For Black History Month, you can encourage your students to get into small groups and pick a famous person in African-American history to write a skit about. Popular choices might include George Washington Carver, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., Barack Obama, Condoleeza Rice, or Jackie Robinson. Have each group write a skit (see Resources for help) of two to five minutes about an important event in that person's life. Other teachers (such as your school's drama teacher) or educational websites like Teachers.net can assist you with further research into topics to write about and the craft of writing.
For the more sophisticated high school students, you can challenge them to study more complex material. You might wish to have students write skits that re-enact key moments in important trials like Brown v. the Board of Education or Plessy v. Ferguson. You can also have your students investigate the development of the Underground Railroad or the migration of many African-Americans to Liberia after the Civil War.
For more interaction, break the class into groups and have them debate the political methods employed by groups like the Black Panthers, or men like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. Instruct your students to listen carefully to each argument. Create three groups: two groups will debate, while the third group will act as an impartial jury and will select the "winner" of the debate.
Race is a complicated issue to discuss in any setting, let alone a classroom. No matter the race of your students, it is important to be respectful of all points of view. It is paramount that your students feel that they can comfortably contribute to a dialogue on history and race. Speak to your students before opening up the class to discussion. Make it clear to everyone in your class that certain words are absolutely off limits, and set a tone for any racially charged discussions that is respectful and academic. For further discussion on this issue, see the Resources and References sections below.
You may also choose to have your students perform selections from an existing play. Plays such as "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry, "A Land Beyond the River" by Loften Mitchell, or even a selection from the dramatic memoir Roots, by Alex Haley, would be appropriate.
Depending on the age of your pupils, you may want to break your skit groups into various roles. For example, in a group of six you might have three actors, a director, and two writers. This will ensure that each person in the group is focused, and gives students who are shy a chance to work behind the scenes where they are most comfortable.