GeoJournal

Dear Educator,

The Black History Month Field Trip takes an interactive tour through the main themes of Black History. Topics include the Underground Railroad, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Harlem Renaissance, the Tuskegee Airmen, important figures in Black history, and much more. This Field Trip is excellent for any classroom interested in presenting a general overview of Black History themes during February’s celebration.

Although the Emancipation Proclamation that Lincoln gave during the Civil War freed those who had been enslaved, it took about a century before the civil rights movement focused on equal rights for African Americans. This exclusive, interactive Field Trip focuses on the movement and its impact. Students will understand school desegregation, meet Rosa Parks, understand the essential role of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the March on Washington, and the voting in of America’s first Black president, Barack Obama.

GNN is your weekly resource for thought-provoking, entertaining, age-appropriate articles. There are so many articles for Black History Month, it is difficult to pick just one to highlight! Use this link to discover biographies in Maps101, including well-known and lesser-known figures in Black History. Some articles are even leveled for elementary readers. Look for articles labelled GNN Junior. Sample biographies include: Henrietta Lacks, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Hattie McDaniel, Ida B. Wells, Jesse Owens, Colin Powell, Maya Angelou, Miles Davis, Muhammad Ali, Rosa Parks, African Americans in World War II, African American medical pioneers, and more.

Since we are Maps101, of course we have maps and a lot of them! From the Civil War to contemporary topics, we have maps that enhance geographic understanding in the classroom for Black History Month. This week, let’s look at Major Civil Rights Events, 1954-1968. Project the map on the board and have students list each event and the details provided. Then, divide them into groups and assign each group an event from the list to further explore. Have students present what they have learned in class during the month of February. Then, lead a discussion as to how much has changed, or whether it has, for Black Americans since the civil rights movement. Encourage students to delve deeply into the topic to increase their Social Emotional Learning skills.

This is a small sample of the kind of content available to you with a Maps101 subscription. Every week, the editors at Maps101 will provide you with highlights from our extensive collection in this GeoJournal newsletter. We suggest you make a folder to store them for future reference. Expand your students’ world with Maps101!