June 19 marks Juneteenth. Also known as Freedom Day and Emancipation Day, Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. 

Juneteenth, which originated in Galveston, Texas in 1865, provides the opportunity to teach students about our nation’s history, as well as to continue dialogue around the importance of anti-racism.

Here are some relevant resources and lesson plans that can be easily incorporated into end-of-year instruction to teach students about the significance of these topics.

Swing recommends that substitute teachers get all outside teaching resources approved by the school prior to sharing with students.

Lesson plans and activities

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is providing a free, downloadable activity in which high school students plan their own Juneteenth learning fair while researching local Black leaders. The company is also sharing three persuasive, research, and creative writing activities best suited for elementary and middle school students.

ReadWriteThink highlights a number of applicable websites teachers can explore with students, as well as resources such as this Civil War lesson that uses historical fiction texts to teach students in grades 3-6 about the war.

New York Public Library has compiled a list of kids’ books to celebrate Juneteenth. Teachers can pair these readings with a writing prompt, such as “Describe a historical event that you think made the world a better place.”

Google for Education has a free lesson on creating a flyer for a Juneteenth celebration comes with a lesson plan, sample rubric for educators, and certificates of completion for students.

Teach about reparations using this lesson plan from Zinn Education Project, where students will work to improve upon a Congressional bill for reparations for Black people.

Invite a speaker to come speak to your class. Penguin Random Hosue Speakers Bureau has a list of qualified speakers whom you can invite to speak to your class, or, you can ask someone from your local community.

If you can’t go in person, take a virtual field trip to a Black history museum. These 12 museums around the country offer virtual tours.

Looking for more inspiration? Teach For America, Edutopia, and Tech & Learning have pulled together additional activities, resources, and ways to honor, learn about, and celebrate Juneteenth in the classroom or at home.

Videos

If you’re looking to supplement a lesson plan with some mixed media, check out these thorough and engaging videos that will help immerse your students in the holiday’s history.

• What is Juneteenth? Why we honor it — Kid Explorer
• What is Juneteenth? — Inside Edition
• Juneteenth Explained — Vyond

Literature

Elementary students

• Juneteenth: A Children’s Story — Opal Lee
• Opal Lee and What it Means to be Free — Alice Faye Duncan
• What is Juneteenth? (What Was?) — Kirsti Jewel
• Free at Last: A Juneteenth Poem — Sojourner Kincaid Rolle
• A Children’s Guide to Celebrating African American Independence — Shanita Arindell

Older students

• Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement — Angela Davis 
• Between the World and Me — Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope — bell hooks
• How to Be an Antiracist — Ibram X. Kendi 
• Juneteenth — Ralph Ellison
• White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism — Robin Angelo

While June is a great time to focus on Black history, it’s important to incorporate these lesson plans all year round. All students deserve to see themselves represented in the classrooms: in the books they read, stories told, and history taught. Take this holiday as an opportunity to reset and incorporate all perspectives into your lesson plans.