Explore More Teaching Materials

Clear Filters

Time period

Theme

Resource type

Grade level

Keyword

Native American

Andrew Jackson and the “Children of the Forest”

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. A lesson in which students develop critical literacy skills by responding to Andrew Jackson's speech on "Indian Removal."

Time Periods: 19th Century, Early 19th Century: 1800 - 1849

Themes: Native American, Racism & Racial Identity

The Cherokee/Seminole Removal Role Play

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. What led up to the Trail of Tears? In this lesson, students learn about the decision to remove the Cherokee and Seminole people from their lands.

Time Periods: 19th Century, Early 19th Century: 1800 - 1849

Themes: Democracy & Citizenship, Native American, Racism & Racial Identity

Apalachicola River | Zinn Education Project

The Color Line

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. A lesson on the countless colonial laws enacted to create division and inequality based on race. This helps students understand the origins of racism in the United States and who benefits.

Time Periods: Colonization: 1492 - 1764, 18th Century, Revolution & Constitution: 1765 - 1799

Themes: African American, Laws & Citizen Rights, Native American, Racism & Racial Identity, Slavery and Resistance

Dirty Oil and Shovel-Ready Jobs: A Role Play on Tar Sands and the Keystone XL Pipeline

Teaching Activity. By Abby Mac Phail. 17 pages. Rethinking Schools. A role play on the Keystone XL Pipeline battle.

Time Periods: 21st Century, 2001 - Present

Themes: Climate Justice, Environment, Native American, Organizing, US Foreign Policy, World History/Global Studies

Discovering Columbus: Re-reading the Past

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. Rethinking Schools. How to engage students in a critical analysis of the textbook version of "discovery."

Time Periods: Colonization: 1492 - 1764

Themes: Education, Imperialism, Native American

‘Don’t Take Our Voices Away’: A Role Play on the Indigenous Peoples’ Global Summit on Climate Change

Teaching Activity. By Julie Treick O’Neill and Tim Swinehart. 16 pages. Rethinking Schools. A role play on the Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change asks students to develop a list of demands to present to the rest of the world at a climate change meeting.

Time Periods: 21st Century, 2001 - Present

Themes: Climate Justice, Environment, Native American, Pacific Islander, Science, World History/Global Studies

How to Make Amends: A Lesson on Reparations

Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca, Alex Stegner, Chris Buehler, Angela DiPasquale, and Tom McKenna. Students meet dozens of advocates and recipients of reparations from a variety of historical eras to grapple with the possibility of reparations now and in the future.

Time Periods: 20th Century, 21st Century

Themes: African American, Asian American, Native American, Organizing, World History/Global Studies

The People vs. Columbus, et al.

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. 9 pages. Rethinking Schools. A trial role play asks students to determine who is responsible for the death of millions of Taínos on the island of Hispaniola in the late 15th century.

Time Periods: Colonization: 1492 - 1764

Themes: Imperialism, Native American

Rethinking the U.S. Constitutional Convention: A Role Play

Teaching Activity. By Bob Peterson. 14 pages. Rethinking Schools. A role play on the Constitutional Convention which brings to life the social forces active during and immediately following the American Revolution with focus on two key topics: suffrage and slavery. An elementary school adaptation of the Constitution Role Play by Bill Bigelow. Roles available in Spanish.

Time Periods: 18th Century, Revolution & Constitution: 1765 - 1799

Themes: Democracy & Citizenship, Laws & Citizen Rights, Native American, Slavery and Resistance, Women's History

Standing with Standing Rock: A Role Play on the Dakota Access Pipeline

Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca, Bill Bigelow, and Andrew Duden. Article by Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. 15 pages. Rethinking Schools. A role play helps students recognize the issues at stake in the historic struggle of the Standing Rock Sioux to block construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline.

Time Periods: 21st Century, 2001 - Present

Themes: Climate Justice, Environment, Imperialism, Native American, Organizing

Teaching Climate Disobedience: Using the Film Necessity in the Classroom

Teaching activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. A lesson about multiple cohorts of climate activists: Indigenous leaders in the Climate Justice Movement, valve turners using civil disobedience to stop the flow of oil, and the legal team that uses the “necessity defense” in the courts.

Time Periods: 21st Century

Themes: Climate Justice, Native American

Climate Illustration - Schafer | Zinn Education Project

The Young People’s Climate Conference: Teaching Global Warming to 3rd Graders

Teaching Activity. By Rowan Shafer. Rethinking Schools. A teacher adapts the “Climate Change Mixer” designed for older students as a springboard for a unit on global warming and climate justice. She asks, "How could I bring up an issue so big and abstract, so gloom and doom, with 3rd graders? How could I not?"

Time Periods: 21st Century

Themes: Climate Justice, Environment, Democracy & Citizenship, Laws & Citizen Rights, Native American, Organizing, World History/Global Studies

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.

Time Periods: Colonization: 1492 - 1764

Themes: Native American

Indian Removal

Teaching Activity. By Gayle Olson-Raymer. 18 pages. Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 7 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on the American policy of "Manifest Destiny" and Native American resistance to their own displacement.

Time Periods: 19th Century, Early 19th Century: 1800 - 1849, Civil War Era: 1850 - 1864, Reconstruction Period: 1865 - 1876, Industrial Revolution: 1877 - 1899

Themes: Imperialism, Native American, Racism & Racial Identity

Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years

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

Time Periods: Colonization: 1492 - 1764

Themes: Native American

Teaching Critically About Lewis and Clark: Challenging Dominant Narratives in K–12 Curriculum

Books — Non-fiction. By Alison Schmitke, Leilani Sabzalian, Jeff Edmundson. 2020. 216 pages. This much-needed guide unpacks the colonial narrative that dominates most mainstream histories of the Corps of Discovery expedition.

Time Periods: Early 19th Century: 1800 - 1849

Themes: Environment, Education, Native American

Yup'ik village children preparing salmon | Zinn Education Project

Climate Change and School in a Yup’ik Fishing Village

Article. By Jill Howdyshell. The author describes how climate change is hitting Indigenous communities in Alaska much harder than other places in the world. And yet, administrators still insist that school discussions should focus on student test scores.

Time Periods: 21st Century, 2001 - Present

Themes: Climate Justice, Environment, Economics, Native American

The Export of Colors

Article. By Manlio Argueta. From Cuzcatlán, Donde bate la mar del sur. An excerpt from a novel of historical fiction about the impact of an export economy on peasants in El Salvador.

Time Periods: 20th Century

Themes: Imperialism, Latinx, Native American

How to Abolish Columbus Day and Get an Indigenous Peoples’ Day Resolution Passed

Article. By Mahtowin Munro. Campaign guidelines from the organizer of a successful effort to abolish Columbus Day and establish Indigenous Peoples' Day in Cambridge, Mass.

Themes: Democracy & Citizenship, Native American, Organizing

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.

Time Periods: 19th Century, Early 19th Century: 1800 - 1849

Themes: Education, Native American, Racism & Racial Identity