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Middle School Resources

Black History Month 2026

Please see the resources below.

 

Black History Month

Lessons

Black Voices in Poetry
Civil Rights Baseball Card Grades 6-10
Discover African American Innovators in Technology Middle and High School Grades

Texts

Black Bay Area Park Ranger turned 100 100-year-old park ranger Betty Reid Soskin feted by national media, honored by WCCUSD
Poem "The Hill We Climb" and "The Miracle of Morning" by Amanda Gorman with accompanying lesson plan This lesson includes two of Amanda Gorman's poems, several articles about her writing process, and accompanying writing activities and resources designed to help teachers quickly and easily bring poetry into the classroom.
Article How Barbara Johns Helped End Segregation Articles, videos, and a lesson plan on the courageous protest in 1951 led by Barbar Johns and how that led to the desegragation of schools.
Who Are The Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers by Something Curated The women of Gee’s Bend, a small, remote, Black community in Alabama, have created hundreds of quilt masterpieces dating from the early twentieth century to the present. See below for activity plan.

Barbara Johns Supplemental Materials

Articles, videos, and a lesson plan

Freedom Quilt Project

Activity Instructions and Pattern Samples

Videos

Frederick Douglass: Orator, Editor and Abolitionist (3:50 mins) This lesson includes a video, a graphic organizer, and an image as well as discussion topics surrounding the life of Frederick Douglass.

Additional Resources

Image: The National Archives Foundation - We Shall Overcome: March on Washington with accompanying activities This lesson includes an image from the March on Washington, writing prompts and discussion topics, and a short video describing the history surrounding the image. - Works well with VTS.
Music Lesson Singing For Justice - Following the Musical Journey of "This Little Light of Mine" Students will learn the history behind “This Little Light of Mine”, following the song through slavery, the civil rights movement, and up to its current day applications. Students will also learn to sing the song itself in multiple languages and will be prompted to write about their learning experiences after each session. At the end, there will be an opportunity for students to add their own verses to the song, based on the writing they did through each portion of the lesson.
Image: Martin Luther King Jr. This image was pulled from the VTS website - Grades 3-5 Year 1 Lesson 6

Grade Level Standards