High School Archives

The Line Between Us (Book) | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

The Line Between Us: Teaching About the Border and Mexican Immigration

Teaching Guide. By Bill Bigelow. 2006. 160 pages. Rethinking Schools.
Lessons for teaching about the history of U.S.–Mexico relations and current border and immigration issues.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

Resistance in Paradise: Rethinking 100 Years of U.S. Involvement in the Caribbean and the Pacific

Teaching Guide. Edited by Debbie Wei and Rachel Kamel. 1998. 199 pages.
Readings and teaching ideas for high school students on the Spanish-American War.

Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years

Teaching Guide. Edited by Bill Bigelow and Bob Peterson. Rethinking Schools. 2003. 192 pages.
Readings and lessons for grades 5 to 12 about the impact and legacy of the arrival of Columbus in the Americas.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

Mighty Times: The Children’s March

Film. By Hudson and Houston. Learning for Justice. 2005. 40 minutes.
This Academy Award-winning documentary film tells the heroic story of the young people in Birmingham, Alabama, who brought segregation to its knees.

Scarred Justice: The Orangeburg Massacre 1968

Film. Produced by Judy Richardson and Bestor Cram. 2009. 57 minutes.
A documentary film that brings to light the story of the attack by state police on a demonstration in Orangeburg, South Carolina -- leaving three students killed and 28 injured.

Race — The Power of an Illusion

Film. By California Newsreel. 2003. Three episodes – 56 minutes each.
A three-part documentary series that questions the very idea of race as biology.

Act of War: The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Nation

Film. By Na Maka o ka `Aina. 1993. 58 minutes.
A comprehensive documentary that focuses on the events surrounding the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893.

Barefoot Gen: The Bombing of Hiroshima As Seen Through the Eyes of a Young Boy

Film. By Geneon; directed by Mori Masaki. 1992. 170 minutes.
A story about the devastating effects of war on everyday life.

February One

Film. Produced by Dr. Steven Channing. 2004. 61 minutes.
The story surrounding the 1960 Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins.

Standing on My Sisters’ Shoulders

Film. By Joan Sadoff, Robert Sadoff, and Laura Lipson. 2002. 60 minutes.
Documentary film on women in the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi.

National Visionary Leadership Project

Digital collection. Oral history interviews with hundreds of Africans Americans of note.

Haiku and Hiroshima: Teaching About the Atomic Bomb

Teaching Activity. By Wayne Au. Rethinking Schools. 3 pages.
Lesson for high school students on the bombing of Hiroshima using the film Barefoot Gen and haiku.

Rights Matter: The Story of the Bill of Rights

Teaching Guide. By Nancy Murray. 2006. 69 pages.
A free, downloadable, student-friendly booklet on the Bill of Rights, available in English and Spanish.

500 Years of Chicana Women’s History

Book — Non-fiction. By Elizabeth Martinez. 2007. 899 illustrations.
Stories and photos of Chicana/Mexican-American women in politics, labor, art, health, and more.

A Hubert Harrison Reader

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

A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America

Book — Non-fiction. By Ronald Takaki, with a foreword by Clint Smith. 2023. 576 pages.
A multicultural history of the United States, in the voices of Indigenous people, African Americans, Jews, Irish Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and others.

Growing Up in Slavery: Stories of Young Slaves as Told by Themselves

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Yuval Taylor. 2005. 230 pages.
Ten individuals tell stories of their childhood and teenage years in slavery.

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong

Book — Non-fiction. By James W. Loewen. 2018. 480 pages.
Provides a detailed critique of 12 leading high school history textbooks.

A People’s History of American Empire: A Graphic Adaptation

Book — Non-fiction. By Howard Zinn and Mike Konopacki. 2008. 288 pages.
Graphic format with photos and narrative introduce parts of U.S. history.

The First Slaves

Teaching Activity. By Gayle Olson-Raymer.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 2 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on early American slavery, resistance, and rebellion.

Servitude and Rebellion

Teaching Activity. By Gayle Olsen-Raymer. 15 pages.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 3 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on the role and dissent of indentured servants in American colonial history.

Preparing the Revolution

Teaching Activity. By Gayle Olson-Raymer.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 4 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on class differences and internal dissent before and during the Revolutionary War.

Half a Revolution

Teaching Activity. By Gayle Olson-Raymer. 16 pages.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 5 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on the Revolutionary War as "a rich man's war and a poor man's fight," as well as the failure of early Americans to complete a full revolution.

The Early Women’s Movement

Teaching Activity. By Gayle Olson-Raymer.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 6 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on the early women's movement, including their efforts for social, racial, and political equality.

The War on Mexico

Teaching Activity. By Gayle Olson-Raymer. 14 pages.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 8 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on The Mexican-American War and domestic resistance to it.