Black History Month lesson plans

In celebration and in remembrance, JEA presents three lessons on Black History and the media. Teachers could use these in any media-related course to encourage students of color about the rich history of Black media and Black journalists and to build awareness of potential bias for students of all backgrounds. 

Log in to the members area to access the curriculum. All lessons sit in the News Literacy portion of the curriculum.

Famous Black Journalists

After learning basic information about historic and current Black journalists, students will create a project looking more in depth into one historical figure. Optionally, teachers may have students present their projects so the whole class can learn more about each figure. 

Black Journalism in America

After reading news stories from a variety of Black and general audience media, students will be able to analyze differences in coverage, sources and perspectives in current news. 

Examining Racial Bias in Mainstream Media

This lesson provides students an opportunity to discuss how racial bias impacts news coverage in mainstream media outlets through a short video about multidisciplinary artist Alexandra Bell creating counternarratives from The New York Times content. Students will apply ideas from this video to their own news consumption and/or student media.