What to do for Black History Month?

Well, we like to have an assembly program ... imagine that! :-)

Seriously, though, Black History Month or African American History Month, if you prefer, poses a challenge for many schools looking to promote understanding, and there are some great assembly programs available to help!

Of course, since we are talking about history, having a living history character visit the school is perfect! And African American History is full of wonderful and enriching characters to present to children. Harriett Tubman and the story of the Underground Railroad is very well known and an excellent tale for students who are entranced by her life story and the challenges she faced. In Michigan we have a friend named Leslie McCurdy who does a wonderful version of this character and presents it in Canada, Michigan and Illinois. Mobile Ed has a similar program called The Spirit to Overcome which covers the stories of several different women of color including not only Harriett Tubman, but also Sojourner Truth, Bessie Coleman, Josephine Baker and others. As this program is new it is so far only available on the East Coast.

But if you are seeking ideas for assembly programs focusing on African American History, there are plenty of male role models available as well. Programs about Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King come to mind and are very popular, and there are many more.

There are also African American story tellers, who will engage students through rich and wonderful stories drawn from an ancient tradition of verbal story telling!

One piece of advice ... don’t wait until December and then call a presenter asking for Martin Luther King the day before or the day after his birthday! Seasonally important dates sell out quickly!

Geoff Beauchamp is the Regional Manager of Mobile Ed Productions where "Education Through Entertainment" has been the guiding principal since 1979. Mobile Ed Productions produces and markets quality educational school assembly programs in the fields of science, history, writing, astronomy, natural science, mathematics, character issues and a variety of other curriculum based areas. In addition, Mr. Beauchamp is a professional actor with 30 years of experience in film, television and on stage. He created and still performs occasionally in Mobile Ed's THE LIVING LINCOLN