The Michigan State University Office of K-12 Outreach has announced a resource guide and a series of events to observe and to educate students, teachers and others on Black History Month.
This effort, led by Outreach Specialist Ted Ransaw, includes free access to online materials and a series of panelists with historical and contemporary roots to the empowering commemoratory period. Ransaw also led the curation of resources provided by the office in 2021.
“Our mission, as an office and college at a land grant university, is to support educators in Michigan,” Ransaw said. “We want to provide resources, share our expertise and support teachers in classrooms. This is a continuation of that effort.”
Commemorations for Black History Month date back to a weeklong celebration in February 1926 initiated by Carter G. Woodson and the (now titled) Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). President Gerald Ford expanded the observance in 1976 to become Black History Month. Contemporary recognitions offer a chance to emphasize that Black history is not limited to “the subjugation of slavery” but that it has “significantly impacted the development of the social, political and economic structures of the United States and world” (ASALH).
Teaching resources
The 2022 Black History Month Teaching Resources Guide pulls together free, accessible materials on a range of important topics. While the resources have particular attention to relevance toward Michigan students and educators, they may be useful for K-12 classrooms across the nation.
Topics include slavery; history related to Michigan (and, in particular, Detroit); truth, racial healing, transformation and more.
Creating the guide was “one of the best parts of my job,” added Ransaw.
Events throughout February
The Office of K-12 Outreach is also hosting a series of free events as part of the 2022 Black History Month Sankofa Project. This year, the events will “highlight the historical and cultural link between the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Power Movement and the Black Lives Matter of Michigan Movement.”
Each event has a different series focus—but all relate back to sankofa. Sankofa is an adinkra symbol that means “go and bring back the past to inform the future.” Andikra symbols are a series of carvings with complementary sayings with origins in West Africa. They were adopted across the African continent as “representations of African thought,” said Ransaw.
Ransaw will serve as a moderator at all events, and special guests include Andrew Young Jr. and Robert L. Green. Young held many leadership positions, including serving as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 1977-79 and as mayor of Atlanta, GA from 1982-90. Green, who earned his Ph.D. from MSU in 1963 in Guidance and Personnel Services, is a nationally recognized scholar on education, urban development and issues related to diversity. Both worked with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Register at the links below for the sessions (Zoom information will be provided 24 hours prior to the event):
- Session I: Civil Rights Movement
Feb. 5 from 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. - Special Session: Changing the Narrative Through Positive Community Policing
Feb. 12 from 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. - Session II: Black Power Movement
Feb. 12 from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. - Session III: Current/Future Guard
Feb. 26 from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.
This post pulls content from the January 2022 edition of Office of K-12 Outreach Spotlight, a monthly email newsletter written by Tyler Thur. Subscribe today.