Black History Month Resource Round-up

February is Black History Month. To help you celebrate, we compiled a list of resources to inform and help librarians with programming ideas to teach and recognize the important achievements of Black Americans.

Do you have favorite resources that are not listed below? Please share them in the comments or email us at programminglibrarian@ala.org.

Last updated: February 1, 2023

Online resources and LibGuides

• 400 Years of African American History, National Park Service
• African American History, National Archives
• African American Heritage, National Park Service
• Amistad Research Center at Tulane University
• Association for the Study of African American Life and History
• Behind the Veil Oral History Project, Duke University Libraries
• Black History Month, Library of Congress
• Black History Collection, Fold 3 by Ancestry
• Black History Month Resource Guide, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
• Black History Month Resource Collection, Facing History and Ourselves
• Exploring Black History Month, Princeton (N.J.) Public Library 
• Frederick Douglass Newspapers, 1847 to 1874, Library of Congress
• The History Makers: The Nation’s Largest African American Video Oral History Collection
• National Museum of African American History and Culture, Open Access Initiative
• National Museum of African American History and Culture, Virtual Exhibitions
• National Underground Railroad, Freedom Center Online Learning Resources
• Origins of Black History Month, Association for the Study of African American Life and History
• Stories to Celebrate Black History Month, StoryCorps

News

• “Black History Month: Teaching the Complete History,” Teaching Tolerance, January 29, 2020
• “Beyond Slavery and Civil Rights: What Parents Need to Know about Black History Month,” The Washington Post, February 21, 2020
• "Black Bethlehem: Documenting the Black Experience in a Majority White Town," Programming Librarian, September 15, 2020
• “How Black Lives Matter Is Changing What Students Learn During Black History Month,” Time, February 6, 2020
• “Meet the Man Who Created Black History Month,” CNN, February 1, 2019
• “Overlooked,” The New York Times, January 31, 2019
• “Seeing Black History in Context,” The New York Times, February 19, 2020
• "Standing against Racism in My Rural Library," Programming Librarian, June 11, 2020
• “The Little-Known Southern Underground Railroad into Mexico Is an Important Piece of Black History,” Remezcla, January 30, 2020
• "The 1619 Project," The New York Times, August 14, 2019

For kids

• “20 Pertinent Classroom Resources for Black History Month,” PBS NewsHour Extra, February 16, 2019
• Black History Month - National Geographic Kids
• “Black History Month 2021: A Virtual Journey Celebrating African American History,” Microsoft
• Coretta Scott King Book Awards, ALA
• Teacher’s Guide: African American History and Culture in the United States, National Endowment for the Humanities Edsitement!

Sample programs

• Black History Month at the Free Library of Philadelphia, Free Library of Philadelphia, Pa.
• Black History Month at NYPL, New York (N.Y.) Public Library
• Black History Month 2023, Iowa City (Iowa) Public Library
• Black History Month 2023 events, Hackley Library, Muskegon, Mich
• More Than a Month 2023, San Francisco (Calif.) Public Library
• Celebrate African American History with CPL, Chicago (Ill.) Public Library 
• Fall for Fine Arts 2: African American Artists, Programming Librarian, November 19, 2021
• Black Superhero Showcase, Programming Librarian, March 14, 2019
• "Doing Right by History: The We Are Alexandria Library Sit-in," Programming Librarian, July 20, 2020
• Webinar: Reading and Talking about Race: An Intro to ALA's Great Stories Club (Part 1: Deeper than Our Skins)
• Webinar: Reading and Talking about Race: An Intro to ALA's Great Stories Club (Part 2: Finding Your Voice)