Adult Archives

Howard Zinn Speaking at NCSS, 2008 - | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

Why Students Should Study History: An Interview with Howard Zinn

Background Reading. By Howard Zinn. 1994.
Interview conducted by Barbara Miner on a number of questions about the study of history.

Unlearning “Indian” Stereotypes

Slideshow on DVD. 1977, updated in 2008. Rethinking Schools and the Council on Interracial Books for Children.
Native American history through the eyes of Native American children.

Slave Catchers, Slave Resisters

Film. Produced by Judy Richardson, Northern Light Productions for History Channel. 2005. 100 minutes.
Documentary on the many rebellions by enslaved people and other forms of resistance.

The First Decoration Day

Article. By David W. Blight. 2011.
The people's history of Memorial Day in Charleston, South Carolina during Reconstruction.

Why I’m Rooting for Tommy Lee Jones

Article. By William Katz. 2013.
An opportunity to highlight Congressman Thaddeus Stevens' fight for equality.

Sandino Rebellion: A Documentary History

Digital collection. Over 3,300 documents from the Sandino Rebellion in Nicaragua, 1927-1934.

Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives

Digital collection. Resources and programs on the history and legacy of the Abraham Lincoln Brigades.

The Columbus Controversy: Challenging How History Is Written

Film. Written, directed, and produced by Nick Kaufman. 1992. 23 minutes.
Contrasting views and scenes from the classroom on teaching about Columbus.

Digital collection. View digitized historic treaties between Indigenous tribes and the U.S. government alongside key historic works that provide context to the agreements made and the histories of shared lands.

Freedmen and Southern Society Project

Digital collection. Documents that help explain how Black people traversed the bloody ground from slavery to freedom between the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 and the beginning of Reconstruction in 1867.

On the Books: Jim Crow and Algorithms of Resistance

Digital collection. Collections as data and machine learning project examining Jim Crow and racially-based legislation signed into law in North Carolina between Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement.

The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America

Book — Non-fiction. By Carol Anderson. 2021. 272 pages.
This book illuminates the history and impact of the Second Amendment, how it was designed, and how it has consistently been constructed to keep African Americans powerless and vulnerable.

Columbus and Las Casas

Teaching Activity. By Gayle Olson-Raymer. 15 pages.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 1 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on Columbus' arrival in the "New World," and the contrasting accounts of Bartolome de Las Casas and Eduardo Galeano.

A Hubert Harrison Reader

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Jeffrey B. Perry. 2001. 505 pages.
Essays by the "father of Harlem radicalism."

On the Road to Cultural Bias: A Critique of The Oregon Trail

Article. By Bill Bigelow. Rethinking Schools.
Critique of the popular "Oregon Trail" computer game.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

Whitewashing Our Past: A Proposal for a National Campaign to Rethink Textbooks

Article. By Bob Peterson.
A critique of social studies textbooks and the rationale for a campaign to rethink them.

A People’s History of Poverty in America

Book — Non-fiction. By Stephen Pimpare. 2008. 322 pages.
A vivid description of poverty from the perspective of poor and welfare-reliant Americans, from the big city to the rural countryside.

Mirror to America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin

Book — Nonfiction. By John Hope Franklin. 2006. 416 pages.
Autobiography of one of the leading historians of the 20th century.

Beyond Heroes and Holidays: A Practical Guide to K-12 Anti-Racist, Multicultural Education, and Staff Development

Teaching Guide. Edited by Enid Lee, Deborah Menkart and Margo Okazawa-Rey. 2006. 436 pages.
Guide for teachers, administrators, and parents shows how to teach from a multicultural perspective that goes beyond the superficial "heroes and holidays" approach.

Teaching Activity by Deborah Menkart