Ten Black Men Who Changed America - Perfect for Black History Month!

Title: Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America

Author: Andrea David Pinkney

Illustrator: Brian Pinkney

Copyright: 2012

Publisher: Disney

Reading Level: 780L

Genre: Nonfiction

This book has won:
The Coretta Scott King Award

Summary: A winner of the Coretta Scott King award,  this absolutely incredible book is perfect to incorporate into the classroom. Andrea David Pinkney provides us with rich and full of depth stories of ten black men who did, in fact, change America. This novel is absolutely perfect for a social studies class, and at the end of the book there is a very well made timeline, perfect for children to gain a better understanding of the content in the book and how important the accomplishes of these men are to our society. The ten men being focused on in this book are: Benjamin Banneker, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, A. Philip Randolph, Thurgood Marshall, Jackie Robinson, Malcolm X, and - of course -  Martin Luther King Jr., and Barack H. Obama II. 

Suggested Delivery: Classroom Read Aloud

Guess what this month is?  It's February - Black History Month!  Use this book as a read aloud.  I would suggest using this book every other day.  Each time the book is being read, focus on a different man.

Key Vocabulary:

• Biracial
• Charismatic
• Cohesive
• Erudite
• Grapple
• Hypocrisy
• Indentured

Electronic Resources:

• This is a perfect video clip of Andrea David Pinkney talking about her book, and David Pinkney talking about his illustrations.  Students will be really interested to hear Andrea sing, and provide funny little tidbits about each of the men in her book.  Students will also be interested to find out a little about David Pinkney and his life as an illustrator  This is an incredible presentation, just skip to the 2:30 minute mark when starting, because the beginning introduction is not really beneficial. 

• Have the class participate in playing this word jumble about Martin Luther King Jr.

Increasing Comprehension Skills:

Before Classroom Read Aloud:

• I have said in previous posts to use word walls, and I truly believe a word wall would be beneficial for Black History Month and this book also.  So do it! :) Also, have children complete crossword puzzles after going over the definitions, or word searches to help identify words if you have not gone over the definitions of the words yet.

• Ask students in front of the classroom before reading the book to list some famous black men off of the top of their mind, and come up with a couple of important facts about the men they have come up with.  This will help assess students' prior knowledge of black history and will help guide you as you figure out which people in the book you are going to spend the most time in the classroom discussing. 

During Classroom Read Aloud:

• While reading, point out these words or any more difficult words and briefly pause and ask the class what the words mean.  This is a highly effective review tactic.  Repetition is key!

• Have students create Text to Text, Text to Self, and/or Text to World connections.  Have them make a chart in their journals, or create a chart as a group.  There are plenty of  chart ideas out there for "carpet time" and here is website with some great ones: Making Connections

          *Students will need to hold on to this chart in order to do a wonderful job with my suggested                 writing activity below.

After Book is Finished:

• Have students create a word collage.  I really love seeing creativity being implemented in the classroom.  Have them find magazines and cut out pictures of anything that represents these seven key vocabulary words, with one piece of white printer paper for each word, and have them make a poster gluing the seven pieces of white printer paper to the poster board.  Here is what you will need:
  
  
• 20 Poster Boards (one for each student)
• 140 Sheets of White Printer Paper (seven for each student)
• Magazines
• Glue Sticks
• Scissors
• Markers/Colored Pencils/Crayons

• Use questioning skills in the classroom to see where exactly your students thrive in understanding the lives of the famous men in the text.  Use these different types of questions as a model for this activity:

- Answered Questions

- Questions regarding Background Knowledge

- Inferences

- Discussion Questions

- Research Questions (this would apply for vocabulary likely)

- Confused Questions 

Writing Activity:

Have students write an essay about one of the ten black men in the book that they can relate to the most. Have them use information from the life of one of these men and have the students put themselves in the shoes of their chosen person. This will provide great comprehensive skills as they will be making text to self and text to world connections.

Tiffany Tidbit - I loved this book!  In fact, I bought the book and let my mother borrow it for her third grade classroom for the duration of this month.  I loved the poems and the timeline - they were added gifts to the amazingly written biographies of the ten famous black men who truly did change America. The fact that the book won the Coretta Scott King award is pretty great too - and given how diverse our country is, this book is an amazing contribution to the classroom.  I hope readers enjoy this book, and my posting about it!