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Students notice when Black history is taught only in February, but they deserve to learn this American history year-round. These resources emphasize engaging students' communities and lived experiences, including how you can incorporate local stories in lessons—and move Black history from the margins to your everyday curriculum.

To understand the complexities of the present, we must connect with the hard history of our country’s past. And we can learn about that honest history outside the classroom—in museums and field trips—because “No educator can accurately map out the whole landscape of our history alone. We are all stronger when we traverse the terrain together.”

Our students deserve an honest account of our nation’s history. That’s why we’re proud to share our new and expanded Teaching Hard History resources. They will help you tell a more complete story of American slavery that starts with Indigenous enslavement and includes students of all ages. To teach our students the truth about our shared hard history, we’ll need to start where the stories—and the learning—begin.

October is LGBTQ+ History Month. We hope these resources will help you and your students as you celebrate the diverse identities, experiences and histories of LGBTQ activists—and the continuing fight for LGBTQ equality.

We hope you’ll join us—this February and year-round—in teaching Black history beyond trauma and helping students recognize the brilliance, strength and love this history represents. Here’s why that’s so important.