Black History Unit

Jo - Monday, February 9, 2009, 11:51 pm
No comments yet; your thoughts are welcome!
Categories: Homeschooling, Lesson Plans, Social Studies
Tags: Abraham Lincoln, African-American, Amendment 13, Amendment 14, Amendment 15, Articles of Confederation, Atlantic Slave Trade, Barack Obama, Black History Month, book, Booker T. Washington, Brown v. Board of Education, Charles Drew, Christopher Columbus, civil rights, Constitution, Daniel Hale Williams, desegregation, Elijah McCoy, Emancipation Proclamation, Fanny Lou Hamer, February, Freedom Riders, Fugitive Slave Law, Garrett Morgan, George T. Sampson, George Washington Carver, Great Depression, Great Migration, Harlem Renaissance, Harriet Tubman, Henry Lincoln Johnson, Ida B. Wells, Jackie Robinson, James Monroe Trotter, Jamestown, Jan Ernst Matzeliger, Jesse Owens, Jim Crow, John W. Hunter, Joseph Winters, Kwanzaa, Lesson Plans, Little Rock Nine, Lyda Newman, Madam C.J. Walker, Mae Jemison, Martin Luther King, Matthew Alexander Henson, Maulana Karenga, Medgar Evers, Missouri Compromise, MLK, NAACP, Rosa Parks, Sarah Boone, segregation, separate but equal, Shirley Chisholm, slavery, Sojourner Truth, Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Underground Railroad, videos, Web site

February is Black History Month.

Below are the people we are going to study:

Sarah Boone (inventor of the ironing board; received a patent in 1892) – About.com: Sarah Boone
George Washington Carver (plant scientist who made great contributions to the field of agriculture chemistry) – Wikipedia: George Washington Carver
Dr. Charles R. Drew (physician) – phillyBurbs: Charles Drew
Shirley Chisholm (Congresswoman) Wikipedia: Shirley Chisholm
Medgar Evers (civil rights leader) – Wikipedia: Medgar Evers
Fanny Lou Hamer (civil rights leader) – Wikipedia: Fannie Lou Hamer
Matthew Alexander Henson (explorer) – Enchanted Learning: Matthew Alexander Henson
John W. Hunter (inventor of the portable weighing scale) – Evia L. Davis: African American Awareness for Young Children – John W. Hunter
Dr. Mae Jemison (first African-American woman in space) – Wikipedia: Mae Jemison
Henry Lincoln Johnson (distinguished soldier) – Wikipedia: Henry Lincoln Johnson
Dr. Maulana Karenga (founder of Kwanzaa in 1966) – Wikipedia: Maulana Karenga
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (civil rights leader) – Wikipedia: Martin Luther King, Jr.
Abraham Lincoln (16th President of the United States) – Wikipedia: Abraham Lincoln
Elijah McCoy (inventor) – Wikipedia: Elijah McCoy
Thurgood Marshall (Supreme Court justice) – Wikipedia: Thurgood Marshall
Jan E. Matzeliger (Inventor of the shoe-lasting machine) – Inventors Assistance League: Jan Ernst Matzeliger
Garrett Morgan (inventor; his inventions included the automatic stop sign and breathing masks used by firefighters) – Wikipedia: Garrett A. Morgan
Lyda D. Newman (inventor the modern day hairbrush; received a patent on Nov. 15, 1898) – About.com: Lyda Newman
President Barack Obama (44th President of the United States) – Wikipedia: Barack Obama
Jesse Owens (athlete) – Wikipedia: Jesse Owens
Rosa Parks (mother of the Civil Rights movement) – Wikipedia: Rosa Parks
Jackie Robinson (athlete; in 1947, became the first African American to play for a Major League Baseball team) – Wikipedia: Jackie Robinson
George T. Sampson (inventor of the clothes dryer) – Evia L. Davis: African American Awareness for Young Children – George T. Sampson
James Monroe Trotter – Wikipedia: James Monroe Trotter
Sojourner Truth – Biography Resource Center – Sojourner Truth
Harriet Tubman (abolitionist) – Wikipedia: Harriet Tubman
Mme. C. J. Walker (businesswoman; invented a hair softener and straightening comb; became the first African-American female millionaire) – Wikipedia: Madam C.J. Walker
Booker T. Washington (educator) – Wikipedia: Booker T. Washington
Ida B. Wells – Wikipedia: Ida B. Wells
Dr. Daniel Hale Williams (physician; first to perform open-heart surgery) – Wikipedia: Daniel Hale Williams
Joseph Winters (inventor of the fire escape ladder; received a patent on May 7th, 1898) – Wikipedia: Joseph Winters

Groups:

This is the timeline that we are using for our African-American unit:

1492: Christopher Columbus arrives in the Americas – Wikipedia: Christopher Columbus
1517: Spaniards bring first African slaves to West Indies sugar cane plantations – Slavery in America: Sugar and Slavery – Molasses to Rum to Slaves
1619: First African slaves arrive in , a mid-Atlantic English colony – World Book: The Slave Trade in Colonial America (scroll halfway down)
1778: Writers of the U.S. Articles of Confederation compromise on slavery – Online Library of Liberty: Articles of Confederation 1778 (click “Hide TOC”)
1793: Congress passes a law that makes it illegal to help escaping slaves – The FreeDictionary: Fugitive Slave Laws
1808: Slave trade becomes illegal – Wikipedia: Atlantic Slave Trade
1820: Missouri Compromise divides states into free and slave – Wikipedia: Missouri Compromise
1838: Underground Railroad is formally established – National Geographic Online: The Underground Railroad
1850: Fugitive Slave Law says that all persons must help catch escaped slaves – Wikipedia: Fugitive Slave Law of 1850
1852: Uncle Tom’s Cabin tells about the evils of slavery – Wikipedia: Uncle Tom’s Cabin
1857: Supreme Court rules that slaves are property, not people – Prentice-Hall: A Slave Sues for Freedom in 1857
1863: Emancipation Proclamation frees southern slaves – Wikipedia: Emancipation Proclamation
1866: Amendment 13 frees all slaves – Wikipedia: Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Amendment 14 makes all slaves citizens – US Constitution Online: Amendment 14
1867: Amendment 15 gives ex-slaves the right to vote – Wikipedia: Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
1877: “Jim Crow” laws begin the segregation of black Americans from white – Wikipedia: Jim Crow laws
1896: Supreme Court “separate but equal” ruling declares segregation to be legal – Wikipedia: Separate but equal
1909: NAACP forms to protect black Americans from prejudice and violence – DealofDay.com: February 12, 1909, Founding of the NAACP
1915: Great Migration begins. Millions of black Americans leave the South and move north and west – University of Washington: The Great Migration – Number of Migrants
1920s: Harlem Renaissance takes place. Black arts and literature eloquently and proudly describe black life – Wikipedia: Harlem Renaissance
1929: Great Depression begins – Wikipedia: Great Depression
1941: Defense plants desegregate – Our Documents: Executive Order 9981 – Desegregation of the Armed Forces (1948)
1947: Jackie Robinson breaks the “color barrier” – Wikipedia: Jackie Robinson
1948: Armed forces desegregate – Truman Library & Museum: Desegregation of the Armed Forces
1954: Supreme Court rules that segregation is unconstitutional – Wikipedia: Brown v. Board of Education
1955: Rosa Parks begins Civil Rights movement – Wikipedia: Rosa Parks
1963: Martin Luther King, Jr. leads 200,000 Americans in protest march to Washington DC – MLK Online: I Have a Dream – Address at March on Washington (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream speech,” both audio and written)
1964: Congress passes Civil Rights Act – Wikipedia: Civil Rights Act of 1964
1965: Voting Act passed – Wikipedia: Voting Rights Act of 1965
1970s: African Americans work to turn the promise of the law into reality.
2009: Barack Obama becomes America’s first African-American president. NOTE TO PARENTS: There is a commercial before this video (the one I watched was from Victoria’s Secret. You may want to screen the commercial, but it is a great video!) – CNN Election Center 2008: Obama – ‘This is your victory’

African-American Web sites for kids:

Liked this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!

Write a Letter to President Obama

Jo - Friday, January 30, 2009, 12:32 am
No comments yet; your thoughts are welcome!
Categories: Social Studies, Writing
Tags: Add new tag, cursive, formal letter, letter, obama, president, Social Studies, Web site, white house, Writing

My son is going to write a letter to President Obama using a formal letter format (ReadWriteThink: Letter Generator).

He will begin his letter introducing himself (and his age) and continue the letter by writing about one issue that is important to him. The letter will be written in cursive handwriting (very neatly) and will be edited by me before it is mailed.

We may never hear back from the White House, but wouldn’t it be thrilling for a child to receive some kind of response?

Mailing Address:

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Email Address:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

Phone Numbers:

Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461

TTY/TDD:

Comments: 202-456-6213
Visitors Office: 202-456-2121

Liked this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!