Black Lives Matter at School is an annual week-long protest and educational event held each February since 2017. Participating school administrators and teachers organize coordinated walk-outs and lessons to support the Black Lives Matter movement while educating students on the movement’s doctrine and goals. ¹

BLM at School organizers produce textbooks and guides for the annual events. These materials portray the US and its education system as systematically racist against Black Americans and encourage schools to adopt left-wing and affirmative action-based education reforms. ²

BLM at School is supported by the National Education Association, the largest labor union in the country. ³

History

The first school-focused Black Lives Matter activism occurred in Seattle in the Fall of 2016. Starting the previous year, John Muir Elementary School had instituted new curriculum components focused on “privilege and the politics of race.” After the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile at the hands of police in July 2016, the school staff read an article supplied by Black Lives Matter activists to students, and the school’s art teacher began producing Black Lives Matters t-shirts for students and staff. A local television station reported on these activities, which prompted alleged harassment by email and phone calls from right-wing sources. On September 13, a bomb threat was called into the school.⁴

Three days later, dozens of students, staff, and faculty of John Muir Elementary stood outside the school during operating hours with “Black Lives Matter” signs and shirts for a “Black Lives Matter at School Day” protest.⁴ Over the following month, activist teachers and administrators throughout Seattle organized a city-wide Black Lives Matter protest in schools. On October 19, thousands of students, teachers, and parents participated in the protest and engaged in educational workshops and discussion groups based on Black Lives Matter principles. The event had the support of the Seattle Education Association, the city’s largest teachers’ union.⁵

In January 2017, a week-long version of the BLM at School protest occurred in Philadelphia under the leadership of the Caucus of Working Educators’ Racial Justice Committee, a group within the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers union. About 100 schools participated.⁶

During the 2017-2018 school year, Black Lives Matter at School became a national movement with week-long events held in twenty cities including New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. ¹

Guiding Principles

Black Lives Matter at School proposes four Guiding Principles: ²

• Ending “zero tolerance” policies which expel or suspend students for single disciplinary infractions;
• Instituting policies to promote the hiring of black teachers;
• Mandating black history and ethnic studies courses in K-12 curriculums; and
• Increasing funding for school counselors and support programs.

Activities

In October 2023, following the October 7 Hamas terror attacks against the State of Israel, community members of the Vermont-based Essex Westford School District demanded Black Lives Matter (BLM) flags be removed from campuses in the district. However, according to Defending Education, Essex Westford School District school board member and chair Robert Carpenter responded by defending the use of BLM flags while claiming “The flags are not an endorsement of the BLM organization. Following our policy, students brought forward a request to fly a flag with the statement “Black Lives Matter” in order to show support for BIPOC students in our district and community.” ⁷

Also in October 2023, the Milwaukee Public School district promoted a contest for students to design “the MPS 2023-24 Black Lives Matter at School T-shirt” before October 19. ⁸

According to Defending Education, between December 2023 and January 2024, it was announced that the Milwaukee Public School and Los Angeles Unified School Districts would be hosting “Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action” in collaboration with Black Lives Matter at School claiming to allow students, “opportunities to listen, learn, and add their voices to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) narrative to bring about positive change,” ⁹ as well as teach on topics such as “restorative justice” as well as “transgender affirming” and ““diversity and globalism.” ¹⁰

In February 2024, Kansas-based Cordley Elementary School hosted the annual Black Lives Matter at School week while claiming to teach how to ““be anti-racist and help inspire equity for all” as well as teach, “How does celebrating and appreciating Black and African-American Art create collective joy and inspire activism?” ¹¹

Fundraising

On December 17, 2018, Black Lives Matter at School launched a GoFundMe page to raise money for a documentary on the goals of the BLM movement in education. The fundraiser was closed after only raising $1,923, but a link to the page remains on BLM at School’s website as of June 2020.^{12 13}

Controversy

In August 2019, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire professor Peter Myers criticized Black Lives Matter at School in a New York Post op-ed for stoking “fear” and “anger” in students by discussing legitimate issues in a needlessly inflammatory manner. The author quoted a textbook issued by BLM at School, which made unsupported inflammatory assertions about the controversial police-shooting death of Michael Brown:¹⁴

“In August of 2014, Michael Brown was killed in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, his body left in the streets for hours as a reminder to the black residents in the neighborhood that their lives are meaningless to the American Empire.”

Further, Myers argued that BLM at School is designed to indoctrinate students into radicalism, suppress opposing viewpoints, and induce a fatalistic outlook on the United States.¹⁴

In 2021, a report card of various educational contractors and consultants was released by Parents Defending Education (PDE). The report listed consultants that work with schools implementing Critical Race Theory and diversity, equity, and inclusion curriculums and policies. Black Lives Matter at School was included in the report. PDE stated that, while their researchers had not found any actual contracts between school districts and Black Lives Matters at School, “it’s important for parents to understand that Black Lives Matter is being taught in schools, particularly through the Black Lives Matter at School program.”¹⁵

On October 17, 2023, following the Hamas terrorist attacks against the State of Israel, Black Lives Matter at School released a statement accusing Israel of “settler colonialism, land dispossession, occupation, blockade, apartheid, and attempted genocide of millions of Palestinians.” ¹¹  while claiming educational curriculum to students “must include Palestinian existence, resistance, culture, global contributions, and the ongoing struggle to realize a free Palestine.” ¹¹

1. “Who We Are.” Black Lives Matter at School, Accessed June 28, 2025. https://www.blacklivesmatteratschool.com/who-we-are.html
2. “Guiding Principles.” Black Lives Matter at School, Accessed June 28, 2025. https://www.blacklivesmatteratschool.com/guiding-principles.html
3. “2023 Annual Report.” Black Lives Matter at School, Accessed June 28, 2025. https://www.blacklivesmatteratschool.com/annualreport2023.html
4. Au, Wayne; Hagopian, Jesse. “How One Elementary School Sparked A Citywide Movement to Make Black Students’ Lives Matter.” Rethinking Schools. Fall 2017. Accessed June 23, 2020. https://rethinkingschools.org/articles/how-one-elementary-school-sparked-a-citywide-movement-to-make-black-students-lives-matter/.
5. “Seattle teachers wear ‘Black Lives Matter’ shirts to school.” Komo News. October 19^th, 2016. Accessed June 23, 2020. https://komonews.com/news/local/seattle-teachers-wear-black-lives-matter-shirts-to-school-10-19-2016.
6. Graham, Kristen S. “Black Lives Matter week ‘an affirmation’ for students, Philly teachers say.” January 26, 2017. Accessed June 23, 2020. https://www.inquirer.com/philly/education/Black-Lives-Matter-week-affirming-for-students-Phila-teachers-say.html.
7. “In wake of massacre in Israel, Essex Westford School District board chair defends keeping Black Lives Matter flags on school campuses; says flying the flag is “not an endorsement” of the organization.” Defending Education, October 31, 2023. https://defendinged.org/incidents/essex-westford-school-district-board-chair-defends-maintaining-black-lives-matter-flags-on-school-campuses-despite-organization-appearing-to-support-hamas-terrorists/
8. “Milwaukee Public Schools holds contest for students promoting Black lives Matter at School despite organization accusing Israel of “apartheid” and “attempted genocide.”” Defending Education, October 19, 2023. https://defendinged.org/incidents/milwaukee-public-schools-holds-contest-for-students-promoting-black-lives-matter-at-school-despite-organization-accusing-israel-of-apartheid-and-attempted-genocide/
9. “Milwaukee Public Schools is holding “Black Lives Matter Week of Action” for students, despite BLM movement’s defense of Hamas.” Defending Education, January 25, 2024. https://defendinged.org/incidents/milwaukee-public-schools-is-holding-black-lives-matter-week-of-action-for-students-despite-blm-movements-defense-of-hamas/
10. “Los Angeles Unified School District will teach students to support disrupting the “Western nuclear family” and transgender issues during Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action despite the organization’s defense of Hamas.” Defending Education, January 25, 2024. https://defendinged.org/incidents/los-angeles-unified-school-district-will-teach-students-to-support-disrupting-the-western-nuclear-family-and-transgender-issues-during-black-lives-matter-at-school-week-of-action-despite-the-organ/
11. “Cordley Elementary School promotes celebrating Black Lives Matter at School with students, despite BLM at School’s defense of Hamas.” Defending Education, February 11, 2024. https://defendinged.org/incidents/cordley-elementary-school-promotes-celebrating-black-lives-matter-at-school-with-students-despite-blm-at-schools-defense-of-hamas/
12. “Donate Now.” Black Lives Matter at School. Accessed June 28, 2025. https://blmatschool.flipcause.com/secure/donate/MTM3MDQ1
13. “Black Lives Matter Week of Action in Schools.” Gofundme. December 17, 2018. Accessed June 23, 2020. https://www.gofundme.com/f/black-lives-matter-week-of-action-in-schools.
14. Myers, Peter. “How Black Lives Matter is moving into the schools.” New York Post. August 29, 2019. Accessed June 23, 2020. https://nypost.com/2019/08/29/how-black-lives-matter-is-moving-into-the-schools/.
15. “Black Lives Matter at Schools.” Parents Defending Education. Accessed October 26, 2021. https://defendinged.org/report/black-lives-matter/.