Five Years After the Levees Broke: Bearing Witness Through Poetry
Teaching Activity. By Renée Watson. 7 pages. Rethinking Schools.
A teacher's reflection on the power of poetry to spark critical discussion and reflection on current issues of inequality surrounding disaster response in the United States.
Time Periods: 21st Century, 2001 - Present
Themes: African American, Climate Justice, Environment, Art & Music, Language Arts, Laws & Citizen Rights, Media, Racism & Racial Identity
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Lewis Hine’s Photographs
Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow and Bob Peterson. 4 pages. Rethinking Schools.
Using photographs to spark creative writing and critical thinking about child labor issues and social justice.
Time Periods: 19th Century, Industrial Revolution: 1877 - 1899, 20th Century, Turn of the Century: 1900 - 1909
Themes: Art & Music, Immigration, Labor, Media, Social Class
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Teaching the Vietnam War: Beyond the Headlines
Teaching Activity. By the Zinn Education Project. 100 pages.
Eight lessons about the Vietnam War, Daniel Ellsberg, the Pentagon Papers, and whistleblowing.
Time Periods: 20th Century, Cold War: 1945 - 1960, People’s Movement: 1961 - 1974
Themes: Media, US Foreign Policy, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements, World History/Global Studies
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History in the Present Tense: Engaging Students Through Inquiry and Action
Teaching Guide. By Douglas Selwyn and Jan Maher. 2003.
A guide to a different way of teaching history—start from today and keep asking questions.
Time Periods: All US History
Themes: Media
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Rethinking Popular Culture and Media
Teaching Guide. Edited by Elizabeth Marshall and Özlem Sensoy. 330 pages. 2011. Rethinking Schools.
Collection of essays that offer strong critiques and practical teaching strategies about what is "popular" and the messages being communicated by mass media.
Themes: Media
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Bob Herbert on Nelson Mandela: 1918–2013
Article. Bob Herbert. Jacobin Magazine. 2013.
A critique of the "feel good" and "sentimental stick figure" mis-representations of Nelson Mandela and Dr. King in mass media.
Time Periods: 21st Century, 2001 - Present
Themes: Media, Racism & Racial Identity
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101 Changemakers: Rebels and Radicals Who Changed US History
Book – Non-fiction. By Michele Bollinger and Dao Tran. 2012.
A collection of 101 brief and accessible profiles of rebels, radicals, and fighters for social justice.
Time Periods: All US History
Themes: African American, Asian American, Civil Rights Movements, Democracy & Citizenship, Disability, Immigration, Labor, Language Arts, Latinx, LGBTQ, Media, Native American, Organizing, Pacific Islander, Racism & Racial Identity, Social Class, Women's History
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Censored 2018: Press Truths in a “Post Truth” World
Book - Non-fiction. Edited by Andy Lee Roth and Mickey Huff with Project Censored. 2017. 272 pages.
Annual collection of news stories that were underreported in the mainstream media.
Time Periods: 21st Century, 2001 - Present
Themes: Media
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News for All the People: The Epic Story of Race and the American Media
Book - Non-fiction. By Juan González and Joseph Torres. 2011.
The history of media in the United States, through the lens of race.
Time Periods: 18th Century, 19th Century, 20th Century, Post-Civil Rights Era: 1975 - 2000, 21st Century, 2001 - Present
Themes: Latinx, Media
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Shocking the Conscience: A Reporter’s Account of the Civil Rights Movement
Book - Non-fiction. By Simeon Booker with Carol McCabe Booker. 2013.
Chronicle by Simeon Booker, the first full-time African American reporter for the Washington Post and Jet magazine's White House correspondent, covering half a century of major events that transformed the United States.
Time Periods: 20th Century
Themes: African American, Civil Rights Movements, Media
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To Write in the Light of Freedom: The Newspapers of the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Schools
Book - Non-fiction. Edited by William Sturkey and Jon N. Hale. 2015.
A collection and examination of the creative literary work of students published during 1964 Freedom Summer in Mississippi.
Time Periods: 20th Century, People’s Movement: 1961 - 1974
Themes: African American, Civil Rights Movements, Education, Language Arts, Media, Racism & Racial Identity, Social Class
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Catch a Tiger by the Toe
Book - Fiction. By Ellen Levine. 2005. 176 pages.
A historical novel for middle school on McCarthyism.
Time Periods: 20th Century, Cold War: 1945 - 1960
Themes: Democracy & Citizenship, Labor, Laws & Citizen Rights, Media
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Crow
Book - Fiction. By Barbara Wright. 2012. 320 pages.
Historical fiction about a Reconstruction-era African American community violently robbed of its freedom and democracy in turn of the century North Carolina.
Time Periods: 19th Century, Reconstruction Period: 1865 - 1876
Themes: African American, Reconstruction, Democracy & Citizenship, Laws & Citizen Rights, Media
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Milo’s Museum
Picture Book. By Zetta Elliott. Illustrated by Purple Wong. 2016. 36 pages.
A story that introduces young readers to the historic mis-representation (and absence) of people of color in museums and how to take action.
Time Periods: 21st Century, 2001 - Present
Themes: Media
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Making a Killing: Philip Morris, Kraft and Global Tobacco Addiction
Film. By Kelly Anderson and Tami Gold. 2001. 30 min.
How Philip Morris has conspired to hook children on tobacco and keep governments from protecting public health.
Time Periods: 20th Century, People’s Movement: 1961 - 1974
Themes: Environment, Media
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The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Film. By Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith. 2009. 94 minutes.
The riveting story of how a Pentagon official risks life in prison by leaking 7,000 pages of a top secret report to the New York Times to help stop the Vietnam War.
Time Periods: 20th Century, People’s Movement: 1961 - 1974
Themes: Media, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements
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Not Just a Game: Power, Politics & American Sports
Film. By Dave Zirin and Jeremy Earp. 2010. 62 minutes.
A documentary based on the bestselling book A People's History of Sports in the United States, Zirin demonstrates that American sports have long been at the center of some of the major political debates and struggles of our time. For 6th grade to adult.
Time Periods: 20th Century
Themes: African American, Media, Racism & Racial Identity, Sports, Women's History
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The War You Don’t See
Film. By John Pilger. 2010. 97 min.
Documentary on how the media has reported war, from the WWI to the present day.
Themes: Media, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements
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Medgar Evers
Profile. By Dernoral Davis.
Medgar Evers (July 2, 1925—June 12, 1963), Civil Rights Movement activist in Mississippi.
Time Periods: 20th Century, Cold War: 1945 - 1960, People’s Movement: 1961 - 1974
Themes: African American, Democracy & Citizenship, Media, Racism & Racial Identity
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Democracy Now!
Website and radio program.
Daily news radio program, hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, with voices rarely heard in corporate media.
Time Periods: 21st Century, 2001 - Present
Themes: Labor, Media, Organizing, US Foreign Policy
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