How to Play Tournament of Black History Heroes
If any of your students or children like sports; then you’ll definitely want to incorporate the Tournament of Black History Heroes game into your lessons or curriculum. I absolutely LOVED playing this game with my 2nd graders. As my son gets older (he’s 4 years old right now)…I definitely want to play this game as a family.
Our family is big basketball fans. It can be college basketball or the pros. It doesn’t matter. When it’s March Madness time…watch out. We celebrate big. Multiple TV’s going on, tons of food, family and friends come together and we have some FUN. So this Tournament of Black History Heroes game, is one of my favorites.
You can definitely bring Black History to life and make it FUN and engaging for children with this game. It’s a lot like March Madness for basketball. Break your class or group of children into teams, teach lessons about important Black History figures of our past or present, and see which team gets the most correct answers. Who will be the next Black History Tournament Champion?
Materials Needed for the Black History Game
- List of Black History Heroes and pictures of them to hang on the bulletin board.
- Optional: Questions you want your children to research about each Black History Hero
- Bulletin/Wall Banner that spells “Tournament of Black History Heroes”.
- Tournament Bracket Cards (Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final Four, The Big Game, 2023 Black History Hero of the Year)
- Black Bracket Strips to make the path that connects each round.
- Tournament Bracket Sheets for students to guess which Black History heroes are going to win.
Choose your Sweet 16 Black History Books Wisely
To get this game kicked off right, you’ll need to pick Black History heroes who will be in the Sweet 16. You can ask your students or children which Black History heroes are their favorites. Keep a tally of their favorites. Or, you can choose African American leaders who are alive right now doing some amazing things for others. I would also suggest throwing in some Black History leaders that are less known. 
One of my good friends Mona Lehl, who is the founder of Mona Math, has an amazing blog post of Black History Mathematicians that your students or children may not know about yet. This could spark some ideas of Black History heroes you want to include in the Sweet 16 tournament games.
Also, I was a special guest on her Honest Math Chat Podcast called “Bringing Important Black History Leaders to Life in the Classroom”. If you haven’t listened to the episode yet, click here to listen now.
Once you select your Sweet 16 Black History heroes, you’ll be all set.
How can children make their own bracket?
To me, one of the best parts about March Madness college basketball is filling out your own bracket. I love choosing which teams I think are going to win. Having a little competition with my husband and brother is fun too. I can’t resist celebrating when one of my teams win over there’s. Hehe!
I bet your students or children are going to love this too. You can give them their own tournament bracket with the names of each Black History hero that is in the Sweet 16. They can predict who they think will win each round. You can even give your children points for each round they get correct. Maybe the children with the most points gets a free book from the next Scholastic order. Have them fill in their brackets sometime before the tournament begins.
How to Play Tournament of Black History Heroes
After you choose your Sweet 16 Black History heroes, set up the tournament brackets, and hang the bulletin header follow these steps:
Sweet 16 First Round (Left Side of the Bracket)
PLEASE NOTE: If you don’t have enough students or children for the Sweet 16, feel free to skip and move straight to the Elite 8 game.
1. Divide the class or group of students into groups.
2. Each group is assigned or you may have them choose the Black History hero they want to represent.
3. All group members research, read, and learn as much as they can about their Black History Hero before the big game. You can give them a set of questions to research that you know you’re going to ask in the tournament game if you want. Then, set the date for the Sweet 16 game.
4. When it’s game time, all groups come together. You can have them sit as group throughout the room. Make sure the 2 teams that are playing against each other in each bracket are sitting next to each other. Here’s an example:
Directions Continued...
5. Ask each group a question about their Black History hero. If they get it right, they get 2 or 3 points. If their answer is incorrect, no points are given.
6. Ask as many questions as you want. Keep track of the points.
7. At the end of the game, start with the teams in Bracket 1. Count up the points to see which team has the highest total. That Black History hero moves on to the Elite 8. Continue with the other 3 brackets until all Elite 8 Black History heroes are chosen.
8. Repeat this entire process again for the Sweet 16 Second Round (Right Side of the Bracket).
9. The process for the Elite 8, Final Four, and the Championship Game is the pretty much the same. The number of Black History heroes will get smaller and smaller as you get closer to the championship game.
For example:
Sweet 16- There are 16 heroes.
Elite 8- There are only 8 heroes.
Final 4- There are only 4 heroes.
Championship Game- The final 2 heroes play each other.
So, how does this affect grouping your students or children?
Depending on the number of students or children you have; as you get closer to the championship game, the groups of children will get larger. You can continue to add children to each round even if they lose a round. Now, all children can play the entire time.
Want to incorporate Tournament of Black History Heroes into your lessons but don't have the time to make all the materials?
Not to worry, I’ve got you! Grab my Tournament of Black History Heroes Game with all the materials you’ll need. All you have to do is print, cut, and hang up on your wall or bulletin. And of course choose your Sweet 16 Black History heroes.
Take a picture of your finished Tournament of Black History Heroes bracket on your wall or bulletin board. You can email me your picture, drop down below in the comments, or send us a DM on Facebook and share it there. I can’t wait to see what yours looks like.
