Saturday, July 5, 2008

Education Programs

The Alexandria Black History Museum offers a variety of tours and programs for students of all ages. The Museum offers a Past / Present exercise for kindergarten and first grade students, which uses easily understood terms and guided practice to teach Alexandria's history.

A lesson on cultural celebrations and the concept of community is available for second and third grade students. For older students, teachers may chose between lessons on Alexandria's civil rights history, African American education and Alexandria's business community.

Tours of the Museum's Parker-Gray Gallery traveling exhibitions are also open to all groups.

A Century of Just Women -- Education Kits

An education kit is in development and funded by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. This lesson is called A Century of Just Women, and focuses on the contributions of Northern Virginias African American women. A Century of Just Women is designed for fourth grade students and corresponds to the State of Virginia's Standards of Learning.

A Century of Just Women Education Kits may be rented from the Museum by
calling 703-838-4356.

School Tours

For school tours, the Museum requires a fee of $1 per student.  Chaperones are admitted free of charge. The maximum number of children allowed per visit is 40.  Larger school tours visiting more than one OHA site can also be scheduled.

Public Programs

To schedule a tour, call the Museum's Museum Specialist Thursdays and Fridays,
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Tour reservations should be made two weeks in advance. A tour confirmation is sent the same day the tour is booked.

Lectures, exhibitions, children's programs, holiday activities, and video presentations are advertised in all of the metropolitan area's media.

Windows to the Past

Windows to the Past is a Computer Learning Activity created by museum educators at six Alexandria, Virginia museums for use in the classroom or on the Internet, by teachers, parents and students. This special section of the Historic Alexandria home page includes an interactive history lesson from each museum. A mascot, the History Mouse, leads children through the program to give them a better awareness of their hometown history.

Windows to the Past guides students in examining historic objects including a harmonica, a Civil War flag, a close stool, a needlework sampler, a punch bowl and an organ, while drawing on research and technology skills.

This Computer Learning Activity was produced in 1997 as a part of "It's Our Town," a project funded through the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The project involved a partnership between the six Alexandria museums and the Alexandria City Public Schools.

The project was designed to give students a better understanding of events, historic figures, social change, scientific advances and technology which helped to shape Alexandria, Virginia.  For more information, contact the Museum by calling 703-838-4356.


Museum Mailing List

Visitors may be placed on the Museum's mailing list, by calling 703-838-4356.

Alexandria Black History Museum    |   Watson Reading Room    |    Robert H. Robinson Library
African American Heritage Park    |   Museum Exhibits    |    Museum Collections    |    Self-Guided Walking Tour
History of Museum & Related Sites    |    African American History Guide    |    Slave Market and Slave Jail
Alexandria's Black Public Education 1800-1965    |    Alexandria's Early Free Black Neighborhoods
Freedmen's Cemetery    |    Oral History    |    Alexandria's Black Churches    |    To Witness the Past
Civil War: Fighting for Freedom    |    Civil War: Black Soldiers of the Civil War    |    Volunteers for Freedom, Part 1
Volunteers for Freedom, Part 2    |    Directions and Fees    |    Participate and/or Volunteer
Alexandria Black History main page