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Black Pioneers You Should Know: Daniel Hale Williams
This is an idea for a simple Black History age appropriate project for Kindergarten. Dr. Daniel Hale Williams was a pioneer in his field, being only the second doctor to successfully complete an open heart surgery. Students make their own medical kit bag as a way of recording facts.
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Black Pioneers You Should Know: Garrett Morgan
If you've hear of Garrett Morgan, you might think that he invented the stoplight. That's not strictly true, but the inventions he patented are ones that have evolved to become life savers today. Read more...
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Black Pioneers You Should Know: George Washington Carver
George Washington Carver was an expert in the field of botany, helping farmers make the most out of their land, and finding uses for their surplus peanut crops that they used in crop rotation. Whilst not the inventor of peanut butter, George can be credited with popularizing a large variety of peanut products we have today. Learn more about him here.
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Black Pioneers You Should Know: Bessie Coleman
When you think of female aviation pioneers, almost certainly you think of Amelia Earhart. But what of Bessie Coleman, the first African American female pilot who had to learn French in order to apply to a French aviation school because no school in American was willing to teach black women. You can learn more in this post.
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Black Pioneers You Should Know: Madam CJ Walker
Sarah Breedlove, better known as Madam CJ Walker, is America's first female self-made millionaire. She grew up in poverty and by the age of 20 was a widowed woman bringing up a two year old daughter alone. To try to make money she took in laundry. Due to a scalp condition, Sarah began to lose her hair so she started experimenting with some of the laundry chemicals she has used, hoping to find a cure.
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Black Pioneers You Should Know: Dr. Mae Jemison
Mae Jemison seems to be one of those kind of cool people that you wish you could've met when you were younger. She is inspirational to me now as an adult, and I think as I child learning about her and her achievements may have led me down a different path, one which I thought was unattainable.
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Black Pioneers You Haven't Heard of: George Crum
Potato chips may have been around since the 1820s, but it is thanks to a chef named George Speck that they became popular in America. George worked in a famous restaurant, and he got his name 'Crum' because one of the wealthy diners in his restaurant could not remember George's last name.
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Black History Valentine Activity
February is such a crazy busy mont - which is why it's my favorite teaching month! And it flies by! If you are looking for a black history/valentine craft, look no further! Read more...
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Celebrating Black History Month: Part 2
Following on from last week’s post, celebrating Black Americans that you may not have heard of, here are some more ground-breaking and amazing pioneers in history that you might be familiar with. I have researched a book for each historical figure, a suitable website and and engaging activity to hook your students. (Disclosure: Some of links below are affiliate links, which means that at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.) Bessie Coleman Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman was an American civil aviator. She was the first female pilot of African American descent to earn a pilot’s license. She gained her…
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Celebrating Black History Month: Part 1
Observing Black History Month In 1964 the author James Baldwin reflected on the shortcomings of his education. “When I was going to school,” he said, “I began to be bugged by the teaching of American history because it seemed that that history had been taught without cognizance of my presence.” As an immigrant to the USA, Black History Month (introduced in 1976 to rectify the situation that James Baldwin and Black Americans had experienced in education) has afforded me the opportunity to learn about history shakers and makers. Some of the names were familiar to me, as in this blog post, but often I had to dig deep to research pioneers,…
