Carter G. Woodson, the "Father of Black History Month", observed that in spite of Black Americans being central to the story of America, their accomplishments were largely neglected in the books and discussions of American history.

He founded the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) to promote, research, preserve, interpret and disseminate information about Black life, history, and culture. In 1926, Woodson and the ASALH launched "Negro History Week".

This was established the week of Abraham Lincoln & Frederick Douglass' birthdays in February—to support schools in promoting greater knowledge of Black history. Colleges started extending it to a full month & in 1976, Black History Month was decreed a national observance.

95 years after Woodson started Negro History Week, there is still a serious need to support schools in promoting greater knowledge of Black history, as Black history and contributions continue to be left out of year-round curriculum.

We wish we didn't need to say it, but it is very important for all educators to observe Black History Month, including non-Black educators and those teaching majority non-Black students, because they are least likely to receive this kind of content during and outside of school.

Research shows by 3, kids have already developed anti-Black bias. Two ways to start to counter it are positive representations of Blackness or as Woodson states: knowledge about how Black people “influenced the development of civilization” & explicitly naming & disrupting racism

Non-Black families & educators: please don't leave it up to Black families & educators to be the only ones asking, advocating for, and teaching this. Please do not ask Black families or colleagues to come up with and teach your whole Black history curriculum.

We acknowledge that one of the challenges many teachers have is being overloaded & not knowing where to start. We'll be sharing a ton of resources, including Black history books (from preschool—high school) by Black authors to support this.

In addition to us sharing resources, we want to open up this space for any strategies, activities or lessons that teachers & families may find useful in their efforts to disrupt anti-Blackness & incorporate Black History in curriculum all year long.

Again, we know teachers and families are overloaded so please don't feel obligated to share unless you have the time/energy/space to do so. We hope this can serve as a supportive and helpful resource.