Learning for Justice (Formerly Teaching for Tolerance) is celebrating Women’s history by focusing of African American women. Kimberly Crenshaw and the phrase she coined intersectionality, deals with the idea that people experience life differently depending on their multiple identities. In this way African American women may experience the world differently from their white counter parts. Learning for Justice for justice provides a number of resources to study African American women’s history that can be used in classrooms. On this topic their website states:
“Historian Carter G. Woodson established the first Negro History Week in 1926—a celebration that later became Black History Month. The Association for the Study of African American Life and History, a group founded by Woodson, selects a new theme for Black History Month each year. This year’s theme is “Black Women in American Culture and History.” Teaching Tolerance offers several activities about African-American women designed for K-12 students. Many high school and middle school students have heard about Rosa Parks. But many strong, courageous women came before her in the civil rights movement. They included important figures like Frances Watkins Harper and Ida B. Wells. For older students, we also offer a discussion guide for Sexism in the Civil Rights Movement. Meanwhile, elementary students can read about Susie King Taylor’s contributions during the Civil War or participate in a trading card activity that honors true greatness. These will just get you started discussing black women in American culture and history. That discussion can—and should—take you through the year.”
Please click this link to check out the Learning for Justice site and other resources for classroom use.
This article states what every African American thinks about Black History month as well as Women’s History month. We only know of the well known people like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr, etc. We aren’t taught about the people that we before and or after them.
I think that one of the underrated months of history is women’s history month. We do not realize that everyone has been affected by women. We need to look into history as history for all and not just a certain group. As I was reading further it was brought up about how the first Negro History Week was established in 1926 by Carter G, Woodson. I found this to be interesting because I have never learned this. I think that there is such a gap in what we are thinking about in history. I know that February is Black History Month and yet I have no clue why it is that month or how it came to be that month. I think what I can say I have taken from this is that we should know that there is a direction of education we were given but we should and want to look deeper into things.
After reading a few articles I really enjoyed this one. As it is women’s history month I thoughts this would have been the perfect article to talk about. That being said this article demonstrated the importance for all women!! I learned a lot from this article one thing being I didn’t know that black history month started out as just 1 week then turned into black history month, so I thought that was pretty cool and interesting. Thank you for sharing these great facts!
I think this article does a good job of identifying and explaining the way women of color impacted the world for the better, and highlights those who seem to never be spoken of. Outside of Rosa Parks, most of these names such as Ida B Wells are named, and I can honestly say I do not recall the name from school or education. It is sad, and I think it takes things like this article to point out these important activists and people, and there are even links provided so that the reader can dig a little deeper into these important figures that deserve our time of day. All in all, I found this very interesting and I am a little let down that I now realize how much there is to learn about the build of our civil rights and how we still have so many people to thank for how far we have gotten, even if the job is not yet completed.
This article was amazing and very insightful. I think this article shows that there indeed are resources out there for teachers to teach about and celebrate Black Women in history. I know that as a young male teacher I would not know where to even start finding these materials. I love that there are different levels to what we can teach. It is not just solely focused on one grade or grade level. I think that this is subject something that is necessary to teach. This is not just something that only girls need to hear but, also something that even boys need to hear and know.
I think this article provides a lot of information on important African American women and how they positively impacted the world. I will teach my future students about Susie King Taylor and her impact. I can also use the trading card activity in my classroom. This will allow students to be creative on building their own unique cards. It will also allow them to be inspired by learning about different people.
I think this article does well with addressing a topic that teachers may struggle with in both lower and upper grades. This is an important topic to discuss in the classroom. I only remember talking about Rosa Parks in school and not the other women mentioned in this article, which creates an even more importance to talk about black women’s history month and “Sexism in the Civil Rights Movement.” The article also mentioned that elementary students can participate in a “trading card activity,” which I knew nothing about. I love this idea and would like to use it in my classroom to create a hands-on activity.
I think this article addresses the gap in experiences that people, especially women, face. This is something that should most definitely be addressed in the classroom. American history is comprised of Women’s History and African American History. These are a part of every American’s history. Therefore, every American should be taught this information and not just one month out of the year. This article provides a nice start to a collection of powerful women who fought hard for a change. I would incorporate them into my day-to-day curriculum in my future classroom.
This article and the provided resources are important as most teachers may struggle to find appropriate resources specifically targeted for students. I like the mention of other women needing to be addressed other than Rosa Parks because I agree. Every year I was re-taught the story of Rosa Parks and all that she did, but was never given the opportunity to learn about anyone else that played such a big role in history. Therefore, I will definitely be using these resources as a way to further expose my students and allow them to explore the many greats that make Black History Month the celebration that it is.
I think this article is very important to bring up in the classroom because it continues Black History Month by recognizing and celebrating Black Women during Women’s History month. I agree that most students have heard of Rosa Parks and I remember learning about her during school. However, she’s really the only name that stands out to me from what I learned in school, which is why I think this should definitely be covered in schools more to recognize more important figures. For example, you could read students the story of Ruby Bridges. I also really like the idea of doing a trading card activity and I think the students would enjoy this.