As educators and communities seek to highlight Black history during the month of February, we want to highlight our free curriculum guides and discussion guides for powerful films for your classroom. These films tell important stories of Black joy, Black history, Black resilience, Black achievement and much more. Teaching with film for Black History Month, or at any time of the year, engages students and brings important stories that shape our world to light.
Among our most popular resources are our curriculum guides for Hidden Figures, Just Mercy, and Summer of Soul. All three of these films are award-winning films that tell important true stories of Black History in the U.S. Our Hidden Figures curriculum guide features 8 lesson plans with lessons about U.S. History and Civil Rights as well as STEM lessons to engage students with math and science learning.
Further, for Just Mercy, in addition to lessons teaching U.S. History, Civil Rights, U.S. Government and Civics, we offer an independent student learning packet. Additionally, many educators pair this film and our resources with their teaching of To Kill A Mockingbird.
Finally, for Summer of Soul, which tells the powerful story of the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969, we created a six lesson core-based curriculum guide. Lesson 3 in that guide, entitled 1969: A Unique Year was named Share My Lesson’s #1 partner resource of 2022.
All of these resources are completely free to download. Simply visit our library, click on the film and follow instructions to add these free resources to your cart. You click here to browse our library of free resources: https://journeysinfilm.org/library/.
Black History Lessons
Update June 2026 — New Resources!!
In Acts of Reparation, two friends — one Black, one white — travel to their ancestral lands to explore what reparations means to them. From kitchen tables to porches, lost cemeteries to discovered diaries, their journeys lead to unexpected opportunities that transform their friendship, families and communities. Together they reclaim and reckon with their roots and find that small acts can lead to big change. Acts of Reparation is a powerful way to bridge the past and the present. It brings history to life through the experiences of individuals today seeking to look back at painful aspects of the U.S. History and repair — together.
Furthermore, these resources provide opportunities for learning around primary sources and the archive as well as engagement with the topics of allyship and action. In addition to rich Social Studies content, we also include community service learning activities These guides include multiple handouts and worksheets of use for historical inquiry, empathy mapping, and more.
Get these resources now from the Acts of Reparation page in the Journeys in Film Resource Library.
Tough Old Broads
Tough Old Broads follows three trailblazing women broke barriers in their time and continue to pursue their passions to this day, including Sharon Farmer, the first woman to serve as Chief White House Photographer.
Sharon Farmer started taking photos in the early 70s during the campus riots and civil rights protests at Ohio State University. She was the first woman and first person of color to serve as the Chief Official White House Photographer for Bill Clinton. Moreover, Sharon continues to fight for social justice. She uses photography to shine a light on the realities facing many Black woman in the United States.
In addition to introducing viewers to Sharon Farmer and other inspirational Tough Old Broad role models, the film presents a great springboard for conversations about reducing inequalities, Black History, and social-emotional learning (SEL) about following your dreams.
Learn more about teaching Black History with Tough Old Broads and get this Discussion Guide.
Expanding the Canon with Film for Black History Month
Looking for individual lessons for teaching Black history? Check out our brand new Black History Lessons collection, with classroom-ready individual lessons for teaching US Black History and Global Black History. This collects all of our Black History teaching resources in one convenient place. Check it out to stay up to date with our newest releases for teaching Black History across the curriculum.
We’ve added a new Disney feature film to our Black History collection: Chevalier. This narrative film is based on the true life story of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a renowned fencer, violinist. He was the first Black classical music composer in France, and he took the court of Marie Anoinette by storm. Our Chevalier Discussion Guide provides a springboard for engaging discussions about Race and Identity, Women and Patriarchy, and also Bologne’s legacy and the French Revolution. You can also check out this blog post on Share My Lesson, Teaching about Joseph Bologne and Amplifying Hidden Histories.
More Films to Inspire Your Students
Additionally, Disney’s narrative film Queen of Katwe, featuring Lupito Nyong’o, tells the true life story of Phiona Mutesi, a 9 year-old chess prodigy from Kampala, Nigeria. Our discussion guide for this film helps students dive into Phiona’s story and connect with her inspiring life journey.
Finally, another of our most popular educational resources is our free curriculum guide for The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. This is a powerful narrative film that tells the true life story of William Kamkwambe. William saw a need in his village in Malawi and used education and innovation to meet that need. Our rich six lesson curriculum guide for this film features powerful STEM lessons with hands-on activities, Environmental Science lessons, ELA lessons, World History and much more.
Thus, no matter what subject area you teach, our library has something for you and all of our resources are free!
Free Webinars for Teaching with Film for Black History Month
Through Share My Lesson, you can watch, on demand, our webinars for many of the curriculum guides we’ve featured in this blog. Here is a list, with links to all of the relevant free webinars available through Share My Lesson.
- Summer of Soul: Celebrating Black History Through Music and Film.
- Inequity in Criminal Justice: Teaching the Film Just Mercy.
- Engineering and Activism: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind with William Kamkwambe.
- Hidden Figures: Using Film to Teach Across the Curriculum.
Written by Jennifer Fischer
Updates by SJ Evans
