CELEBRATE

BLACK

HISTORY

MONTH

Join us throughout February as we celebrate and learn more about Black History! These emails will be released each Friday of the month to provide insight and help us learn about the experiences of the Black community. As you scroll through the email, you'll find highlighted historical Black figures, Black arts/education, and featured local Black owned businesses in the area!

Historical Figures at a Glance

Katherine Johnson

If anyone can be described as a prodigy, it must be Katherine Johnson. When Johnson was just ten years old, she started attending high school where she excelled in Math. Her education in Mathematics and French at West Virginia State College helped lead her to her true calling. Katherine ended up being an essential and dedicated employee for NASA, where she was instrumental for getting astronauts onto the moon. To learn more about Ms. Johnson, check out the links below and educate your children about this incredible scientist. We are also providing a picture that your children can color.

Katherine Johnson Info

Booker T. Washington

Born in a slave hut in 1856, Booker T. Washington and his family moved to Malden, West Virginia after the emancipation. From the ages of 40 through 60 years old, he was one of the most influential spokesmen in the country. He fought for his right to be educated, so at the age of nine he started working in a salt furnace and later in a coal mine to pay for his education expenses. Mr. Washington enrolled in Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in 1872 while he worked as a janitor. In 1881 he was selected to head the newly established school for African Americans which is now known as Tuskegee University. His hard work and determination to become educated made him into the influential man he became. To continue learning more about Mr. Washington check out the link below and have your children color in a picture of Mr. Washington.

Booker T. Washington Bio

Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Ida B. Wells was born into slavery on July 16, 1862 in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Ida was most known for being a journalist who led an anti-lynching crusade in 1890. After a horrendous incident where her friends were lynched, she was more motivated than ever before to advocate for anti-lynching. She was the founder of both the Negro Fellowship League and the Black Women's Suffrage Group. Both groups were powerful groups and helped aid those who suffered a great amount. To learn more about Ida check out the following links.

Ida B. Wells-Barnett Bio

Ida Wells - A Passion for Justice

Black-Owned and Focused Businesses

Michener Art Museum

The Michener Art Museum is hosting 130 years of Bucks County Black History on Saturday, February 26th at 2 p.m. This entails hearing from local writers, historians, and third-generation Doylestown resident Doreen Stratton. This event is free; all you need to do is sign up. What a great way to get the family out to learn about so many different things in Black history!

Address: 138 S Pine St, Doylestown, PA 18901

Phone Number: (215) 340-9800

Alena's Cafe

Alena’s Cafe serves freshly prepared sandwiches, pastries, coffee, and espresso drinks. If you have some free time this weekend, check out this great spot for a sandwich or a sweet treat.

Hours of Operation:

Monday: Closed

Tuesday - Friday 7:30 a.m.- 4:00 p.m.

Saturday - Sunday: 7:30 a.m.- 3:00 p.m.

Address: 6669 Germantown Ave Philadelphia, PA 19119

Alena's Cafe

Books

You can always discover more about Black history and one of those ways is through literature. Check out the books below for a starting point!

You Are Brave (You Are Important Series)

This book will help you teach your children how to be brave each and every day. Children will learn that every day and every activity has braveness involved. It will teach them how to be kind and loving towards one another. This work of art will help your children how to learn about confidence.

Purchase Link

28 Days: Moments in Black History that Changed the World

This book will help your children learn about different historical figures and the significant moments that they faced in their lives. Intermixed with poems, this book is a fantastic way to introduce your children to various forms of literature.

Purchase Link

Black Boy White School

This story is about a boy named Anthony who lives in a rough neighborhood, but receives a scholarship to a prep school. An entirely different world, Anthony needs to learn how to handle new situations and deal with people who don't understand him. Parents, this book will help your teens learn how to deal with acceptance and judgment.

Purchase Link

On the Come Up

This book is about a teen that has dreams and aspirations of becoming a rapper but her anger and frustration get to her. Parents, this book will teach your sons or daughters how to keep their cool when conflict strikes.

Teens, this is a great book if you have very high expectations for your lives and how to deal with them. Pain and frustration will happen when you go for your dreams but it is how you overcome them that determines who you will really become.

Purchase Link

Three Mothers

This book introduces us to the three mothers that raised three of the famous leaders during the civil rights movement. Meet the mothers of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin. Not only did they experience everything their famous children encountered, they used that to push their sons to become the historical figures they grew into.

Purchase Link

Buses are a Comin': Memoir of a Freedom Rider

Following a young Freedom Rider who was a Civil Rights leader, this book gives you a front-row seat into the struggles of some American lives in 1961. Travel along as they go from Washington D.C. to New Orleans, encountering trials and tribulations while on their journey.

Purchase Link

Colonial Middle School Second Annual Black History Book Drive

Colonial Middle School is starting its Second Annual Black History Month Book Drive. Help this Book Drive succeed by donating a book today!

To donate a book, simply visit their Amazon Wish List (link below), select a book, and choose to send it to the CMS Student Council sponsor, Mrs. Penrice, at checkout. To learn more about the Black History Book Drive and the process, click the link on the left, while clicking the link on the right will take you directly to the Wish List!

2nd Annual Black History Book Drive

Wish List