Black History Month icebreakers: 60 questions that invite everyone to learn and share

Easy Black History Month icebreaker questions

Light, quick and open to everyone. Start a February meeting with one of these.

1. 1. What's one thing you'd like to learn more about this February?
2. 2. Which Black author, artist or musician did you discover in the past year?
3. 3. Which song by a Black artist always lifts your mood?
4. 4. Who is a Black public figure, past or present, whose work you admire?
5. 5. What's a film or documentary about Black history that stayed with you?
6. 6. Which museum, landmark or historic site would you most like to visit?
7. 7. What's a podcast or show by a Black creator you keep coming back to?
8. 8. Is there a Black-owned restaurant, bakery or shop near you that you love?
9. 9. What's one fact about Black history you learned recently?
10. 10. Which book by a Black writer would you hand to a coworker, and why?

Questions about learning Black history

For a team that wants to go a little deeper. Give people a minute to think before anyone answers.

1. 11. What's a piece of history you learned as an adult that you wish you'd learned in school?
2. 12. If you could ask one historical figure a single question, who and what would you ask?
3. 13. Which part of your town's or region's history would you like to dig into?
4. 14. Which moment in the civil rights movement would you have wanted to witness?
5. 15. What's a letter, speech or photo from history that changed how you saw a period?
6. 16. Who is a lesser-known figure you think more people should know about?
7. 17. Which era of history do you know least about, and want to change that?
8. 18. What's one question about Black history you'd like our team to look into together?
9. 19. Which historian, teacher or librarian made history come alive for you?
10. 20. How do you learn history best: reading, listening, visiting or talking it through?

Icebreakers about books, music, film and art

Recommendations travel well on a video call. Collect the answers into a shared list for the month.

1. 21. Which album by a Black artist would you hand to someone who has never heard it?
2. 22. Which novel or memoir by a Black author belongs on a team reading list?
3. 23. What's a painting, photograph or sculpture by a Black artist that you remember?
4. 24. Which film by a Black director would you pick for a team movie night?
5. 25. What's a poem you'd recommend for a February reading?
6. 26. Which musician's live performance would you travel back in time to see?
7. 27. Which children's book would you give a young reader this month?
8. 28. Which dancer, choreographer or stage performer do you find inspiring?
9. 29. What's a song that tells a story about history?
10. 30. If our team made a February playlist, what's your one pick?

Questions about pioneers, inventors and firsts

Good for a team that likes facts. Anyone who doesn't have an answer can look one up and share it at the next meeting.

1. 31. Whose invention or discovery do you use every day without thinking about it?
2. 32. Which athlete changed more than their sport, in your view?
3. 33. Which scientist or engineer would you want on a project with us?
4. 34. Which business founder's story would you tell a new hire?
5. 35. Who is a Black leader in our industry or field more people should know?
6. 36. Which pioneer in medicine or public health would you spotlight?
7. 37. Which entertainer opened doors for the people who came after them?
8. 38. Which journalist or writer told a story the country needed to hear?
9. 39. Which first (first to win, build, publish or lead) would you add to our team's list?
10. 40. Which pilot, astronaut or explorer's story would you like to hear in full?

Reflection questions for work

For a team meeting or a leadership session. Use one or two, not all ten, and leave room for silence.

1. 41. What does a team where everyone belongs look like on an ordinary Tuesday?
2. 42. What's one small habit that makes a meeting more inclusive?
3. 43. Who is a mentor or colleague who opened a door for you?
4. 44. What's one thing our team could do this year that lasts beyond February?
5. 45. Which local organization would you like our team to support?
6. 46. What did a past job teach you about working with people whose lives differ from yours?
7. 47. What would you want a new hire to know about how we treat each other here?
8. 48. What would you like to hear more about from the people planning this month's events?
9. 49. What's one action you'll take this month after today's conversation?
10. 50. What's one way we could make sure every voice gets heard in our meetings?

Quick picks for large groups and chat

Two options, one answer each. Built for big video calls: people answer in chat or with a show of hands.

1. 51. A biography or a documentary?
2. 52. A museum visit or a guided walking tour?
3. 53. An audiobook on the commute or a print book at home?
4. 54. A poetry reading or a live music night?
5. 55. One big story told in depth, or ten short ones?
6. 56. A history book or a historical novel?
7. 57. An online exhibit or one in person?
8. 58. A team book club or a team film club?
9. 59. Read a famous speech or hear the recording?
10. 60. Local history or national history?

5 quick Black History Month activities for work

Each one takes under 15 minutes of meeting time and gives the questions somewhere to go.

1. 1Two-minute spotlight. A week ahead, volunteers pick a person from history; at each meeting one of them shares a single story in two minutes.
2. 2Local history map. Open a shared map and ask each person to pin one place in Black history near where they live, with one line on why it matters.
3. 3Team playlist. Everyone adds one song by a Black artist and a line about it; play it as people join the last meeting of the month.
4. 4Read, watch, listen list. Start a shared doc of recommendations from the first meeting, and at month end each person says what they tried.
5. 5Hosted trivia hour. Close the month with an hour of team trivia on Black history, run by a live host so the organizer plays too.

For the hosted hour, see Black History Trivia & Games or our other heritage month events. Want a trivia round you can run yourself? Use our Black History Month trivia questions, and for January, our MLK Day trivia.

Open the month with its history

Read one of these at the first meeting of February. Customs vary by country, so global teams may mark it at different times.

• Historian Carter G. Woodson started Negro History Week in February 1926.
• He chose the week that held the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.
• Woodson had founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915. Today it is ASALH.
• In 1976 the week grew into Black History Month, and President Gerald Ford issued a message recognizing it.
• ASALH sets a theme every year; 2026's was A Century of Black History Commemorations. Check asalh.org for the 2027 theme.
• Canada also marks Black History Month in February. In the United Kingdom it is October, so global teams may mark it twice.

How to run Black History Month icebreakers

Small groups, a minute to think and a way to pass. Here's how it works in each setting.

1. 1Size it. In groups of four or five, plan on three or four questions per 10 minutes. A whole team of 12 gets through two in 10 minutes.
2. 2In the office. Print one set per table or read one question aloud, and give people 30 seconds to think before the first answer.
3. 3Hybrid. Screen-share the deck so the room and remote people see the same card, and call on remote people first.
4. 4All on video. Use breakout rooms of four or five for 8 minutes, then ask each room to bring back one thing they learned.
5. 5Big groups. With 30 or more, use the quick picks in chat or by show of hands, then hear from two or three volunteers.

Want a guided conversation instead? A facilitator can lead an hour on allyship or inclusion at work: see our DEI workshops. For more ways to mark the month, read our Black History Month ideas for work and the Black History Month quotes collection.