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BLACKHISTORY.COM Shaping Up To Be The Most Comprehensive On-line Source Of Historical Information And Activities For Students, Educators And The General Public.
GRAND HAVEN, MI (December 29, 1999) -- All Media Productions, the award-winning educational publishing and production company, has launched www.blackhistory.com; an evolving Internet portal site where visitors can learn, participate and contribute to the rich tapestry of Black history.
An intuitively-organized website, blackhistory.com is being designed for ease of use, making it an excellent resource for students, teachers and the general public to learn and use the site as a teaching aid, to network with others, and to download learning tools that enhance the teaching and education of black history.
Blackhistory.com is a project of All Media Productions, Inc., a 15-year-old woman-owned educational media company. Recognized with several Gold Apple Awards by the National Educational Media Association for its work in developing multi- cultural media for schools, the firm has a series of productions on Black History that it distributes internationally.
The site's primary focus is on "untold history."
According to Linda Langs, president of All Media, "There are a lot of untold stories relating to Black history and the Black experience that need to be shared with others. The primary mission of blackhistory.com is to provide a forum for people to share their experiences and their thoughts with others." Langs explains that the web site will be divided into three key areas for students, teachers and the general public, so that anyone entering can quickly find age-appropriate material, as well as be able to participate in age-appropriate forums when they're added to the site.
Students visiting Blackhistory.com are invited to post their stories and drawings about black history directly to the site, with the help of user-friendly publishing tools available on the site. 'These stories can be drawn from personal experience, historical frameworks, or can be written through interviews," explains Langs. "Anything that contributes to the understanding of Black History is welcomed on the site." After posting their works, students will then have the opportunity to invite others to view their efforts, which will be organized by country, state, city, school, grade and teacher.
The site will also feature discussion areas where students can comment on stories and ask questions --all filtered and monitored to keep these areas safe for children. As partnerships are formed with sponsors and relevant groups or associations, a variety of free offerings for students will be added, including contests, quizzes and scholarships.
Teachers will find a resource-rich site, as well.
Teachers will find helpful hints and tools to help students prepare their stories and pictures for placement on the web site -either as individual projects or as a classroom activity. As the site expands, educators will be able to download learning tools and order products that enhance the teaching of black history, diversity training and racial healing, as well as reference blackhistory.com's database of trained speakers. A threaded discussion forum will allow teachers to share lesson plans and activities that have proven to work well for them in the classroom. "Again, as Blackhistory.com evolves," notes Langs, "educators will also be able to research grants and scholarships, participate in on-line educational forums and keynote lectures."
"We want to give the public a real forum for their thoughts and works."
Blackhistory.com will provide historical profiles of Black Americans, as well as profiles of living Black Americans who are making history. Other areas of interest that are under development are a job posting and search area to help businesses facilitate minority recruitment, a music, art, sports, military and religious section, links to other African-American sites of interest, and a threaded discussion for community members.
"We're also very interested in publishing stories and personal essays by unknown Black writers, not to mention artwork by painters and illustrators, and expect that this area of the site will grow into a resource bank of some significance." says Langs. "Basically, we want to give people of all ages a chance to express their thoughts and feelings, and give them a forum to share it with the world. We also want to give our educators and teachers an uncommon new resource that's available free of charge around-the-clock."
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