The Michigan State University Office of K-12 Outreach in the College of Education provides a resource guide and a series of events to observe and 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.
“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.”
The roots of Black History Month date back to February 1926 when historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History initiated the first such celebration in a weeklong format. In 1976, President Gerald Ford helped expand Woodson’s observance into what is now Black History Month.
Teaching resources
The 2022 Black History Month Teaching Resources Guide pulls together free, accessible materials on a range of important topics that include slavery, Michigan history, truth, racial healing and more. While the resources have relevance toward Michigan students and educators, they may be useful for K-12 classrooms across the nation.
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.
“I hope that viewers of the Sankofa Project 2022 Black History Month program resonate with the fact that MSU is a place where leaders are grown,” Ransaw said. “The evidence and model of MSU leaders are influenced by our past but are also all around us making tomorrow even better.”
Ransaw will serve as a moderator at all events along with special guests 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, Georgia, 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:
Feb. 5, 1 – 3 p.m.
Feb. 12, 1 – 2:30 p.m.
Feb. 12, 3 – 5 p.m.
Feb. 26, 3 – 5 p.m.
This article was originally featured on the Office of K-12 Outreach in the College of Education’s website.