February is Black History Month, the perfect time to discover triumphs of African Americans. Let's take a look at excellent resources to keep your students engaged and learning all month long. Not only will you discover resources for important historical individuals who made a lasting impact upon our society, you'll also learn about modern-day, inspirational African Americans. Then, you'll explore several technology-rich lesson ideas to blend African American history with 21st century skills.

Historical resources

Amazing content exists that documents the struggles and triumphs of African Americans throughout the short history of the United States. Let's take a look at some best bets.

Smithsonian education

The Smithsonian education website is a fantastic resource for Black History Month with thought-provoking, high-quality content. Check out the African American History Virtual Tour that features a beautiful user interface and a chance to explore significant artifacts from African American history. You'll find a treasure trove of teacher resources, including complete lesson plans. Make sure you explore all of the links. You'll discover artists, musicians, inventors and much more.

NAACP timeline

The NAACP Timeline is a truly amazing accomplishment featuring an interactive journey through important civil rights events. Introduced by Laurence Fishburne, your students will love the graphic-rich interface. Click 'The Timeline' at the top of the screen to view important civil rights milestones. Click a date and more information pops up. Don't stop there; make sure you click 'MORE INFO' at the bottom of the popup. You will be rewarded with a stunning collection of information about the event, including history, impact, people, multimedia and resources.

Looking for leaders in African American history? Click 'The People' at the top of the screen. An alphabetical list, including images, of people who made an impact on the civil rights movement are displayed. This is a great resource for students searching for lesser-known African American leaders.

Library of Congress

The resources found in the Black History Month section of the Library of Congress website are a national treasure. Check out the amazing photo gallery, including numerous African American civil war pictures. Click 'For Teachers' on the left side of the screen to access links and information to numerous other sites. For example, discover links to documents and information in the National Archives such as Brown v. Board of Education and the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Other resources

If you want links and information to countless resources, head over to the Infoplease Black History Month page. This is a commercial site so it does have advertisements. However, there are a large number of links with short, informational articles. Be sure to check out the Biographies of Famous African Americans page; it's a tremendous resource to launch research projects.

Modern-day resources

Your study of Black History Month may focus more on modern-day African Americans and less on historical struggles. Explore these resources.

Inventors

Numerous African Americans are responsible for a host of notable inventions. Check out African-American Inventors for a nice list of inventors, including Lonnie Johnson, inventor of the Super Soaker, and Dr. James West, inventor of widely used microphone technology. Explore The Black Inventor On-Line Museum as well. Your students will be delighted to discover all the clever inventions, such as the egg beater, that were the brainchild of African Americans.

Astronauts

Did you know there are fourteen former and current African American astronauts? Check out this NASA resource featuring pictures and biographies.

Much more

• • Artists: The National Gallery of Art
• • Politicians: Congressional Black Caucus
• • Musicians: Notable African American musicians from About.com
• • STEM: Famous African American women in STEM (pdf)
• • Women: Notable African American women from About.com
• • Scientists: African American scientists and inventors
• • Doctors: Contemporary African American academic surgeons

Lesson ideas

Integrate technology with your Black History Month projects this year.

TV interview show

What would Sojourner Truth say to space shuttle astronaut Mae Jemison? Have students create an interview-style TV show featuring famous African Americans throughout history. Students will have to research and create questions for the show. Have one student act as interviewer and show host, for example, "Welcome to the Rosa Parks Show!" Make sure the interview is not one sided; both students need to interact with each other so that the other students learn about both African American leaders. Record the interview with a video camera or webcam and upload the videos to your classroom webpage or wiki.

Blog in character

Students absolutely love social media. Any time you can incorporate it into your lessons, you will be meeting them on their own turf. First, you need a blogging or social media platform. See Social media: using popular sites to enrich educational experiences and 5 awesome alternatives to a traditional classroom blog for tips on starting a classroom blog. Each student chooses a notable African American and researches him/her to learn as much about their personal and professional lives as possible. Then, post thought-provoking prompts for your students to blog about. They should write in first person and assume the character of the person they are studying. They should reply to each other and engage in an online, role-playing conversation.

Digital books

This lesson idea is perfect for students young and old. Each student is assigned an African American leader. Make sure you branch out into other genres such as scientists, artists and so on. Then, each student creates a one-page highlight. The page should be vivid with images, drawings and text headlines. Younger students can use markers, crayons and paper while older students may choose to create their pages digitally. When the pages are complete, convert all pages to PDFs. Many copy machines scan and convert paper copies to PDF, or you can use a scanner. You can save digital pages as PDFs or print them.

If you need help transforming pages to PDFs, post a message on the HP Teacher Experience Exchange discussion forum and we will be glad to help.

After you have PDFs of all of your students' pages, head over to FlipSnack.com and create a super cool digital book. You can now easily share student creations with your community.

For a tutorial on using FlipSnack, check out this video in the Web tools section of the HP Teacher Experience Exchange.

Conclusion

Black History Month is an excellent time to reflect upon civil rights progress and explore the contributions of remarkable individuals. Make time in your curriculum to celebrate this month of accomplishment and post your ideas here on the HP Teacher Experience Exchange.