They can be used for anything from teaching about different cultures to promoting upcoming events or activities.
The best part of using a bulletin board is that it is possible not to spend any money on it! You can make one yourself with items around your classroom, such as poster paper, construction paper, and even cardboard boxes.
If you want to use an actual bulletin board, you can purchase one at most office supply stores.
Black History Month is a time when we celebrate the contributions African Americans have made to our society. It’s also a chance for us to learn more about this important group of people.
To help your students understand what they need to know about black history, you can use bulletin boards.
If you are struggling to figure out what design you should do for your bulletin board, then we have got you covered. We’ve listed 9 inspiring Black History Month bulletin board ideas for you to use.
Black (History) Is…
The first bulletin board idea for Black History Month encourages students to think about what Black History Month is to them.
We recommend having a colorful backdrop for this bulletin board. In the middle have the word ‘Black’ in all capital letters in black.
Then you should have the word ‘history’ in smaller letters underneath the word ‘black’. Then to finish, have the word ‘is’ in bold black capital letters, the same size as the word ‘black’.
From afar, the bulletin board should read ‘Black Is’. This then allows the students to write a powerful and positive word as to what they think black is. For example, you could have words like ‘bold’, ‘brave’, or ‘beautiful’.
Then it would be a good idea to finish the board with pictures of influential and inspiring prominent black figures.
You could even ask the children to think about a black figure who has personally had an impact on them.
This is a great bulletin board for encouraging the students to reflect on the people that have made an impact on their lives and have played an important role in black history.
The ABCs Of Black History
This bulletin board is perfect for teaching younger students about Black History Month. This board would have all the letters of the alphabet on it.
Then alongside each letter, there should be a bit of information about something relevant to black history that links to that letter.
For example, the letter X could have a post about Malcolm X next to it. This would help the children become familiar with the alphabet as well as teach them important information about black history.
Other examples for this board would be having the letter K next to some information about Martin Luther King Jr’s role in the civil rights movement.
If you want to use this bulletin board idea for older students, then it is a great way for them to come up with the information for the posts near the letters.
You could also give them a chance to make their post personal to their own experience.
Black HerStory Month
This bulletin board involves a play on words. If you would like to teach your class more about prominent female figures relevant to Black History Month, this is the bulletin board you should use.
This bulletin board can be designed in a few ways. You could ask the students to do their own research about prominent black female figures and put a bunch of pictures of them celebrating them on the bulletin board.
However, we like the idea of making this bulletin board more interactive. Instead, you could have a foldable post that says something like ‘The first black woman to become a millionaire’.
Then underneath this post, there will be a picture and information about Madam C. J. Walker.
This is a great board to have the students reflect on the impact black females have had on their lives and the world.
I Can Change The World With My Words
This bulletin board is all about important civil rights heroes and the impact their words had on the world.
Not only can you include quotes from important civil rights heroes but you can include words highlighting the change their words brought about.
For example, having words such as peace with an example of peace that civil rights heroes achieved.
This would also be a great time for the students to share words they think they could say that would change the world.
This is an ideal bulletin board to introduce in English lessons. It is a great way to reflect on the power that words have, especially throughout black history.
Black History Firsts
To show your students the impact that black figures have had on history, it is great to explore a list of firsts that black figures have achieved.
For example, with this bulletin board, you could have the first black President of the United States, Barack Obama.
Or maybe even the first black astronaut. These are just two examples of how you can highlight the achievements of black people in history.
To get the student involved with making this bulletin board, you could ask them to research famous black people.
They can pick their favorite firsts they found and put them on the board.
Depending on the age group, you could get them to draw a picture of the person or print a picture off. Drawing a picture can make the moment more special for younger children.
What Is Your Dream?
Many teachers choose to spend a lot of time focusing on Martin Luther King Jr during Black History Month.
Therefore, it makes sense for these teachers to create a bulletin board that focuses on Martin Luther King Jr.
This bulletin board allows the students to think about the famous speech of Martin Luther King Jr.
To allow the students to get involved with creating this bulletin board, they can reflect on their own dreams and put them on the bulletin board.
The students can also research Martin Luther King Jr and summarize in their own words what his dream was.
They can place that next to their dreams so they can reflect on how Martin’s dreams have made an impact on theirs.
Honoring The Past, Inspiring The Future
In order to celebrate black history, you should use the opportunity to inspire your students.
You can do this by asking them to write down some of the most inspirational moments in black history.
You could then display those moments on the bulletin board. You can encourage the students to look at these moments and feel inspired.
This is the perfect bulletin board to help show how the actions of black figures in the past have allowed for events to happen in the future.
For this bulletin board, the students should find a picture of a black figure who made a difference in the past.
They should then write about how this person still has an impact on the future.
Figures such as Rosa Parks or Barack Obama can be placed on this bulletin board.
Freedom On The Menu
Freedom on the menu is a great bulletin board idea to teach students about a specific event, the Greensboro sit-in.
For this bulletin board you can make it look like a table with four diner chairs and four menus on top of the table.
The idea is for the students to summarize what happened during the Greensboro sit-in and the impact it had and write it in the menus.
This is a great bulletin board idea to reflect on a specific event and the significance this event has on black history.
This bulletin board can also focus on Black History Month in general, and the civil rights movement. The students can write in the menus the impact that the civil rights movement has had.
Who Am I?
A great way to engage students is to make a bulletin board that they can interact with. The idea of this board is to have facts about famous black people and have the children guess who they are.
This bulletin board can be a fun game for the students to play as well as learning about important black figures.
To set this bulletin board up you need to have a fact on a piece of paper which hides the name of the famous person until they lift the paper up.
Final Thoughts
Black History Month is one of the best times of year to learn more about the contributions of African Americans.
By using the information from this article, you will be able to plan and design a great bulletin board that will help educate your students about black history.
We hope that we were able to provide you with all the resources you needed to create a great bulletin board for black history. Please share this resource with other teachers and parents. Thank you for reading!
Hi, my name is Helena Waters and I was a teacher for 40 years before retiring last year.
During my time as a teacher I dedicated the majority of it to making classrooms as fun as possible, with educational parties, fun activities, and low cost entertainment that made the children excited about learning.
I taught children of all ages, from preschoolers to high school students. Now, with the pandemic having uprooted everything that children once knew about school and learning, I think that the need for my ideas is bigger than ever.
That is why I created School Sparks, a place in which I can write down and share all of my ideas on how to get students excited about going to school again. I hope that you’ll find some useful within a school setting, even at home too!
