Historical African American Places

Lesson Author

Mary Catherine Johnson

Grades: 5-6

Lesson Summary

This lesson focuses on an exploration of significant African American historical sites. Students will be read an entry of Sienna�s Scrapbook each day and then investigate the place Sienna visited using the web, Google Earth, and the library. Not only will students explore places mentioned in the book, they will also research other places to add to their final project. At the end of the lesson, students will create their own �historical virtual scrapbook� of historical African American places using Google Earth. 

Literature Connection

Sienna's Scrapbook: Our African American Heritage Trip by Toni Trent Parker

Sienna, a pre-teen African American girl, envisioned a summer hanging out with her cousins, swimming in her uncle�s pond, and eating Krispy Kremes. Instead, her parents take the family on a twelve day African American heritage trip during which they visit various historical locations along the East coast.  This book is Sienna�s scrapbook of her July adventure including pictures, drawings, her opinions, and historical information.  Also included are the addresses of and web links to all of the places (and more!) she visits on her trip.  

NCSS Standard(s)

  • Learners will understand concepts such as: location, region, place, and migration, as well as human and physical systems  

  • Learners will be able to research, organize, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information from atlases, data bases, grid systems, charts, graphs, maps, geospatial technologies, and other tools to interpret relationships among geographic factors and historic events

Concepts and Skills

location, place

Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

  1. Describe two historical places in African American history-including, where they are and why they are important.

  2. Identify common physical and human characteristics of the places Sienna visits.

  3. Use Google Earth and other sources to explore historical places.

  4. Explain why the majority of famous historical African American places are located on the East coast of the United States.

Google Skills Needed

  • use the fly to tool

  • make a placemark

  • use layers

  • use street-view

  • zoom in and out of locations

Step-by-Step Teaching Procedures (PDF document)