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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. 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

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? Students role play 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

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

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. 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. 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. 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

The People vs. Columbus, et al.

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. 8 pages. 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. Roles available in Spanish.

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. 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. 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

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. 2003. 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

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

Students “Warrior Up” for Climate Justice

Article. By Bill Bigelow. Rethinking Schools, Fall 2018. Teaching hope instead of despair, teachers invite students to research “climate warriors,” those who “know the truth” and yet are not defeated by it.

Time Periods: 21st Century

Themes: Climate Justice, Environment, Native American, Science

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

Article for Educators. By Bill Bigelow. Critique of the popular computer game "Oregon Trail."

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

Themes: Education, Native American, Racism & Racial Identity

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

500 Años del Pueblo Chicano – 500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures

Book - Non-fiction. By Elizabeth Martinez. 1991 (2nd Edition). Chicano history as told through hundreds of pictures and bilingual text.

Time Periods: All US History

Themes: Civil Rights Movements, Immigration, Latinx, Native American