Black History Month Free Printables

Happy February everyone!

I honestly did not celebrate nor teach in my practice anything about black history month when I was in Puerto Rico. It did not really cross my mind such a thing and back then I was not even aware about how problematic the subject of race is in the United States. For me people were just people, it was not until I moved there that I became in crisis with having to label myself as Hispanic, Latina, and Puerto Rican.

I have heard a lot about how Black History Month should not even be a thing and I agree but I must say that I think it's important that it is a thing because it actually makes people find time to think about the history. For me it means that it opens horizons when it comes to the learning about artists other than that were taught to me in school: old European men.

Yes, I love their art, I will never get tired of a Paul Cezanne or a Claude Monet. BUT have you seen Kehinde Wiley's work? It's freaking amazing! And I have been obsessed with fauvism and bright colors for quite a while but no one has done it better than these black artists.

I taught my students about Alma Thomas and Jean Michel Basquiat and created some material for those lessons. Here I want to give you some sheets about those artists and 2 more: Kehinde Wiley and Bisa Butler. In these two sheets are the lives and art styles of 4 black artists.

Alma and Basquiat are two pioneers who have already passed but have left a legacy, while Bisa and Kehinde are two artists who are still creating work today. I remember the first time I saw Kehinde's painting in person, I did not know who this artist was but I was simply blown away. I believe anyone who wants to learn about these artists will enjoy these printables, as well as the sheets I created to get inspired by:

The subject I incorporated to the lesson I taught was art styles. I wanted my students to be able to identify what they saw and be able to use it but to do that they needed to observe more in detail which is why I provided the vocabulary so that they could be more aware of what to look for.

Even so a teacher may take the opportunity of showing the images without the information and having the students describe and identify before hand, when I did this with my 6th grade class they would show a lot of interest at the works of art they had never seen before.

Lastly I'd like to present two more free printables for this month of February (that aren't Valentine's):

One is a Black History Month coloring page and the other is a kindness coloring page. The kindness one I created to celebrate Kindness Month as well as Random Acts of Kindness Week with a flower background as I took inspiration from Kehinde's backgrounds. Find these and more here.

I hope you enjoy. Until Next time.