K-12 Educational Resources

Educator Tools for Teaching about Race

A young boy looking at his teacher from his desk in a classroom

Greetings Educator!

Are you a K-12 educator searching for ways to ignite or widen content about race and racism with your students? Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past is dedicated to supporting your critical conversations about the history and legacy of systemic racism. Join us as we work together to build a more equitable shared future, and strive to enhance racial inclusion in our education systems.

Featured Education Resources

Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past welcomes K-12 educators of all disciplines to explore our collection of featured teaching tools, scholarly resources, and interactive materials from across the Smithsonian.

We encourage you to visit our learning lab profile to explore our complete collection of education resources.

Explore our Learning Lab

Joyful ABC Activity Books

Early Childhood and Elementary

Joyful ABC activity booklets invite caregivers and educators to support children’s positive identity development.

National Museum of African American History and Culture

Target audience: Pre-K to elementary

Fist signifying justice and environmental problems

Environmental Justice! Community Research Guide

Elementary and Secondary Education

Discover themes of environmental injustice that impact communities to understand and take action.

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

Target audience: Grade 2 to grade 8

Teen Resistance to Systemic Racism

Secondary Education

National Youth Summit on Teen Resistance to Systemic Racism

National Museum of American History

Target audience: Grade 6 to grade 12

Full program link: https://vimeo.com/459055159

Group of Black women holding signs urging people to vote

Conversations on Protest and the Voting Rights Act

Secondary Education

Art for Social Change: Conversations on Protest and the Voting Rights Act

Target audience: Grade 6 to grade 12

Image of a child's hand tearing paper away to reveal an image underneath

Story Layers

Early Childhood and Elementary

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Target audience: Pre-K to elementary

US map showing locations of former American Indian nations

American Indian removal

Secondary Education

American Indian Removal: What Does It Mean to Remove a People?

National Museum of the American Indian

Target audience: Grade 7 to grade 12

Painting of a bustling African American neighborhood

African American Art Resources for Teachers

Secondary Education

Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery

Target audience: Grade 5 to grade 12

Latinx Art Teaching Posters: Chicano Graphics

Secondary Education

Bilingual art posters for your classroom—together with supporting text and exercises—offer students insights into the vibrant graphic arts tradition among the artists and their collaborators, and how their works were attuned to social justice causes.

Music and Migration: "We Are the Children”

Secondary Education

Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

Target audience: Grade 6 to grade 12

Mary McLeod Bethune portrait in front of a globe

Mary Mcleod-Bethune Educator, humanitarian and civil rights activist

Believe in yourself, learn, and never stop wanting to build a better world

For Educators, by Educators

Continue to elevate your skills and knowledge while building an equitable shared future. Dive into our collection of professional development resources, directly from the Smithsonian Institution and Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past partner organizations. These resources are designed for and by educators to create opportunities for students through immersive learning experiences.

Visit our Learning Lab profile to explore our complete collection of professional development resources.

Learning Lab profile

Talking about Race

For Educators

Talking about Race

National Museum of African American History and Culture

Let's Talk! Talking about Race with Children in Museums

For Educators

Let's Talk! Talking about Race with Children in Museums

Smithsonian Affiliations

Culturally Reflective Teaching

For Educators

National Portrait Gallery

Target audience: Grade 7 to grade 12

We Are Not a Stereotype

For Educators

We are Not A Stereotype: Breaking Down Asian Pacific American Bias

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

Addressing Anti-Asian Racism with Students

For Educators

Learn how addressing or ignoring anti-Asian racism in our classrooms and communities can impact student learning.

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

Native Knowledge 360°

For Educators

Resources and professional development for educators with new perspectives on Native American history and cultures.

National Museum of the American Indian

Americans: A Dialogue Toolkit for Educators

For Educators

Educators can tap into the Americans online exhibition to facilitate new conversations with and among students about the power of images and words, the challenges of memory, and the relationship between personal and national values.

National Museum of the American Indian