The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) would like to remind all district personnel that, pursuant to Act 326 of 1997 and Ark. Code Ann. § 6-16-121, all teachers should be incorporating African American history into the social studies curriculum. February is Black History Month, and this would be an excellent time to emphasize the contributions that minorities have made to society and history. The ADE Web site does have an extensive listing of resources for African American studies, which can be accessed at http://arkansased.org/teachers/africanamerican/african_american_studies.html.
The attachment to this memo contains additional resources for incorporating African American history into the social studies curriculum throughout the year. These resources are also posted on the Arkansas Council of Social Studies (ACSS) list serve at http://list.k12.ar.us/mailman/listinfo/acss.