Overlooked Black Heroes to Teach for Black History Month

Many teachers celebrate Black History Month by teaching about the achievements of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks. These are great leaders who influenced the Civil Rights Movement a great deal, however, when students mainly learn about leaders who did all these amazing things in the past, they tend to think civil rights is just a thing of the past. I wanted to show my students that we still have a long way to go and that there are young people fighting to better the black community. Teaching students about young influential black individuals can inspire them to realize the power they have, even as a young person.

Teaching Tip

To keep my students engaged and on pace with the curriculum (unfortunately this was not in my English curriculum), I added a short clip (shown below) about each person and told them that they would take an extra credit quiz at the end of the week. This encourages students to be engaged and gives them an opportunity to bring their grade up while discussing something culturally relevant.

Marley Dias

This young black queen saw a deficiency in the representation of African American girls in children’s and young adult books so she collected over eleven thousand books represent the young black girl’s experience. This is an amazing story of a thirteen-year-old who saw a problem and decided to do something about it! Great empowering leader to empower young students.

Mari Copeny

Mari Copeny, also known as “Little Miss Flint” wrote a letter to President Barack Obama about the horrid conditions of the water in her city and decided to help gather thousands of water bottles to distribute in her community. She was so influential that he visited her and invited her to one of his speeches where he spoke about the water conditions in Flint, Michigan. This is a great young hero that can teach kids about the power they have in their voice, and how it can be used to create change and help others.

Nyeeam Hudson

Nyeeam, also known as “King Nah” is a motivational speaker who travels the world inspiring people to have confidence in themselves and stand up against bullies. He took his experiences of being bullied and transformed it into a testimony to inspire other people. His story can motivate young kids not to try to “fit in” but to be confident in who they are!

Even if you’re not a teacher, these are still relevant individuals you can expose to your children, smaller siblings, and anyone else who might need help identifying themselves as a young black person in America.