Make Your Black History Month A Memorable Writing Opportunity

Our nation's bad habit, over departmentalizing and compartmentalizing information and history, can work to a writer's advantage. For the next, 27 days, thank God for leap years, we celebrate the survival, contributions and triumphs of Black people in American History, and to think, it all began with one week. Below, you'll find some resources to help you learn more about African-American History and the contemporary African American experience. As you peruse the links, consider the wealth of stories and subject matter available for a writer to use in their work. You may have a contribution to make to the legacy.

Happy Writing.








The Root is a daily online magazine that provides thought-provoking commentary on today's news from a variety of black perspectives. The site also hosts an interactive genealogical section to trace one's ancestry through AfricanDNA.com, a DNA testing site co-founded by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who is also The Root's Editor-In-Chief. The Root aims to be an unprecedented departure from traditional American journalism, raising the profile of black voices in mainstream media and engaging anyone interested in black culture around the world.




2008 Black History Month Theme from ASALH the Founding Institution of Black History Month: Carter G. Woodson and the Origins of Multiculturalism

From its inception, America has been a landscape peopled by diverse ethnic and racial groups, and today virtually all peoples are represented. If America has always been racially and ethnically diverse, the nation's self-image has not always recognized its multicultural history. Until the last decades of the twentieth century, America has seen itself largely as the flowering of Anglo-Saxon culture and prided itself on allowing immigrants to adopt the American way.

During the early years of the twentieth century, a small number of intellectuals began to question whether America was simply a transplant of English civilization. W. E. B. Du Bois, Theodore Herzel, and Randolph Bourne believed that modern America should embrace the cultural differences that newcomers brought with them to America. Democracy, they believed, required tolerance of difference and could sustain those differences in harmony.

Among those intellectuals of the Progressive era, Carter G. Woodson did most to forge an intellectual movement to educate Americans about cultural diversity and democracy.(Read the full text here)

Amistad Digital Resource

Starting February 1, teachers across the country will have free accessto http://www.amistadresource.org/ <http://www.amistadresource.org/> , wherethey can download maps of civil-rights riots and demonstrations, FBIdocuments, rare photos and film clips, personal correspondence, oralhistory interviews, and songs that chronicle the Civil Rights and BlackPower movements. Several states, including the New York StateDepartment of Education, have enacted legislation requiring the integration of African-American history in K-12 social studies curricula.

Columbia's Amistad Digital Resource, accessible to users at no cost,will provide a much-needed solution that helps teachers fulfill thisnew curricular requirement and be a resource for secondary school teachers to enhance their knowledge and ability to teach African-American history to students.

PictureHistory.com
License digital images illustrating more than two hundred years of American history

Click on this link to PictureHisory.com to view pictures highlighting African-American history.

Do you know of any other resources? Feel free to add them in the comments section.