....... African American History and Culture
Horace Mann Middle School
Grade 7 - Mr. Nurse

An African Holiday || Role Playing History || Zoo's Who || African Peoples || Invent-O-Rama || Cooking for Kwanzaa || Black Holidays || Counting in Swahili || African Money || Kwanzaa Flash Cards || Puzzle Me Africa

Subscription Databases
Book Resources at the library

Project Activity: An African Holiday
Work out the details of an extended African vacation. Length of trip - 14 days. Include: itinerary; overseas airline schedule; currencies and traveler's checks; visas and passports; vaccination; alternate forms of land transportation; hotels, inns, and bed and breakfasts; campgrounds; overseas telephone, fax and mail services; travel and luggage restrictions; water and food advisories; clothing advisory; journal of trip.

Look for travel books in the 916 section. For African travel on the Web, try: 

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Project Activity: Role Playing History
Research a famous African American and present a portrayal of the person to the class.

Use the Encyclopedia of Black America (REF 973.0496073-En56) and The African American Almanac (REF 973-African and the Encyclopedia of African American culture and history (REF 973.0496073003 Encyclopedia). 

For electronic resources try Encarta Encyclopedia, UXL Biographies, Current Biography on the Reference network. From the library's online stations try the Research Databases. (Outside the Library OPLIN databases require an Ohio public library card for access.) Also on the Web try: 

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Project Activity: Zoo's Who
Prepare a poster (2' x 2.5') of five African animals and their habitats.

WWW links for African animals and their habitats: 
The Kenya,Tarangire and Serengeti national parks and reserves sites have information about the animals living there. National Geographic has a safari site for additional information 

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Project Activity: Invent-O-Rama
Display the names of African American inventors alongside objects or drawings to illustrate their work. Choose four inventors from your list.

Start your research at the Black Inventions Museum.  Faces of Science has detailed information on African Americans in the sciences. Look for links to specific inventors about half way down the page. Another good place to check is the National Inventors Hall of Fame. See if you can find any of the inventors in your project in the alphabetical listing provided. 

Use the Encyclopedia of Black America (REF 973.0496073-En56) and The African American Almanac (REF 973-African) and the Encyclopedia of African American culture and history (REF 973.0496073003 Encyclopedia). 

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Project Activity: Cooking for Kwanzaa
Prepare a recipe that would be used in a celebration of Kwanzaa. Or, prepare a food that is from Africa. Make a copy of the recipe to share with the class. Explain the background of the food item.

Try these Kwanzaa recipe sites for some mouth-watering fare. The first one in particular is highly recommended! 
Southern American Cuisine
Kwanzaa Family recipes
More Kwanzaa recipes
For recipes and information on food and cooking in Africa try The African Cookbook. 

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Project Activity: African Peoples
Draw a map of Africa and locate the most prominent tribes. Choose ten tribes. Minimum poster size 2'x2.5'.

Afrikaners / Ashanti / Berbers / Congo / Ewe / Fulbe / Hottentot / Jabo / !Kung / Maasai / Ndaka / Ouadai / Rendille / Soninke / Tutsi / Wagenia / Yedseram / Zulu / Akan / Azande / Bini / Dogon / Fali / Ga / Ibo / Jie / Lozi / Mbunder / Nuer / Pondo / Serere / Sotho / Twa / Watutsis / Yombe / Amhara / Banum / Bushmen / Edo / Fanti / Grebo / Ikoma / Kikuyu / Mandinka / Moor / Nyanga / Pygmie / Shangaan / Tsonga / Uge / Wolof / Yoruba / Angola / Baule / Chagga / Ekoi / Fon / Hausa / Isoko / Kom / Mangbetu / Namib / Osei / Quimbande / Shilluk / Tauregs / Vai / Xhosa / Zande

The Christian evangelical Caleb Project offers data on several tribes in the Nance Profiles. This religious missionary site contains some statistical information such as population, language and location. (Look for Berbers, Dogon, Ewe, Fulbe, Hausa, Kikuyu, Kung, Lozi, Mandinka, Maasai, Moor, Nuer, Pygmie, Rendille, Serere, Soninke, Tsonga, Tuaregs, Vai, Wolof, Xhosa). 

The book Ashanti to Zulu: African traditions by Margaret Musgrove (j916-657) gives a brief paragraph on 26 different tribes. There's a map at the end! 

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Project Activity: Holidays
Make a bulletin board (2'x2.5') commemorating a holiday. Give the name, date, purpose, and customs.

World Wide Holidays and Events - Search by month, country or event for holiday listings. 
Multi Cultural Calendar- Again, search by month, country or holiday. 
Juneteenth- The oldest known celebration of the ending of slavery 

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Project Activity: Counting in Swahili
Present a brief description of Swahili, how old a language it is, where it is spoken, and who speaks it. Then, teach members of the class to count to ten in Swahili.

The Kamusi Project's Internet Living Swahili Dictionary might be your one stop for the language part of your assignment. Investigate this site thoroughly. It should provide all the answers you need! 

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Project Activity: Kwanzaa Flash Cards
Create a set of flash cards to illustrate the seven lessons or nguzo sabo of Kwanzaa, a holiday created in 1966 by African American leader Maulana Karenga.

Use these sites to create your flash cards: 
Everything about Kwanzaa
Kwanzaa - An African American Holiday
Kwanzaa - An African American Celebration

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Project Activity: African Money
Assemble an international money chart (2'x2.5') explaining the types of currency used in several African countries.

Visit the CIA World Factbook which has an area on the economy of each country. Also, take a look at the Universal Currency Converter to see how African currencies compare to others around the world. 

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Project Activity: Puzzle Me Africa
Draw and color a map of Africa on poster board. Laminate the map and then cut it apart for people to reassemble.

African continent map
CIA Factbook maps of Africa

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Subscription Databases
Use these resources for articles on your topics:
OneSearch

(Outside the Library OPLIN databases require an Ohio public library card for access.)
 

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Book Resources at the library

Title: Ashanti to Zulu : African traditions / Margaret Musgrove ; pictures by Leo and Diane Dillon. 
Publisher: New York : Dial Press, c1976. 
Location: MADISON JUVENILE Book j916 657 /  MAIN JUVENILE Book j916 657 

Title: The African American almanac. 
Publisher: Detroit : Gale Research, c1994- 
Location: MAIN ADULT Book REF 973 African American 1997 

Title: Encyclopedia of African American culture and history / edited by Jack Salzman, David Lionel Smith, Cornel West. 
Publisher: New York : Macmillan Library Reference, c1996. 
Location: MAIN ADULT Book REF 973.0496073003 Encyclopedia 

Try using the library catalog to see if you can find any more useful titles. 

Remember that the library staff are here to help you with your assignment. If you are having trouble locating information, don't hesitate to ask for help!

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