Black History Month is celebrated every February to honor the achievements of African Americans who have shaped American history. Historian Carter G. Woodson hoped to raise awareness of African American's contributions to civilization by establishing Negro History Week. The event was first celebrated during a week in February 1926 that included both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass' birthdays. The week was later expanded to a month in 1976 during the United States bicentennial.
PHOTO: On March 20, 1969, Black hospital workers at the Medical College of South Carolina in Charleston went on strike to protest the firing of twelve employees and to call for higher wages and union recognition.
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Dr. King's efforts would lead to wider recognition of equal rights, education and political representation for African Americans and other minorities. For his work, he earned a Nobel Peace Prize in...
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Dr. King traveled around the world giving speeches and organizing peaceful protests. He met with presidents to urge support for civil rights. His "I Have a Dream" speech was delivered in Washington, D...
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In 1955, Rosa Parks, a seamstress living in Montgomery, Alabama, wanted to peacefully demonstrate what civil rights meant to her. She was arrested for sitting at the front of the bus, a place reserved...
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Like Gandhi, Dr. King committed his life to peacefully helping people attain civil rights. Much of Dr. King's work concerned the civil rights of African Americans. During the 1950s, there were fewer...
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Gandhi used nonviolent protest to promote civil rights for the people of India. "True nonviolence should mean a complete freedom from ill will and anger and hate and an overflowing love for all." –...
Lesson
Read maps, use charts, and go to various sites to discover facts about the Gullah culture.
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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with President Lyndon Johnson at White House in 1966 In 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. told a crowd of 250,000 people, "I have a dream." To many people, Dr. King is...
Lesson
The goal for this project is to create an electronic storybook to teach younger students about Gullah. The storybook should be a multi-sensory, interactive experience for young readers so that they...
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February 12, 1909: NAACP founded; became the largest and oldest civil rights organization in America.
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February 23, 1868: Birth of W.E.B. Du Bois, author and teacher who worked for civil rights.
