The best Black History Month activities use real historical sources. Students can analyze National Archives documents, families can visit a National Park Service site, and anyone can help transcribe historical records online. Every activity below is free.
Activities for classrooms
Teach a STEM pioneer. Our free Black History STEM Lessons pair 12 Black American scientists, inventors, and engineers with ready-to-run activities for grades K–5 and 6–12, plus a four-week February plan.
Analyze a primary source. The National Archives' DocsTeach site has ready-made activities. In one, students study a diagram of the bus where Rosa Parks sat, with her name blacked out, and work out where she was seated. Others cover the Amistad case, school desegregation lawsuits, and the official program for the 1963 March on Washington (National Archives).
Build a lesson in the Smithsonian Learning Lab. NMAAHC offers free Learning Lab collections and reading lists for grades 3 through 12 tied to its exhibitions (NMAAHC).
Read a historic Black newspaper. Chronicling America, from the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities, has searchable newspaper pages from 1756 to 1963. Students can find coverage of an event in their own state (Chronicling America).
Hold a speech contest. The Frederick Douglass National Historic Site runs an annual student oratorical contest. Schools can run their own version using Douglass's speeches (National Park Service).
Activities for families
Earn a Junior Ranger badge. The Frederick Douglass and Carter G. Woodson National Park Service sites both offer Junior Ranger programs (National Park Service; National Park Service).
Visit a site near you. The National Park Service's Network to Freedom lists more than 800 Underground Railroad sites, programs, and facilities in forty states (National Park Service). See our museum and site guide to plan a trip.
Start your family history. NMAAHC's Freedmen's Bureau Search Portal lets you search records by name, place, and date (NMAAHC).
Activities for workplaces and groups
Volunteer as a transcriber. The Smithsonian Transcription Center is still transcribing Freedmen's Bureau records, and the National Archives Citizen Archivist program has projects tied to Black history. Teams can work on them together (NMAAHC; National Archives).
Join a national program. ASALH, the organization that founded Black History Month, runs a virtual festival in February built around the year's national theme (ASALH).
Support Black-owned businesses in your city. Business history is Black history. Discover Black businesses near you on House of Salt & Noir.
Choosing a good activity
The strongest activities share three traits. They use real records instead of trivia, they connect to a specific place or person, and they continue beyond February. Avoid activities that reduce history to costumes or role-play of enslavement.
Sources
- Association for the Study of African American Life and History. "Black History Month Virtual Festival." Accessed October 17, 2026.
- Library of Congress and National Endowment for the Humanities. "Chronicling America." Accessed October 17, 2026.
- National Archives. "African American Heritage." Accessed October 17, 2026.
- National Archives. "Teaching Resources for Black History Month." Education Updates, February 5, 2021.
- National Museum of African American History and Culture. "Freedmen's Bureau Search Portal." Updated August 8, 2025.
- National Museum of African American History and Culture. "Resources." Accessed October 17, 2026.
- National Park Service. "Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site" and "Frederick Douglass National Historic Site." Accessed October 17, 2026.
- National Park Service. "What We Do." National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Accessed October 17, 2026.