About this puzzle
Black History Month grew out of Negro History Week, which historian Carter G. Woodson launched in February 1926. This list follows the people and moments students most often meet in class. It includes freedom fighters like Tubman and Douglass, civil rights leaders like Parks, King, and Marshall, and pioneers in science, flight, sports, and poetry, from Carver and Coleman to Robinson, Hughes, Jemison, and Obama. Most people appear by surname, so the notes say who each one is.
Teachers use this Black History Month word search as a February warm-up, then ask students to choose one name and read more about that person. The notes are short, factual, and written for elementary and middle school readers. A few milestone words, including Juneteenth, Boycott, and Civil Rights, help connect the people to the changes they fought for. It also works well at home as a starting point for a library trip.
The 32 words in this puzzle
Every word, with a short note. Handy for teaching the vocabulary before or after solving.
In every version (12)
- Boycott
- A boycott means refusing to buy or use something as a protest. In Montgomery, Black residents walked or carpooled for over a year rather than ride segregated buses.
- Bridges
- In 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges became the first Black student at William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, walking in each day with federal marshals.
- Douglass
- Frederick Douglass escaped slavery in 1838 and became a famous speaker and writer against slavery. In 1847 he started an antislavery newspaper called The North Star.
- Equality
- Equality means everyone is treated fairly and has the same rights and chances. It was the goal that connected many of the people on this list.
- Freedom
- Freedom means being free to make your own choices and live without being enslaved or treated unfairly. It is a word that runs through Black history, from escape to civil rights.
- Jemison
- Mae Jemison became the first African American woman in space in September 1992, aboard the space shuttle Endeavour. She is also a doctor and an engineer.
- Juneteenth
- On June 19, 1865, the news that enslaved people were free was announced in Galveston, Texas. Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021.
- King
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led peaceful protests for equal rights and gave his "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
- Obama
- Barack Obama became the 44th president of the United States in 2009, the first African American to hold the office. He served two terms, until 2017.
- Parks
- On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama. Her arrest sparked a bus boycott that lasted 381 days.
- Robinson
- Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947, breaking baseball's color barrier. Every April 15, all major league players wear his number, 42.
- Tubman
- Harriet Tubman escaped slavery in Maryland in 1849, then returned about 13 times to guide roughly 70 people to freedom on the Underground Railroad.
Added in Medium and Hard (8)
- Angelou
- Maya Angelou was a poet, author, and teacher. In 1993 she read her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton.
- Carver
- George Washington Carver was a scientist at Tuskegee Institute who taught farmers to rotate crops and developed hundreds of products from peanuts and sweet potatoes.
- Civil Rights
- Civil rights are the rights every citizen should have, like voting and equal treatment. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination based on race, religion, and sex.
- Harlem
- Harlem is a neighborhood in New York City. In the 1920s and 1930s it was the center of the Harlem Renaissance, a flowering of Black art, music, and writing.
- Johnson
- Katherine Johnson was a NASA mathematician whose calculations helped send astronauts into space. Before his 1962 orbit, John Glenn asked for her to check the computer's numbers.
- Marshall
- Thurgood Marshall argued Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 case in which the Supreme Court ruled school segregation unconstitutional, and in 1967 became the first Black justice on the Supreme Court.
- Owens
- Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, in the 100 meters, 200 meters, long jump, and 4x100 meter relay.
- Woodson
- Carter G. Woodson, the son of formerly enslaved parents, earned a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1912 and started Negro History Week in 1926. He is called the father of Black history.
Added in Hard (12)
- Banneker
- Benjamin Banneker was a free Black mathematician and astronomer. In 1791 he helped survey the land for Washington, DC, and he later published popular almanacs.
- Bethune
- Mary McLeod Bethune opened a school for Black girls in Daytona Beach, Florida, in 1904. It grew into Bethune-Cookman University, and she later advised President Franklin Roosevelt.
- Chisholm
- In 1968 Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to Congress. In 1972 she ran for president, using the slogan "Unbought and Unbossed."
- Coleman
- Bessie Coleman could not get into flight school in the United States, so she trained in France and in 1921 became the first African American woman to earn a pilot's license.
- Hughes
- Langston Hughes was a leading poet of the Harlem Renaissance. His poems, like "Dreams," are often read in schools and use the rhythms of jazz and blues.
- Lewis
- John Lewis helped lead the 1965 march for voting rights in Selma, Alabama, as a young man. He later served Georgia in Congress from 1987 until 2020.
- Morgan
- Garrett Morgan was an inventor who patented a traffic signal with a warning position in 1923. He also invented a safety hood that helped rescuers breathe in smoky places.
- Selma
- In 1965, marchers walked 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, to demand the right to vote. The Voting Rights Act became law that August.
- Truth
- Sojourner Truth escaped slavery in New York in 1826 and became a powerful speaker for the end of slavery and for women's rights. She gave a famous speech in Akron, Ohio, in 1851.
- Walker
- Madam C.J. Walker built a business selling hair care products for Black women in the early 1900s and became one of the first American women to make a fortune on her own.
- Washington
- Booker T. Washington was born into slavery and became the first leader of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in 1881. He believed education was the path to a better life.
- Wheatley
- Phillis Wheatley was taken from West Africa as a child and enslaved in Boston. In 1773 she became the first African American woman to publish a book of poetry.
A few facts to share while you solve
- Carter G. Woodson chose February for Negro History Week because it includes the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.
- In 1976, Gerald Ford became the first president to officially recognize Black History Month, expanding the week into a full month.
- Mae Jemison appeared in a 1993 episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, making her the first real astronaut to act in a Star Trek show.
Four versions of this puzzle
Pick a version with the buttons above the grid. Each one has its own grid and answer key, and your progress on each is saved separately in this browser.
| Version | Words | Grid | Directions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easy | 12 | 12 × 12 | The 12 most familiar words, reading forward across and down. |
| Medium | 20 | 15 × 15 | Twenty words across, down and diagonally. No backwards words. |
| Hard | 32 | 17 × 17 | Every word, in all eight directions including backwards, with look-alike filler letters. |
| Large print | 12 | 11 × 11 | The 12 most familiar words on a small grid with big letters. No backwards words. |
Hard and large print versions
Hard black history month word search: all 32 words on a 17 × 17 grid, hidden forward, backward, up, down and along both diagonals, with filler letters borrowed from the word list. Print it without the word list for an extra challenge. Play the hard version, or see all hard word searches.
Large print black history month word search: the 12 most familiar words on a 11 × 11 grid, printed with big letters and a big word list, and no backwards words. Play the large print version, or see all large print word searches.
Printing this word search
Press Print / PDF above the puzzle. You get a clean one-page sheet with the title, the grid, a word list with tick boxes, and optional name and date lines. The answer key prints on a second page. Prefer a file? Download it as a PDF or an image to print later or drop into a worksheet. Whatever version is showing on screen is the one that prints, and the large print version prints with bigger letters.
How to play online
- Find a word from the list in the grid. Scanning for its first letter is the quickest way.
- Drag across the word from its first letter to its last. On a phone, you can also tap the first letter, then the last.
- Found words get highlighted and crossed off. Stuck? Hint circles the first letter of a word you haven’t found.
Read the full guide to solving word searches, with tips that make big grids much faster.
Questions and answers
Who is included in the Black History Month word search?
The full list on Hard has 25 people, including Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Barack Obama, Mae Jemison, and Jackie Robinson, plus milestones like Juneteenth, Selma, and Civil Rights. Easy uses the 12 best-known words. Most people appear by surname, like Parks and Bridges.
What grade level is this Black History Month puzzle for?
It suits grades 2 through 8. Younger kids can do the easy level and talk about familiar names like Parks and King. Older students can try medium or hard, then use the notes to choose a person for a short report or presentation.
Why are some people listed only by last name?
Word search grids work best with words made only of letters and kept to a manageable length, so full names like Martin Luther King Jr. do not fit. Each surname has a note giving the person's full name and why they matter, so students learn who they are.
Is there an answer key for this black history month word search?
Yes. Choose Print / PDF above the puzzle and keep “Add an answer key page” ticked. The key prints on its own page, with every word highlighted. While playing online, Show answers outlines any words you haven’t found yet.
Can I print copies for my class or group?
Yes. Every puzzle on BetterWordSearch is free to print for personal, classroom, library and homeschool use. Print as many copies as you need. To change the words or make several different versions of the grid, use the word search maker.
What changes between Easy, Medium, Hard and Large print?
Easy hides the 12 most familiar words, reading left to right and top to bottom. Medium uses 20 words and adds diagonals. Hard hides all 32 words in every direction, including backwards, with look-alike filler letters. Large print uses the same words as Easy on a small grid and prints with big letters.
