BLACK HISTORY MONTH OCTOBER 2010

Black History Month (BHM) is held every October in Britain and every February in America and Canada.  The aim is to promote knowledge of Black history, culture and heritage.  Black History Month originated in America in 1926 by historian Carter Godwin Woodson.  The month of February was selected because the abolitionist and former slave Fredrick Douglas and former President Abraham Lincoln, were both born during February.

Our BHM workshops celebrate African culture and heritage through fun African drumming and interactive cultural workshops.   A fun way of getting children involved in learning about Black history, culture and heritage.

Our BHM workshops include the following activities:

● Djembe Drumming workshops (8 classes maximum)  These workshops will also discuss African culture and famous Black musicians and poets such as Bob Marley, Maya Angelou and Marcus Garvey.

● Interactive cultural workshops (5 classes maximum)  To be chosen from the following activities, it is possible to repeat activities with different classes or select a separate activity for each class:

• Make large posters for Black History Month - working in groups of 4 to 6 pupils.  The posters will include famous African-American activists such as Martin Luther King Jnr. and Rosa Parks.  We will provide all the artistic materials and guidance required.

• Talk and display on rural African life - pupils will learn about African food, cooking, clothing, music and entertainment.  During this interactive session pupils are able to touch and use everyday African objects and have the opportunity to experience the interesting diversity of African culture and heritage.

• Transatlantic Slave Trade challenge - pupils are given a selection of different photographs and clues to try and discover the connection between the photographs.

• Make a unity wreath - using paints, crayons, felt tips and collage materials pupils will make their own unity wreath.  This session is to highlight cultural diversity and to promote tolerance and anti-racism.

• African Adinkra printing - to make a cloth print with symbols of peace and unity. We will provide all the artistic materials and guidance required.

The facilitators will come in African costume and we also provide a teaching pack on confirmation of a booking.  The teacher pack includes colouring sheets on famous British and African-American activists and inventors; fill-in-the-blanks sheets on Martin Luther King Jnr., Rosa Parks and George Washington Carver; and more.

Primary school resources:

Interesting Books

Useful Websites

BHM Workshop Prices:

One Facilitator £385 (Full Day)

Two Facilitators £650 (Full Day)

Plus travel expenses

Please email for details on half day workshops and travel expenses info@teachingdrums.com

by author Ellen Levine

This straight-forward and accessible account of the Civil Rights Movement takes the form of short chapters with some colour illustrations, which pose and answers specific questions: such as, 'Did black and white children go to different schools?', 'Were children involved in civil rights protests?'. It concludes with the words and music for the song, 'We Shall Overcome'.

ISBN-10: 059042582X

ISBN-13: 978-0590425827

by author Patricia C. McKissack

This illustrated chapter book for younger readers tells the dramatic true story of the Amistad, the ship which became a celebrated symbol of rebellion against the slave trade. A group of Africans who freed themselves and took control of the ship were taken into custody in New Haven after their vessel was intercepted off the eastern seaboard. Their cause became a rallying point for the Abolitionists, and after a long legal battle they were restored to freedom and able to return to Africa.

ISBN-10: 044843900X

ISBN-13: 978-0448439006

The bus ride that changed history: the story of Rosa Parks

By author: Pamela Duncan Edwards

In 1955, a young African-American woman named Rosa Parks took a big step for civil rights when she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger. The bus driver told her to move. Jim Crow laws told her to move. But Rosa Parks stayed where she was, and a chain of events was set into motion that would eventually change the course of American history.

ISBN-10: 0618449116

ISBN-13: 978-0618449118

The Village That Vanished

By author: Ann Grifalconi

This picture book tells the story of a young girl and an old woman whose courage and quick-thinking save their fellow villagers from abduction by slavers. Abikanile's faith in her tribe's ancestral spirits inspires her to find a way across a dangerous river that prevents the villagers escaping to safety in the remotest parts of the jungle. Large scale colour illustrations convey the African setting in fine detail and help dramatise this inspiring story of bravery and resistance.

ISBN-10: 0142401900

ISBN-13: 978-0142401903

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