Are you looking for a unique and fun way to celebrate Black History Month with your class or school? Create a Black History bulletin board that highlights important African American figures! There are several different ways you can create Black History-themed bulletin boards and I’m sharing a few of my favorite setups with you today!
Creating a bulletin board that highlights the accomplishments and achievements of famous African Americans can seem overwhelming at first. There are so many amazing people you could feature! I’ve summarized a few ways to create bulletin boards with specific themes to make it easy for you to create beautiful, meaningful Black History Month bulletin boards without stressing!
Black History Figures Chronologically
An easy way to set up your Black History Month bulletin board is in chronological order. The African American figures in the Black History Month Bulletin Board include labels sharing birth & death years. This allows you to easily create a timeline of famous people in Black History.
If you don’t have enough space to include all the people in the Black History Month Bulletin Board pack, you could join forces with another team member or neighboring class to create era-themed bulletin boards.
Some suggestions for grouping the famous people by era are:
1790–1863: The Enslavement of Africans
1864–1916: Reconstruction and the Start of the Great Migration
1917–37: The Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance
1938–59: The Birth of the Civil Rights Movement
1960–69: The Civil Rights Movement and Black Power
1970–89: Breaking New Barriers
1990–present: The Spirit of the Millennium
*Eras as defined by Kids Britannica
Famous Black History by Profession/known for
Another fun way to create a bulletin board to celebrate famous African Americans would be to highlight professions. There are so many amazing figures in Black History in all professions and industries. Choose a few professions or fields to highlight with your class.
Here are some ideas for categories you could use:
- Artists/Musicians
- Michael Jackson
- Athletes
- Michael Jordan
- Wilma Rudolph
- Scientists and Inventors
- George Washington Carver
- Sarah E. Goode
- Actors
- Halle Berry
- Will Smith
- Civil Rights Leaders
- Ruby Bridges
- Martin Luther King Jr.
- Rosa Parks
- Political Figures
- Thurgood Marshall
You could even team up with another class or grade level to cover all the different professions/careers. By breaking down the figures into relatable jobs or titles, students will more easily relate.
Lesser-Known Figures in Black History
You may be limited on space for your bulletin board and want to ensure you make the most impact with your display. Why not highlight some of the lesser-known or lesser focused on figures in Black History?
Many times, Black History Month highlights the same, no less amazing, African Americans. There are so many important people though that don’t get the same amount of spotlight that are just as amazing! I’ve shared 3 interesting people in Black History to study with your class that you may not be familiar with. You can use the list below to find some figures that your students may not be familiar with yet and make them the stars of your bulletin board.
Student Choice
Perhaps you’ve used the Black History Month Biographies with your class and they’re familiar with the figures highlighted in that resource. Another great option for designing your Black History Month bulletin board is by student choice. If your students have briefly studied the informational reading passages on each person, they could choose the people they enjoyed learning about the most. They could also pick a figure that they believe had the largest impact on the world.
If you choose to create a bulletin board by student choice, consider allowing each student to write 1-3 sentences summarizing that person’s accomplishments and why they believe they should be celebrated during Black History Month.
Your students will also enjoy some of the activities in my round up of Black History Month activities.
Black History Month Bulletin Board Resource
To get all the printable pictures, labels, and titles that I shared in the examples above, you can grab my Black History Month Bulletin Board set. It includes black/white and color images of the 31 figures. It’s so easy to just print, cut, and create your bulletin board with this resource!
The 31 important people in Black History included in this resource:
- Tuskegee Airman
- Thurgood Marshall
- Wilma Rudolph
- Sojourner Truth
- Sarah E. Goode
- Rosa Parks
- Ruby Bridges
- Phillis Wheatley
- Marian Anderson
- Michael Jackson
- Martin Luther King Jr
- Michael Jordan
- Marcus Garvey
- Jackie Robinson
- Langston Hughes
- Jesse Owens
- Harriet Tubman
- George W. Carver
- Frederick Douglas
- Edna Lewis
- Booker T. Washington
- Billie Holiday
- Bessie Coleman
- Bill Pickett
- Benjamin Banneker
- Hank Aaron
- Matt Kemp
- Ozzie Smith
- Halle Berry
- Barack Obama
- Will Smith
If you’re in need of reading passages and biographies to go along with your bulletin board set up, then grab this bundle that has both the Bulletin Board resource and African Biographies products.
How are you celebrating Black History Month with your students this year? Did you create a bulletin board based on the tips that I shared above? I’d love to hear all about it! Share the details in the comments below!
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