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Celebrate Black History Month with story maps

Black History Month is a perfect time to get your students to create a story map that will highlight the contributions of Black Canadians. Discover ideas that will inspire them to create their interactive presentation.

February is Black History Month. It’s an opportunity to celebrate the contributions of Canadians with African roots. Encourage your students to create a story map to highlight important stories of Black Canadians. They can select from a hand full of story map templates that allow you to include text, videos, audio clips, images and web maps to present the topic of their choice.

Here are few ideas that we have come up with that can get you and your students started:

Contributions of Black Canadians in Wars

Create your story map about the contributions of Black Canadians in the First World War.
Image from No. 2 Construction Battalion members in 1917, Veterans Affairs Canada.

Black Women’s Fight for Equality and Freedom in Canada

Black History in Canada

Black Social Activism

If you don’t have time to create a story map, check out some resources that have been already created for you to explore today!

Explore this story map to learn about 23 historical Black Canadians you should know.

Are you new to ArcGIS Online? Sign up for an account at k12.esri.ca, and try the following tutorials:

We’d love to know how you’re celebrating Black History Month across Canada by leaving a comment below.

About the Author

Angela Alexander is a K-12 Education Specialist in the Esri Canada Education and Research group. She has over 15 years of experience working with educators across Canada. Angela focuses on producing geographic information system (GIS) and curriculum-specific resources, and conducting and creating custom workshops for educators. She manages the GIS Ambassador Program and is the Technical Chair for the annual Skills Ontario GIS competition. Angela also writes monthly posts for the Esri Canada Education and Research blog, highlighting K-12 educators and partners, new ArcGIS resources and GIS-related events.

Profile Photo of Angela Alexander