This collection of worksheets offers short reading passages about the lives and work of famous African Americans. Students will learn about the lives of various politicians, inventors, anti-slavery activists, educators, sports figures, and more. Each short essay is accompanied by two answer sheets (multiple choice and short answer), as well as a one page "organizer," in which students can note short facts about the subject. Answer keys are provided for each sheet. Project idea: Have your students research and report on contemporary African Americans who are also highly influential, such as Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, etc.
Print African Americans Worksheets
Click the buttons to print each worksheet and associated answer key.
Booker T. Washington Reading Worksheet
Educating a slave was considered a crime at this time. Booker did go to school, not to learn as he would have liked, but to carry the books for one of James Burroughs's daughters.
Booker T. Washington Graphic Organizer
He was so desperate to learn that at the age of 16, Booker walked 500 miles back to Virginia to enroll in a new school for black students.
Booker T. Washington Multiple Choice Questions
Booker went on to teach at Hampton, he then became the principal and leading force behind the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, which he founded in 1881.
Booker T. Washington Short Answer Questions
In the last season of his life, Booker T. Washington openly attacked the social disease of racism.
Charles H. Houston Reading Worksheet
The Jim Crow laws of the late 1800's continued to suppress the African-American population under the guise of "separate but equal".
Charles H. Houston Graphic Organizer
The laws included segregation in schools, transportation and restaurants where blacks were forced to sit in the back or in specially designated sections.
Houston Multiple Choice Questions
The laws included segregation in schools, transportation and restaurants where blacks were forced to sit in the back or in specially designated sections.
Houston Short Answer Questions
Growing up in the rural D.C. area around the turn of the century Charles witnessed firsthand the cruelty and injustice of the Jim Crow laws that had been imposed on the African-American community.
Frederick Douglass Reading Worksheet
A true champion to the anti-slavery cause was born a slave but escaped to freedom at an early age. For the remainder of his life, Frederick Douglass courageously fought to defeat racial injustice.
Douglass Graphic Organizer
Frederick Douglass was fascinated with reading and writing, and practiced these in secret. He would ask white children to teach him to read, and many complied.
Douglass Multiple Choice Questions
Frederick married a free black woman named Anna Murray in 1838, and changed his name from Bailey to Douglass after a character in a book by Sir Walter Scott.
Frederick Douglass Short Answer Questions
Frederick married a free black woman named Anna Murray in 1838, and changed his name from Bailey to Douglass after a character in a book by Sir Walter Scott.
George Washington Carver Reading Worksheet
Very few people achieve in a lifetime what George Washington Carver did over the course of his 80 some odd years. While details about his birth are sketchy, a census record from June of 1870 has him listed as 10 years old at the time.
Carver Graphic Organizer
Because there was no school for children of his race near his home, Carver was forced to move away to southwest Missouri.
Carver Multiple Choice Questions
Because there was no school for children of his race near his home, Carver was forced to move away to southwest Missouri.
Carver Short Answer Questions
Agricultural achievements aside, Carver was an accomplished artist and musician as well. His paintings garnished honorable mention at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago.
Harriet Tubman Reading Worksheet
Harriet Tubman Ross is one of the most well known African-American abolitionist figures during the American Civil War.
Tubman Graphic Organizer
Harriet was born a slave in Maryland's Dorchester County around 1820. Her maiden name was Araminta Ross, which she changed after marriage.
Tubman Multiple Choice Questions
In 1844, she married a free black man named John Tubman. In 1849, she learned she was to be sold, and decided to escape from slavery.
Tubman Short Answer Questions
Her attempts to free slaves had made her famous by the time she had made her fourth or fifth trip back to the South.
Jackie Robinson Reading Worksheet
During his high school and junior college years Robinson excelled in baseball, football, basketball and track, lettering in all four sports and was named the regions MVP in baseball in 1938.
Jackie Robinson Organizer
In the mid 1940's professional baseball wasn't integrated, so Robinson was relegated to playing in Negro leagues whose teams traveled around the country to play each other.
Jackie Robinson Quick Questions
Robinson did endure brutal attacks for the color of his skin from the fans and opposing players, the media and even his own teammates.
Jackie Robinson Short Answer
After Robinson announced his retirement in January of 1957 he became a prominent spokesman for injustice and civil rights, even testifying before Congress on discrimination issues.
Marcus Garvey Reading Worksheet
He is best known for his efforts in the "Back to Africa" movement, which encouraged African-Americans to return to their home roots in Africa.
Marcus Garvey Graphic Organizer
Marcus Garvey was the youngest of 11 siblings. His father loved to read, and passed the love of books on to young Marcus.
Garvey Short Answer Questions
In 1914, Marcus Garvey founded the UNIA, and began promoting his message of black pride and independence to the world. He called for freedom for black citizens in African nations, and for African-Americans to return to their roots in Africa.
Garvey Short Answer
He formed the Black Star Line shipping company in 1919, to promote trade between black nations, and to provide transport for passengers wishing to return to Africa.
Prince Hall Reading Worksheet
Prince Hall was an enigmatic figure who spent the majority of his adult life as a civil rights defender and abolitionist.
Prince Hall Graphic Organizer
Some have theorized that he was born in Barbados, in the late 1740's while others claim that he arrived in Boston from Africa around 1765. Nothing can be definitively stated about his life prior to 1770.
Hall Multiple Choice Questions
After 21 years of loyal service, slave owner William Hall gave Prince his freedom by certificate of manumission. A certificate of manumission was a legal document that feed an enslaved person, and could be issued by the slave owner.
Hall Short Answer
Hall became a land owner, taxpayer and registered voter. He organized rallies and demonstrations to protest slavery and to promote causes of the African-American community.
Tiger Woods Reading Worksheet
Tiger's career had a very early start. After noticing his son's interest in hitting golf balls, Earl Woods began teaching his child the basics of the game before his first birthday.
Tiger Woods Graphic Organizer
Tiger won five junior championship titles by the age of 15. He quickly followed that achievement by becoming the youngest player in golf history to win the U.S. National Junior Championship.
Tiger Multiple Choice
He has become one of the few professional players to have such command over the field. His domination as a professional golfer is shared by very few and puts him in an elite circle with the likes of Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.
Tiger Woods Short Answer
2006 dealt Tiger a huge blow when Earl Woods, his beloved father and coach died of cancer. A grieving Woods failed to make the cut at the U.S. Open that year.
W.E.B. Du Bois Reading Worksheet
W.E.B. Du Bois published The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America, 1638-1870, a dissertation on the problems of slavery in 1895.
Du Bois Graphic Organizer
DuBois was one of the founders of the NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and served as a director for this organization for almost 25 years.
W.E.B. Du Bois Multiple Choice
In the early 20th century, the NAACP was at the forefront of civil rights protests, and Du Bois was one of its most vocal members.
W.E.B. Du Bois Short Answer
Du Bois received many honors during his lifetime, and is considered to be the foremost African American intellectual of his period in America.
Brief History of African Americans
African-Americans have played an integral part in the history of the United States. They helped shape laws that have made the country what it is today and were the minds behind many inventions without which the modern world would look much different. But what is this history, and what were some of its important events?
The history of African Americans can trace its roots to slavery and enslaved people brought from Africa to the United States to act as laborers. The earliest African Americans are considered to be former Spanish slaves who traveled to the “New World” with Francis Drake in the 16th century.
If you want more information about the history of African Americans, you’re in the right place. Keep reading to learn more about this ethnic group.
African American History Before the Civil War
As mentioned above, the first African Americans were former slaves who arrived in the United States – then the New World – in the 16th century.
However, though the first arrivals were former slaves, the United States would soon become a center of the slave trade, and most African Americans would be enslaved people.
The first enslaved Africans arrived in the United States in 1619 in Virginia, and slavery was first legalized in 1641 in Massachusetts.
Since the beginning of their history, African Americans have made up a significant population of the United States. Despite arriving in the New World only in the 16th and 17th centuries, by the 18th century – specifically, at the time of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 – about 20% of the new country had African ancestry.
As a result of many black soldiers fighting on the side of the Americans during the Revolutionary War, many states began to change course on slavery and start the process of abolishing it, especially northern states. The first states to abolish slavery were Vermont and Pennsylvania. This happened shortly after independence, in 1777 and 1780, respectively.
However, at the same time, slavery became more entrenched in the southern states. Part of the reason for this was the demand for cotton, which could only be grown in the Deep South. Enslaved people were used as farm laborers on cotton plantations, and since southern states depended on these plantations for much of their revenue, they were unwilling to abolish slavery.
At the same time, racism was deeply entrenched in much of the country. The Three-Fifths Compromise meant that the Constitution held that a male slave was worth 3/5 of a free person, and the Dred Scott decision in 1857 held that no African-Americans, free or enslaved, could be counted as American citizens. This was another reason that southern states were reluctant to abolish slavery.
However, after Abraham Lincoln won the Presidency on an anti-slavery platform in 1860, 11 states decided to secede from the country. This led to the Civil War between the pro-slavery Confederate states and the anti-slavery Union states. During the war, Lincoln passed the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery. The war lasted from 1861-1865 and ended in Union victory.
African American History After the Civil War
The Civil War ended with the abolishment of slavery, but soon after the war, Jim Crow laws began being enacted. These laws were first passed in 1876 and mandated segregation between white and black people in most areas of public life.
The end of slavery also led to violence against African-Americans, and the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist organization, was formed in 1865.
By the early 1900s, African-Americans had started the civil rights movement, demanding an end to segregation and racial discrimination. One of the best-known civil rights organizations, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), was formed in 1909.
The civil rights movement peaked in the 1950s and 1960s when court decisions slowly ended segregation. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. held center stage as one of the movement’s leaders, and his “I Have A Dream” speech, which called for the end of racism, remains iconic to this day.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 led to an end to segregation. Other acts enforced further equal rights, including the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968.
African Americans Today
Racism remains an issue in today’s United States, and civil rights organizations continue to fight for an end to racism in public and private life. The Black Lives Matter movement began in 2013 as a reaction to racism and police brutality against African Americans. The killing of George Floyd, an unarmed African-American man, by four police officers led to global protests.
At the same time, there has also been visible progress in the treatment of African-Americans and strides towards equality. One of the biggest signifiers of these strides was the election of Barack Obama as the first African-American President in 2009 and his re-election in 2012.
Final Thoughts
African-Americans have a long history in the United States and have been a part of this country since before the Declaration of Independence. Their history has often been fraught with hardship and peril, but without the time, the country – and the world – would be much the poorer.