exemplified by newspapers like the Chicago Defender.

This lesson provides an overview of the world's first African American female pilot, who overcame multiple barriers (racial, gender-based, historical, socioeconomic) in order to become a celebrated aviator and daredevil performer who thrilled both Black and White audiences. It is suitable for a lesson in history class, and would makean enriching addition to courses dealing with technical or scientific fields connected with aviation. The Woodson Center’s K-12 black history and character curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.

Bridget “Biddy” Mason was born into slavery, survived a treacherous frontier crossing with a groupof pioneers, and secured her freedom in the free state of California, where she became one of the wealthiest African-American women in the nation. Through careful saving and investments, Biddy Mason built an extensive commercial real-estate enterprise in what is now downtown Los Angeles. Her philanthropic efforts helped create and sustain African-American institutions in the city and shaped the city’s overall civic life for future generations. Her life exemplified forbearance and endurance, genius, generosity and compassion, and a refusal to give into bitterness or resentment.The Woodson Center’s K-12 black history and character curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.

This lesson covers historical information about Booker T. Washington and the Rosenwald schools that were developed between 1912 and 1932. While Washington had the vision, Rosenwald provided financial resources, along with matching community contributions, to build thousands of schools for Black children in the rural south. This is an appropriate lesson for Black History Month, studies on civil rights, visionary design, social movements in education, civic ideals and practices, and social-emotional development.The Woodson Center’s K-12 black history and character curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.

This lesson provides an overview of the life and work of African American economist Glenn Cartman Loury, one of America’s most provocative thinkers on issues related to race, poverty, and social policy. A technical economist by training, Loury is usually identified as a Black conservative, though his worldview has undergone a series of transformations since he first emerged as an outspoken Reaganite in the 1980s. Born and raised in a working-class neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, Loury rose through the ranks of elite academia to become the first Black tenured professor of economics at Harvard in 1982, doing groundbreaking work on “social capital.”The Woodson Center’s K-12 black history and character curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.

This lesson provides an overview of the life and work of African American economist Thomas Sowell, one of America’s most prolific public intellectuals, who has made serious contributions not only to economics but also cultural history, social theory, and the study of child development. Born outside of Charlotte, North Carolina in 1930, Sowell was raised in Harlem, New York City and overcame numerous personal and political challenges on his journey from high school dropout to America’s most influential dissident on issues around race, economic prosperity, and the role of intellectuals in shaping public life.The Woodson Center’s K-12 black history and character curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.

This lesson provides an overview of the life and work of African American economist Walter E. Williams, one of the most prominent libertarian commentators on issues of race, poverty, and labor policy from the 1980s until his death in 2020. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Williams overcame many personal and political barriers on his journey from the North Philly housing projects to a distinguished professorship. A prolific writer, Williams published for both academic and popular audiences, though his great love was teaching economics. Throughout his life, a network of devoted friends and family made his success possible.The Woodson Center’s K-12 black history and character curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.

These drama activities based around the lives of Crispus Attucks, Biddy Mason, Elijah McCoy, and Bessie Coleman complement our Black History lessons on these figures. Students will script, stage, imagine, and improvise in a series of prompts perfect for theater classes or any other learning context in which creativity and performance are emphasized. This package contains four documents, each containing multiple activities based around the life experiences of these remarkable Americans. The Woodson Center’s K-12 black history and character curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.

A century before the Civil Rights movement, this small town on Lake Michigan had racially integrated schools, churches, government, and civic organizations. Settled by black and white pioneers in the mid-1800s, Covert Township worked across racial and ethnic lines at a time when doing so was widely rejected if not outright illegal. Learn the story of this remarkable community, told against the backdrop of Reconstruction’s overthrow in the South and worsening racial conflict in the North.
When much of America was tearing itself apart and squandering the moral victories of the Civil War, this community nestled in the west Michigan wilderness came together — not as a utopian social experiment, but as ordinary people who relied on one another to solve the problems of ordinary life on the frontier, and whose legacy endures today in Covert and beyond. This little-known American story offers an example our country needs now more than ever.

The Woodson Center’s lesson on Covert, Michigan affords the educator a great deal of flexibility in its implementation. The resources featured may be used to implement a lesson that is appropriate for a full or partial class session. Students will explore the story of Covert through primary and secondary source documents, analyze and discuss essential questions, and have opportunities to reflect on the lesson through persuasive writing prompts, multiple choice questions, as well as collaborative project extension activities.The materials in this lesson can be cut down and rearranged to suit classroom conditions, timeframe, student comfort level, or to connect with other material from an established syllabus or textbook. The Woodson Center’s K-12 black history and character curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.

On March 5, 1770, five men were shot dead by British soldiers on King Street in Boston. This event became known as the Boston Massacre, and helped kindle the fire of the American revolution. The first man to fall in this event was Crispus Attucks, a sailor and escaped slave of mixed African and American Indian ancestry. Patriot activists held up Attucks as a martyr for the cause of liberty, and generations of Americans followed suit; almost a century later, abolitionists made Attucks into a symbol of Black civic identity. But who was he, really? This lesson tries to establish the facts about his life from the scant remaining evidence.

Elijah McCoy was a prolific inventor and innovator, the holder of 57 patents, mostly on designsrelated to locomotives. Born in Canada and educated in Scotland, he spent most of his professional life in and around Detroit, Michigan, working in the railroad industry while also continuing to produce new inventions.The son of escaped slaves, McCoy overcame early discrimination to become an internationally respected authority in his field. His innovations in automated lubrication systems for trains are credited with helping to radically improve efficiency and travel time, and he was widely celebrated by his contemporaries as a leader and model for Black America in the first generation after Emancipation.The Woodson Center’s K-12 black history and character curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.

During World War II, thousands of Black Americans joined the Navy, ready to serve their country. But deep-seated prejudice prevented Black sailors from rising in the ranks, and never in its history had the Navy commissioned Black officers. This is the story of the men who broke that barrier and became the first class of African American officers in the United States Navy, overcoming skepticism and hostility at every turn. Their skill, resilience, and character propelled them to great success in postwar life, and paved the way for today’s diverse armed forces.

The Woodson Center’s lesson on the first class of African American Navy officers, known today as the Golden Thirteen, affords the educator a great deal of flexibility in its implementation. The resources featured may be used to implement a lesson that is appropriate for a full or partial class session. Students will explore the life and accomplishments of the Golden Thirteen through primary and secondary source documents, analyze and discuss essential questions, and have opportunities to reflect on the lesson through persuasive writing prompts, multiple choice questions, as well as collaborative project extension activities.The Woodson Center’s K-12 black history and character curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.

This lesson teaches about the most dramatic Olympic face-off in history, held in Germany during the build-up to the second World War. In these games, held in 1936, African-American athletes showed the world the foolhardiness of Hitler’s concept of a superior “Master Race.”The Woodson Center’s K-12 black history and character curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.

Katherine Johnson was a NASA research mathematician who contributed to the Project Mercury spaceflights and the Project Apollo lunar missions, as well as many other efforts in her 33 years in the space program. Johnson gained worldwide respect and notoriety after Hidden Figures, a bestselling book by writer and entrepreneur Margot Lee Shetterly, captured her life as a gifted mathematician whose tenacity and skill defied racial and gender discrimination in science and engineering during the 1950s and 60s.The Woodson Center’s K-12 black history and character curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of black Americans whose tenacity and resilience enabled them to overcome adversity and make invaluable contributions to our country. It also teaches character and decision-making skills that equip students to take charge of their futures. These lessons in black American excellence are free and publicly available for all.