Online Spaces and Resources about Black Americans

It’s Black History Month and I wanted to highlight all the fabulous things that Black Americans are doing in online spaces as well as phenomenal online resources about Black Americans.  Even though the month of February is the designated month for recognizing the achievements of Black Americans, I hope that the support and appreciation for the online creativity of Black Americans will continue for the entire year.

The list below contains a few examples of the online creativity of Black Americans, with a special emphasis on activities or resources for children:

• Black Girls Code provides young girls of color opportunities to learn skills in technology and computer programming and aims to introduce programming and technology to a new generation of coders.
• PBS Kids lists several children’s books with strong Black characters that exude bravery, curiosity and confidence.
• Brightly has compiled a list of books for children and adults that help parents talk to kids about race and racism.
• Mind Matter Books creates personalized books where your child – of any race - can be the hero of the story. (Fun fact: I even contributed to the collection by writing My Family is Multi-Cultural to reflect various families.)
• Scholastic highlights STEM lessons to help celebrate Black History month, for both elementary and middle schools.
• A compilation of “26 Black Americans that you don’t know, but should” is a homage to many unknown Black Americans who made contributions to history, art, civil rights and more.
• Chicago’s Museum of Science & Industry offers a Black Creativity Innovation Studio with virtual classes so that children 6+ can “use design thinking and the innovation process to turn everyday materials into a prototype for your invention!”
• Elle Décor lists 65 Black Designers and Creatives to follow on Instagram that showcases Black interior design, art, textiles and more.

This was but a small sampling of what can be found online to highlight Black American achievements. No matter the subject, from science, art, music, to history, sports or technology, online research can introduce your child to new experiences to help them appreciate and value diversity and cultural differences.

Use the best of Internet and technology to show your child the best of themselves and others.