BLACK HISTORY: Covert, Michigan (1860-1910)

A century before the Civil Rights movement, this small town on Lake Michigan had racially integrated schools, churches, government, and civic organizations. Settled by black and white pioneers in the mid-1800s, Covert Township worked across racial and ethnic lines at a time when doing so was widely rejected if not outright illegal. Learn the story of this remarkable community, told against the backdrop of Reconstruction’s overthrow in the South and worsening racial conflict in the North.

When much of America was tearing itself apart and squandering the moral victories of the Civil War, this community nestled in the west Michigan wilderness came together — not as a utopian social experiment, but as ordinary people who relied on one another to solve the problems of ordinary life on the frontier, and whose legacy endures today in Covert and beyond. This little-known American story offers an example our country needs now more than ever.

BLACK HISTORY: Katherine Johnson (1918-2020)

Want to know more about the life and work of NASA’s “hidden figure,” whose calculations helped send men to the moon? This lesson tells the story of Katherine Johnson (1918-2020), the space program trailblazer who broke down racial and gender barriers in her remarkable 101 years of life. Born a math prodigy in segregated West Virginia, her father regularly drove Katherine 120 miles to the nearest school that would educate Black students past the 8th grade. Her extraordinary talents landed her a job as a “human computer” in the early days of NASA, where she would spend an illustrious 33-year career as a research mathematician. Johnson’s work on the Mercury and Apollo projects, along with her many other research projects and technical papers, earned her the Medal of Freedom in 2015.

BLACK HISTORY: Robert Smalls (1839-1915)

Robert Smalls was an American politician, entrepreneur and Navy pilot who exhibited courage and undeterred conviction in his fight for freedom, respect, and legal rights for former slaves. As a slave in the Gullah community of South Carolina, he risked his life to give the Union Navy an edge during the Civil War by commandeering a Confederate gunship and escaping to freedom with his family in 1862. His wartime celebrity began a life of public service and statesmanship. Smalls’ political and business career revealed his determination to right past wrongs. During the Reconstruction Era, his integrity and non-discriminatory perspective helped both Black and white citizens transition into a new and just society. Throughout his life, Smalls demonstrated “radical grace,” showing mercy to his former oppressors, trying earnestly to rebuild a South Carolina devastated by four years of war, and never compromising on the values for which he risked his life both during and after the war.

BLACK HISTORY: Bass Reeves (1838-1920)

Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves was a highly respected and wildly successful peace officer in Indian Territory for over thirty years, starting when he was first commissioned by federal Judge Isaac Parker in 1875. His life saw the enormous transformations that swept through the country during the Civil War, the days of the “wild west” in the federal territories, and the final settling of the frontier. The exploits of Deputy Marshal Reeves as he fought and captured hundreds of outlaws made him famous in his own time. This lesson tells the story of Reeves, his world, and his relentless pursuit of justice.

BLACK HISTORY: Drama Lessons 4-Pack

These drama activities based around the lives of Crispus Attucks, Biddy Mason, Elijah McCoy, and Bessie Coleman complement our Black History lessons on these figures. Students will script, stage, imagine, and improvise in a series of prompts perfect for theater classes or any other learning context in which creativity and performance are emphasized. This package contains four documents, each containing multiple activities based around the life experiences of these remarkable Americans.

BLACK HISTORY: Booker T. Washington and the Rosenwald Schools 1912-1932

Having experienced the profound racial disparities in the rural South firsthand, writer and education reformer Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) dreamed of a school-building project for Black communities that could help begin to lift them out of poverty. In this history lesson, students examine Washington’s collaboration with philanthropist Julius Rosenwald (1862-1932), and learn how Washington’s hopeful dream slowly became the reality of nearly 5,000 new schools. Built in large part by the communities they served, Rosenwald schools were a ray of hope in the face of poverty and racial discrimination.

BLACK HISTORY: Jesse Owens & The Berlin Olympics (1936)

On the eve of WWII, Black American athletes like Jesse Owens and Ralph Metcalfe put the lie to Nazi ideas of racial superiority on Hitler’s home turf. This lesson tells the full story of the so-called “Nazi Olympics,” where athletes from nations that in only a few short years would be at war competed with honor—even as controversy brewed behind the scenes, including on the U.S.A. team. Students will examine the athletic competitions themselves, the achievements of American athletes, and the political controversies that loomed over the games, which resulted in two American Jewish athletes, Sam Stoller and Marty Glickman, being denied their chance to compete. Main presentation text by 1776 Unites scholar and Olympic historian Stephen L. Harris.

BLACK HISTORY: Crispus Attucks, Part 1 (1723-1770)

On March 5, 1770, five men were shot dead by British soldiers on King Street in Boston. This event became known as the Boston Massacre, and helped kindle the fire of the American revolution. The first man to fall in this event was Crispus Attucks, a sailor and escaped slave of mixed African and American Indian ancestry. Patriot activists held up Attucks as a martyr for the cause of liberty, and generations of Americans followed suit; almost a century later, abolitionists made Attucks into a symbol of Black civic identity. But who was he, really? This lesson, the first of two on Crispus Attucks, tries to establish the facts about his life from the scant remaining evidence.

BLACK HISTORY: Crispus Attucks, Part 2 (1851-2020)

On March 6, 1857, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its infamous Dred Scott decision, which fundamentally denied the legitimacy of Black American citizenship. The coincidence of the date, one day after the anniversary of the Boston Massacre, caught the attention of William Cooper Nell, a free man of color, historian, and influential abolitionist. On March 5, 1858, antislavery activists celebrated Crispus Attucks Day at Faneuil Hall, where Attucks’s body had awaited burial in 1770. Such efforts to commemorate Attucks helped shape the field of African American history. This lesson examines the ways historians, civil rights activists, and cultural institutions renewed the memory of an otherwise enigmatic figure.

BLACK HISTORY: Bessie Coleman (1892-1926)

Born to poor sharecroppers in Texas, Bessie Coleman (1892-1926) was the first African American woman aviator, earning an international aviation license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. Throughout her career as a daredevil stunt pilot in thrilling airshows, she consistently defied expectations and broke through racial and gender barriers to dazzle audiences and inspire future generations of Black American pilots, aviators, and astronauts. This lesson tells the story of Coleman’s life in the wider context of the “barnstorming” early days of flight and the rising opposition to racial segregation exemplified by newspapers like the Chicago Defender.

BLACK HISTORY: 54th Massachusetts (1863-1865)

In January 1863, President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, and the Union Army began recruiting Black Americans to fight the Civil War. Thousands answered the call. Soldiers of the 54th Massachusetts infantry regiment came from all over the country, dedicated to both the destruction of slavery and the advancement of racial equality nationwide. Their heroism transformed the conflict from a battle to preserve the Union to a grand struggle for freedom. Discover the true story of the men whose fame was restored to public memory by the celebrated 1989 film Glory.

BLACK HISTORY: Tulsa: Terror & Triumph (1921-2021)

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Oklahoma was a haven for Black Americans seeking freedom and economic opportunity. The Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, with its bustling business district known as the “Black Wall Street,” was the nation’s most affluent Black community, a central hub of entrepreneurship and activism. But by June 1, 1921, Greenwood lay in ruins, victim to a massive wave of violence and looting committed by a mob of their White neighbors, in what is now known as the Tulsa Race Massacre. Against all odds, the survivors fought to rebuild their lives and livelihoods, even as powerful forces tried to bury Greenwood forever. This incredible story of dignity in the face of devastation shows the depths of human cruelty — and the heights of human resilience.

BLACK HISTORY: Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806)

In this early American history lesson, students are introduced to Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806), a free Black landowner from Maryland who found notoriety as a largely self-taught surveyor, astronomer, and natural historian. A friend and neighbor of the Ellicotts, an influential family of abolitionist Quakers, Banneker became a national figure in the young republic through his popular series of almanacs, and is remembered for his scientific achievements, public opposition to slavery (including a famous exchange with Thomas Jefferson), and role in surveying the boundaries of the District of Columbia.

BLACK HISTORY: Biddy Mason (1818-1891)

In this history lesson, students learn about the epic life and exemplary character of Biddy Mason, a woman who was born into slavery in the Deep South, walked to California as part of a pioneer caravan, fought for her freedom in court, and died a millionaire real-estate investor in Los Angeles. In addition to the highs and lows of Biddy’s dramatic life, this lesson asks students to study how she demonstrated the virtues of courage and charity, both in securing freedom for herself and her family and, later, using her fortune to invest in her community and provide relief to poor Californians of all races and religions.

BLACK HISTORY: Elijah McCoy (1844-1929)

In this history lesson, students learn about the ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit of Elijah McCoy, a prolific inventor who held 57 patents, mostly on designs related to locomotives. Born in Canada and educated in Scotland, he spent most of his professional life in and around Detroit, Michigan, working in the railroad industry while also continuing to produce new inventions. The son of escaped slaves, McCoy overcame early discrimination to become an internationally respected authority in his field. By the time of his death, McCoy was widely celebrated by his contemporaries as a leader and model for Black America in the first generation after Emancipation. This lesson asks students to consider how McCoy’s life experiences led him create such important innovations and ask why his inventions were so highly valued by manufacturers and consumers.

BUILDING CHARACTER: The Woodson Principles

Neighborhood empowerment advocate and civil rights movement veteran Robert L. Woodson has developed ten principles for personal growth and community development. He has used these principles throughout his decades of working with organizations that seek to transform low-income communities from within. In this lesson, students will learn about these principles, discuss their importance, and imagine ways to apply them in their own lives and the life of their communities.

CONTEMPORARY SCHOLARS: Walter E. Williams (1936-2020)

The popular economist Walter E. Williams was one of the most prominent libertarian commentators on issues of race, poverty, and prosperity, spreading his message through a weekly syndicated column, scholarly publications, and a variety of media appearances. Born and raised in the Philadelphia projects, Williams overcame personal and political barriers on his journey from a blue-collar kid working odd jobs to a distinguished writer and professor. Prolific and provocative, Williams appealed to both specialists and laypeople, and his great love was teaching economics. Throughout his life, a network of devoted friends, family, mentors, and colleagues made his success possible.

BLACK HISTORY: Paul Cuffe (1759-1817)

Paul Cuffe was a sea captain, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who lived through the birth and early life of the United States. As a young man, he helped smuggle goods past the British blockade during the Revolutionary War; by the early 1800s, he was perhaps the wealthiest Black man in the young republic, renowned and respected for his business sense and moral character and the first free man of color to visit The White House. An ardent abolitionist, Cuffe used his wealth to build one of the first integrated schools in America and to power his ambitious — and controversial — plans to build a new Black republic in West Africa.

BLACK HISTORY: Alice Coachman (1923-2014)

Born into poverty in rural Georgia and raised under the shadows of Jim Crow segregation and the Great Depression, Alice Coachman fought through gender taboos and racial barriers to become a record-breaking track star. Then, in the 1948 London Olympics (the first to be held after WWII), she leapt to victory in the high jump and became the first black woman in history to win Olympic gold. One of postwar America’s most high-profile athletes and the first African-American woman to be spokesperson for an international product, Coachman’s life and achievements were honored during the 1996 Atlanta Olympic games.

Your Curriculum Downloads

The Woodson Center’s K-12 black history and character curriculum is based on the Woodson Principles and tells the stories of black Americans.

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