The first week of February is the annual Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, which centers 13 guiding principles and four demands of Black Lives Matter at School. Teaching for Black Lives study groups across the U.S. participated in the 2025 week of action. Read their stories below.
Tucson, Arizona
Three high schools from the Tucson Unified school district participated in Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action by hosting Black history teach-ins. Two schools offered free breakfast in honor of the Black Panther Party Free Breakfast Program. Brieanne Buttner, 11th-grade U.S. history teacher and Teaching for Black Lives study group coordinator, said,
I taught a class on the history of the original Rainbow Coalition and we screened the film Jesus and the Black Messiah. Students had to opt into attending any session and an average of 30 attended each period. We teamed up with a local organization, LUCHA (Living United in Change in Arizona) so students could understand what we meant by getting organized.
Students really enjoyed practicing organizing around their chosen issues and were inspired by the legacy of Huey P. Newton and the Black Panther Party. Students were generally baffled that they had not heard of the Rainbow Coalition before and were surprised about the involvement of the white Appalachian working class in organizing Southside Chicago. Many students were excited to learn more. One student attended the entire teach-in and movie screening. She told me that it was the best day at school she had ever experienced.
Oakland, California
Misha Kiyomura, Teaching for Black Lives study group coordinator and elementary teacher in Oakland, said,
This year, our elementary school leaned in as a whole school to anti-racism work, including anti-racism professional development and racial affinity groups. This was our third year holding Black History Night, but the first year we’ve allocated professional development time where teachers planned Black history lessons, with at least a performance or visual work sample to demonstrate learning at Black History Night.
The student council also organized the week leading up to Black History Night, which was the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, to be a Black History Spirit Week, including spirit days such as, “Dress like a Black icon” day, Black Panther Day (our school mascot is conveniently the panther), and HBCU colors day. Throughout the week, I could see and hear Black History being taught throughout grade levels as I dropped in and out of classrooms.
On Black History Night, artwork representing K–5 classes was on display across the whole gym, which had a significantly larger attendance than previous years, and even more than previous events which are traditional, annual events for our school. The feedback from the community was that the performances, artwork, and learning displayed were powerful. Now the whole school community feels what Black lives matter at school means. We heard that from families and colleagues who’ve been at the school for a while, with the sentiment of, “Now that we know what this feels like, we want to build on that.”
My hope for next year is to have Black history lesson planning sessions a few times a year to ensure that Black history is being taught year round. I also want to intentionally plan for the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action and hold professional development on teaching the 13 guiding principles in the classroom.
Minooka, Illinois
Steven Warcholek, school counselor at Minooka Junior High School and alumni Teaching for Black Lives study group coordinator, said,
Using a variety of stories from The Sum of Us and Teaching for Black Lives, our students discussed the impact children have had on the civil rights movement throughout time but placed an emphasis on the Children’s March in Birmingham in 1963. Students reviewed imagery of the role the children played as well as the violent response from the police and local government. From here the students took a virtual walk-through of Ingram Park to get a sense of the feelings and struggles those individuals experienced. Building off of this lesson, our students completed what we called the “Social Justice Mountain” in which students view their journey as future social justice leaders like a path up a mountain and imagine the various challenges and obstacles that they might face throughout their journey. Students drew the mountains and labeled their obstacles to share and discuss with the larger group. Lastly, our students were asked to picture themselves at the peak of their mountain, after overcoming these challenges and asked them to discuss the characteristics in themselves that helped them up their journey and the people they would lean on for support when needed. This was a wonderful experience that allowed our students to vision their path to becoming Social Justice Leaders and understand how big of a difference each of them can make.
Kansas City, Kansas
Wyandotte H.S. staff and alumni Teaching for Black Lives group members
In Wyandotte High School, posters representing the 13 guiding principles of Black Lives Matter at School decorated walls throughout the building and staff had access to a menu of activities to select from every day of the week plus a monthly plan for Black History month. In response to a prompt about Globalism, one of the guiding principles, one student responded:
I would want to be in Honduras, that is where my family is from. I want to go meet all my family and the land. There’s some islands down there that hold all the Garifuna people. They’re of African descent . . . one of my grandma’s is Garifuna and knew how to speak Garifuna . . . the first thing I plan to do when I visit is to go to her grave and give my respects.
Michael Rebne, physics teacher and alumni Teaching for Black Lives coordinator, said,
Because the week of action coincided with the national day of action for immigrants (Day Without Immigrants) and the raft of federal anti-immigrant actions and policies, the week took on extra gravity.
Lawrence, Kansas
Brianna Jackson, school counselor and Teaching for Black Lives coordinator in Lawrence, Kansas, read Stand Up!: 10 Mighty Women Who Made a Change to her students. She said,
We had a really good conversation about how these women were at all different stages in their lives and were able to make change. Students talked about feeling empowered to make change after hearing about the stories in the book. They had an activity to do with the reading which was to draw a picture and write a sentence about something they stand up for and the results were amazing! Students put things down like standing up for family and friends, to bullies and peer pressure, to homelessness and unfair wages, even gender inclusiveness.
I also gave the choice to my 4th- and 5th-graders to write me a short essay about why they matter at our school. They wrote about celebrating differences, including everyone, they mentioned values and beliefs, cultural awareness, building community, some students even talked about projects they have started at school or projects they were inspired to start after hearing about what those influential women did in the book. They were most inspired by Mari Copeny, the 8-year old student that wrote a letter to President Barack Obama about the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. There was so much shock that she was around their age and was able to get the attention of the president. They were able to relate to the story and really internalize its meaning.
South Orange, New Jersey
In New Jersey, a Teaching for Black Lives study group worked alongside Mapso Freedom School to organize a curriculum fair at Rutgers University. One lesson focused on African Muslims and the stereotypes they endure, while the other highlighted the contributions and roles of Black soldiers during the Civil War. One of the Teaching for Black Lives study group coordinators explained,
Both lessons were phenomenal because they were presented by dedicated teachers. We had researchers, students, teachers, and university staff who were there to see how these lessons work in classrooms and to network with others to build relationships that would benefit the community. It was incredibly productive to have them all in one space together.
The group also presented and explained how the annual “Model Gary” student convention serves as a lasting legacy beyond Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action. They discussed the idea of hosting a poetry festival in the future, where students could learn how to perform and compete in spoken word poetry events.
Bellingham, Washington
Bellingham School District partnered with local university, Western Washington University, to organize the “Centering Black Excellence Kick Off,” a two-day event celebrating Black History month and Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action. Kirsten Jensen, instructional coach and Teaching for Black Lives study group coordinator, reported,
We modeled lessons centered around the guiding principles Empathy and Intergenerational. We used texts such as I Am Every Good Thing as well as other resources that we shared at the D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice curriculum fair.
On Tuesday, February 5, and Wednesday, February 6, we were joined by Dr. Sonja Cherry-Paul who taught 75 5th-graders in two buildings, with teachers observing, centering the book How Do You Spell Unfair?. Teachers then had time to lesson plan and identify action steps to implement in their classrooms. Dr. Cherry-Paul also spoke to all elementary principals, WWU Teacher candidates, the BPS Teaching Academy program and had two evening talks for the community and families, “Teaching Black History All Year” and “Teaching Justice When the World is on Fire.” One teacher candidate of color said, “I feel affirmed and supported in working in an elementary building when I see my principal at this event and others this week.” Students have shared reflections, art and letters to Dr. Cherry-Paul that detail the impact on their learning. Such as “I learned there have been anti-racist activists all throughout our history and continuing to fight for racial justice today.”