Black History Play Ideas Using Rap Songs

So you need to figure out what you’re doing for your school’s Black History Month assembly? You need something that students will enjoy. Something that will keep your audience’s attention, and cover Black history in a meaningful way. Sounds like you need a Black history play with ideas to choose from.

With our readers theater plays with rap musical options, your students can perform rap songs like the one below about Bessie Coleman. Students can learn about the life of this amazing woman who overcame discrimination and became the first licensed, Black American pilot who performed impressive aerial stunts. Use the song below for free or you can get the complete script for the rap musical it’s from here.

1. Rap Songs

2. Dance

Your students can create a dance for a song! Take it a step further and have students put those YouTube viral dance moves to work in a performance. Have them choreograph a dance to illustrate the lyrics of a song. They can also use our dance brain break to get up and get moving!

3. Rap songs as poetry

Have your students read a song as a poem! There’s always that student who prefers to read than drop some lyrics or dance to a beat. Got a student with a great speaking voice who knows how to captivate with words? Have him/her read the song lyrics as a poem. I took the Bessie Coleman song from above and read it as a poem if you need an example for your students.

4. Play instruments

Your students can play instruments along with the songs! This is by far my personal fav and it works well with all of the above suggestions. Have students play along with the songs or instrumentals to create a concert feel.

With the tracks available here on YouTube, it’s simple, fun, and easy for students to keep up with the music. Use hand drums, snares, bass, or have a music teacher give you a hand with choosing simple notes for students to play on a xylophone or with your school’s instrument program. (My school has a Suzuki violin program and the notes from the instrumentals sound FANTASTIC on the strings!)

Below are snippets from one of our rap musicals that can be used. You can also get the complete rap musical with script here for these instrumentals if you would like to perform it with your students!

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Until then, happy teaching!

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