Prosperity, Depression, & World War II: 1920 - 1944

The 1934 West Coast Longshore Strike

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow and Norm Diamond. Students “become” several of the social groups who participated in the 1934 Longshore Workers Strike—some of whom had to answer the question, “Which side are you on?”
Time Periods: 20th Century, Prosperity, Depression, & World War II: 1920 - 1944
Themes: Labor, Organizing, Social Class
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Deportations - 1500 Mexicans Loaded on Trains | Zinn Education Project

Deportations on Trial: Mexican Americans During the Great Depression

Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. In this role play students analyze who is to blame for the illegal, mass deportations of Mexican Americans and immigrants during the Great Depression.
Time Periods: Prosperity, Depression, & World War II: 1920 - 1944
Themes: Immigration, Labor, Latinx, Laws & Citizen Rights, Racism & Racial Identity
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Haiku and Hiroshima: Teaching About the Atomic Bomb

Haiku and Hiroshima: Teaching About the Atomic Bomb

Teaching Activity. By Wayne Au. 3 pages. Rethinking Schools. Lesson for high school students on the bombing of Hiroshima using the film Barefoot Gen and haiku.
Time Periods: 20th Century, Prosperity, Depression, & World War II: 1920 - 1944, Cold War: 1945 - 1960
Themes: Language Arts, US Foreign Policy, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements
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Japanese American Internment Featured Image

A Lesson on the Japanese American Internment

Teaching Activity. By Mark Sweeting. Rethinking Schools. How one teacher engaged his students in a critical examination of the language used in textbooks to describe the internment.
Time Periods: 20th Century, Prosperity, Depression, & World War II: 1920 - 1944
Themes: Asian American, Democracy & Citizenship, Education, Laws & Citizen Rights, Racism & Racial Identity, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements
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The Other Internment: Teaching the Hidden Story of Japanese Latin Americans During WWII

Teaching Activity. By Moé Yonamine. 18 pages. Rethinking Schools. Poetry, photography, and text are used in this role play to teach about the seldom told history of Japanese Latin American internment during WWII.
Time Periods: 20th Century, Prosperity, Depression, & World War II: 1920 - 1944
Themes: Asian American, Civil Rights Movements, Democracy & Citizenship, Immigration, Laws & Citizen Rights, Racism & Racial Identity, US Foreign Policy, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements, World History/Global Studies
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Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union: Black and White Unite? (Teaching Activity) | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union: Black and White Unite?

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow and Norm Diamond. Role play on farm labor organizing in the 1930s shows how racism had to be challenged to create effective worker alliances.
Time Periods: 20th Century, Prosperity, Depression, & World War II: 1920 - 1944
Themes: African American, Labor, Organizing, Racism & Racial Identity
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Police use tear gas against participants in San Francisco’s 1934 general strike.

Who Made the New Deal? The Economic Recovery Conference Role Play

Teaching Activity. By Adam Sanchez. Rethinking Schools. Through role play, students explore how different social groups influenced New Deal legislation.
Time Periods: 20th Century, Prosperity, Depression, & World War II: 1920 - 1944
Themes: Economics, Labor, Laws & Citizen Rights, Organizing
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“Riots,” Racism, and the Police: Students Explore a Century of Police Conduct and Racial Violence

Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. Students explore three documents produced in the wake of three major episodes of racial violence (1919, 1967, 2014) to understand the long trajectory of police violence in Black communities.
Time Periods: 20th Century, World War I: 1910 - 1919, Prosperity, Depression, & World War II: 1920 - 1944, People’s Movement: 1961 - 1974, 21st Century, 2001 - Present
Themes: African American, Criminal Justice & Incarceration, Laws & Citizen Rights, Racism & Racial Identity
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From the Jazz Age to the Uprisings of the 1930s

Teaching Activity. By Gayle Olson-Raymer. 20 pages. Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 15 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on the economic and social realities of the 1920s and 1930s, as well as the corresponding rise of unions and the Communist Party.
Time Periods: 20th Century, Prosperity, Depression, & World War II: 1920 - 1944
Themes: Labor, Social Class
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Labor Matters

Teaching Activity. By Teaching Tolerance. Introduces students to the role of the labor movement in securing contemporary benefits such as the 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, and workplace safety regulations.
Time Periods: 20th Century, Turn of the Century: 1900 - 1909, World War I: 1910 - 1919, Prosperity, Depression, & World War II: 1920 - 1944
Themes: Labor, Laws & Citizen Rights, Organizing
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The Power in Our Hands: A Curriculum on the History of Work and Workers in the United States

Teaching Guide. By Bill Bigelow and Norm Diamond. 1988. Role plays and writing activities project high school students into real-life situations to explore the history and contemporary reality of employment (and unemployment) in the U.S.
Time Periods: 19th Century, Industrial Revolution: 1877 - 1899, 20th Century, Prosperity, Depression, & World War II: 1920 - 1944
Themes: Economics, Labor, Organizing, Racism & Racial Identity
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Protesting the First World War

Teaching Activity. By Colby Smart. Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 14 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on anti-war efforts during the first World War, as well as the U.S. government's response.
Time Periods: 20th Century, World War I: 1910 - 1919, Prosperity, Depression, & World War II: 1920 - 1944
Themes: Wars & Related Anti-War Movements
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World War II and McCarthyism

Teaching Activity. By Gayle Olson-Raymer. Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 16 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on domestic opposition to the "good war" and the impact of McCarthyism.
Time Periods: 20th Century, Prosperity, Depression, & World War II: 1920 - 1944, Cold War: 1945 - 1960
Themes: Democracy & Citizenship, Laws & Citizen Rights, US Foreign Policy, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements
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A Review of ‘42’: Jackie Robinson’s Bitter Pill

Article. By Dave Zirin. Dave Zirin describes how 42 limits the story to a tale of “individual triumph through singular greatness,” ignoring the social movements and broader context of the time.
Time Periods: 20th Century, Prosperity, Depression, & World War II: 1920 - 1944, Cold War: 1945 - 1960
Themes: African American, Sports
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1919 by Eve Ewing book cover

1919

Book — Non-fiction. By Eve L. Ewing. 96 pages. 2019. Poetic reflections on the Chicago Race Riots of 1919 — part of 'Red Summer' — in a history told through Ewing's speculative and Afrofuturist lenses.
Time Periods: 20th Century, World War I: 1910 - 1919, Prosperity, Depression, & World War II: 1920 - 1944
Themes: African American, Art & Music, Racism & Racial Identity
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Angel Island: Gateway to Gold Mountain

Book - Non-fiction. By Russell Freedman. 2014. An account of Angel Island, California, the entry point for one million Asian immigrants in the early 20th century.
Time Periods: 20th Century, World War I: 1910 - 1919, Prosperity, Depression, & World War II: 1920 - 1944
Themes: Asian American, Immigration
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Ballad of an American: A Graphic Biography of Paul Robeson

Book - Non-fiction. Written and illustrated by Sharon Rudahl. Edited by Paul Buhle and Lawrence Ware. 2020. 142 pages. The first-ever graphic biography of Paul Robeson charts Robeson’s career as a singer, actor, scholar, athlete, and activist who achieved global fame.
Time Periods: 20th Century, Turn of the Century: 1900 - 1909, World War I: 1910 - 1919, Prosperity, Depression, & World War II: 1920 - 1944, Cold War: 1945 - 1960
Themes: African American, Art & Music, Sports, US Foreign Policy, World History/Global Studies
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