Black History Month Crossword Puzzle (free printable)
A free Black History Month crossword with thirteen names and clues for grades 3 to 8: Tubman, Parks, Bridges, Carver, Jemison and more, with an answer key.
To save a PDF, choose Print, then “Save as PDF” as the printer. Only the sheets print.
All 13 words are in the crossword (13 × 16 squares).
About this set
Thirteen names and words from Black history, each with a clue that says what the person did: the conductor on the Underground Railroad, the woman who kept her seat on a Montgomery bus, the six-year-old who walked into an all-white school in New Orleans, the scientist who found new uses for the peanut, the first Black woman in space and the first Black Supreme Court justice. Clues are written as sentences, many with a first name to help, so students can combine what they have read with a little reasoning. It works best after a unit or a read-aloud; the answer key is page two.
Grades: 3rd to 8th grade. Best in: February.
The words and clues
- Tubman :
- Harriet ___ guided many people to freedom on the Underground Railroad
- Parks :
- Rosa ___ refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery in 1955
- Douglass :
- Frederick ___ escaped enslavement and became a famous writer and speaker
- Bridges :
- Ruby ___ was six when she integrated her New Orleans school in 1960
- Carver :
- George Washington ___ was a scientist who found many uses for peanuts
- Robinson :
- Jackie ___ broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947
- Angelou :
- Maya ___ was a poet who wrote “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”
- Marshall :
- Thurgood ___ became the first Black justice on the Supreme Court in 1967
- Jemison :
- Mae ___ became the first Black woman in space in 1992
- Johnson :
- Katherine ___ was a NASA mathematician who checked the flight paths of spacecraft
- Hughes :
- Langston ___ was a poet and leader of the Harlem Renaissance
- Juneteenth :
- The June 19 holiday for the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Texas learned they were free
- Freedom :
- The right to live your own life, the thing the Underground Railroad led to
How to use it: five ideas
- After reading: use the crossword to review the biographies your class read this month.
- Research extension: each student picks one name and finds one fact that is not in the clue.
- Clue writing: students write a clue for a person they studied and add it to the box.
- Pairs: partners solve together and then explain each answer to another pair.
- Timeline: after solving, put the people in order by decade on a class timeline.
Related
Questions
Are the clues accurate?
Yes. They state what each person is known for: for example, Mae Jemison became the first Black woman in space in 1992, and Thurgood Marshall the first Black justice of the Supreme Court in 1967.
Why surnames only?
Surnames cross well in a crossword, and the clue gives the first name. Add your own people by typing a name, a colon and a clue.
Can I change the words and clues?
Yes. Each of the 13 lines is a word, a colon and its clue. Edit any of them, and the crossword is rebuilt with new numbers.
How do I save it as a PDF?
Press Print and choose “Save as PDF” as the printer. The puzzle is page one and the answer key is page two.
How do I get a different layout?
Press “Make another”. The same words and clues are placed in a new arrangement, so each table can have its own puzzle.
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