Colin in Black and White: The Kaepernick Curriculum Teaching Guide. Presented by Ra Vision Media & Know Your Rights Camp. 2022. 85 pages. In conjunction with the Netflix series of the same name, this teaching guide provides students with resources and activities to understand and address systemic and institutional racism. Continue reading
The Young Lords: A Radical History Book — Non-fiction. By Johanna Fernández. 2020. 480 pages. Fernandez demonstrates how the Young Lords redefined the character of protest, the color of politics, and the cadence of popular urban culture in the age of great dreams. Continue reading
Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance Book — Non-fiction. By Nick Estes. 2019. 320 pages. In Our History Is the Future, Nick Estes traces traditions of Indigenous resistance that led to the #NoDAPL movement. Continue reading
Standing with Standing Rock: Voices from the #NoDAPL Movement Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Nick Estes and Jaskiran Dhillon. 2019. 448 pages. Through poetry and prose, essays, photography, interviews, and polemical interventions, the contributors, including leaders of the Standing Rock movement, reflect on Indigenous history and politics and on the movement's significance. Continue reading
The Young Crusaders: The Untold Story of the Children and Teenagers Who Galvanized the Civil Rights Movement Book — Non-fiction. By V. P. Franklin. 2021. 328 pages. This books tells the story of the hundreds of thousands of children and teenagers who engaged in sit-ins, school strikes, boycotts, marches, and demonstrations in which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other national civil rights leaders played little or no part. Continue reading
No Kids in Prison Website. NoKidsinPrison uses art to model, imagine and advocate for alternatives to youth incarceration by lifting up the voices of youth most impacted by the criminal justice system through art and culture. Continue reading
We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration Book — Non-fiction. By Frank Abe and Tamiko Nimura; illustrated by Ross Ishikawa. 2021. 160 pages. This graphic novel tells the story of Japanese American imprisonment during World War II, and the resistance and defiance that existed in these internment camps. Continue reading
More Than a Score: The New Uprising Against High-Stakes Testing Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Jesse Hagopian. 2014. 336 pages. A collection of essays, poems, speeches, and interviews from frontline fighters who are defying the corporate education reformers and fueling a national movement to reclaim and transform public education. Continue reading
“Prisons Make Us Safer”: And 20 Other Myths about Mass Incarceration Book — Non-fiction. By Victoria Law. 2021. 240 pages An accessible guide for activists, educators, and all who are interested in understanding how the prison system oppresses communities and harms individuals. Continue reading
Who Killed Reconstruction? A Trial Role Play Teaching Activity. By Adam Sanchez. 2022. Rethinking Schools A role play about the demise of Reconstruction that helps students get beyond the question “Was Reconstruction a success or failure?” Continue reading
Seizing Freedom: The Role of the Black Press Podcast episode. Seizing Freedom. 2022. Kidada E. Williams speaks with Adam Serwer about the role of the Black press in the United States. Continue reading
Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America (YA Edition) Book — Non-fiction. By Candacy Taylor. 2022. 272 pages. This book chronicles the history of the Green Book, which was published from 1936 to 1966 and was the “Black travel guide to America.” Continue reading
Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America’s Empire Book — Non-fiction. By Jonathan M. Katz. 2022. 432 pages. This book traces a path from the first wave of U.S. overseas expansionism to the rise of fascism in the 1930s to the crises of democracy in our own time. Continue reading
The Way to Freedom: Selma and the Making of a Movement Film. National Park Service. 2020. 23 minutes. Documentary about the role of young people in the voting rights movement in Alabama in the 1960s. Continue reading
Educational Reconstruction: African American Schools in the Urban South, 1865-1890 Book — Non-fiction. By Hilary Green. 2016. 272 pages. An in-depth look at postwar African American education and the gains of Reconstruction. Continue reading
The Neutral Ground Film. Directed by CJ Hunt. 2021. 82 minutes. A co-production of POV and ITVS, in association with the Center for Asian American Media. A student-friendly documentary on the fight over Confederate monuments and the Lost Cause narrative. Continue reading
Seeking Freedom: The Untold Story of Fortress Monroe and the Ending of Slavery in America Book — Non-fiction. By Selene Castrovilla. Illustrated by E. B. Lewis. 2022. 40 pages. A Civil War story about a man who seizes his freedom from slavery and teams up with a Union general to save a Union fort from the Confederates. Continue reading
People’s Historians As we celebrate Howard Zinn's centennial, we highlight people’s historians from long before and after the publication of A People's History of the United States to help place Zinn's work on a long and ongoing continuum. Continue reading
Howard Zinn on Prison Abolition Article. By Howard Zinn. Haymarket Books. 1974 Essay by Howard Zinn on prison abolition from Justice in Everyday Life: The Way It Really Works. Continue reading
Evicted!: The Struggle for the Right to Vote Picture book. By Alice Faye Duncan and illustrated by Charly Palmer. 2022. 64 pages. This critical civil rights book for middle-graders examines the little-known Tennessee's Fayette County Tent City Movement in the late 1950s and reveals what is possible when people unite and fight for the right to vote. Continue reading
Race Against Time: The Untold Story of Scipio Jones and the Battle to Save Twelve Innocent Men Book — Non-fiction. By Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace. 2021. 144 pages. Scipio Africanus Jones — a self-taught attorney who was born enslaved — leads a momentous series of court cases to save twelve Black men who'd been unjustly sentenced to death. Continue reading
Running Book — Fiction. By Natalia Sylvester. 2020. 328 pages. A story that celebrates young people who find themselves as they come to political consciousness and commitment. Continue reading
Black Was the Ink Book — Fiction. By Michelle Coles. Illustrations by Justin Johnson. 2021. 368 pages. A powerful coming-of-age story and an eye-opening exploration of the Reconstruction era. Continue reading
Paradise on Fire Book — Fiction. By Jewell Parker Rhodes. 2021. 256 pages. A powerful coming-of-age survival tale exploring issues of race, class, and climate change. Continue reading
No Planet B: A Teen Vogue Guide to the Climate Crisis Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Lucy Diavolo. 2021. 224 pages. A small volume made up of short student-friendly readings that offer lots of teaching possibilities. Continue reading
Colin in Black and White: The Kaepernick Curriculum Teaching Guide. Presented by Ra Vision Media & Know Your Rights Camp. 2022. 85 pages. In conjunction with the Netflix series of the same name, this teaching guide provides students with resources and activities to understand and address systemic and institutional racism. Continue reading
The Young Lords: A Radical History Book — Non-fiction. By Johanna Fernández. 2020. 480 pages. Fernandez demonstrates how the Young Lords redefined the character of protest, the color of politics, and the cadence of popular urban culture in the age of great dreams. Continue reading
Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance Book — Non-fiction. By Nick Estes. 2019. 320 pages. In Our History Is the Future, Nick Estes traces traditions of Indigenous resistance that led to the #NoDAPL movement. Continue reading
Standing with Standing Rock: Voices from the #NoDAPL Movement Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Nick Estes and Jaskiran Dhillon. 2019. 448 pages. Through poetry and prose, essays, photography, interviews, and polemical interventions, the contributors, including leaders of the Standing Rock movement, reflect on Indigenous history and politics and on the movement's significance. Continue reading
The Young Crusaders: The Untold Story of the Children and Teenagers Who Galvanized the Civil Rights Movement Book — Non-fiction. By V. P. Franklin. 2021. 328 pages. This books tells the story of the hundreds of thousands of children and teenagers who engaged in sit-ins, school strikes, boycotts, marches, and demonstrations in which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other national civil rights leaders played little or no part. Continue reading
No Kids in Prison Website. NoKidsinPrison uses art to model, imagine and advocate for alternatives to youth incarceration by lifting up the voices of youth most impacted by the criminal justice system through art and culture. Continue reading
We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration Book — Non-fiction. By Frank Abe and Tamiko Nimura; illustrated by Ross Ishikawa. 2021. 160 pages. This graphic novel tells the story of Japanese American imprisonment during World War II, and the resistance and defiance that existed in these internment camps. Continue reading
More Than a Score: The New Uprising Against High-Stakes Testing Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Jesse Hagopian. 2014. 336 pages. A collection of essays, poems, speeches, and interviews from frontline fighters who are defying the corporate education reformers and fueling a national movement to reclaim and transform public education. Continue reading
“Prisons Make Us Safer”: And 20 Other Myths about Mass Incarceration Book — Non-fiction. By Victoria Law. 2021. 240 pages An accessible guide for activists, educators, and all who are interested in understanding how the prison system oppresses communities and harms individuals. Continue reading
Who Killed Reconstruction? A Trial Role Play Teaching Activity. By Adam Sanchez. 2022. Rethinking Schools A role play about the demise of Reconstruction that helps students get beyond the question “Was Reconstruction a success or failure?” Continue reading
Seizing Freedom: The Role of the Black Press Podcast episode. Seizing Freedom. 2022. Kidada E. Williams speaks with Adam Serwer about the role of the Black press in the United States. Continue reading
Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America (YA Edition) Book — Non-fiction. By Candacy Taylor. 2022. 272 pages. This book chronicles the history of the Green Book, which was published from 1936 to 1966 and was the “Black travel guide to America.” Continue reading
Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America’s Empire Book — Non-fiction. By Jonathan M. Katz. 2022. 432 pages. This book traces a path from the first wave of U.S. overseas expansionism to the rise of fascism in the 1930s to the crises of democracy in our own time. Continue reading
The Way to Freedom: Selma and the Making of a Movement Film. National Park Service. 2020. 23 minutes. Documentary about the role of young people in the voting rights movement in Alabama in the 1960s. Continue reading
Educational Reconstruction: African American Schools in the Urban South, 1865-1890 Book — Non-fiction. By Hilary Green. 2016. 272 pages. An in-depth look at postwar African American education and the gains of Reconstruction. Continue reading
The Neutral Ground Film. Directed by CJ Hunt. 2021. 82 minutes. A co-production of POV and ITVS, in association with the Center for Asian American Media. A student-friendly documentary on the fight over Confederate monuments and the Lost Cause narrative. Continue reading
Seeking Freedom: The Untold Story of Fortress Monroe and the Ending of Slavery in America Book — Non-fiction. By Selene Castrovilla. Illustrated by E. B. Lewis. 2022. 40 pages. A Civil War story about a man who seizes his freedom from slavery and teams up with a Union general to save a Union fort from the Confederates. Continue reading
People’s Historians As we celebrate Howard Zinn's centennial, we highlight people’s historians from long before and after the publication of A People's History of the United States to help place Zinn's work on a long and ongoing continuum. Continue reading
Howard Zinn on Prison Abolition Article. By Howard Zinn. Haymarket Books. 1974 Essay by Howard Zinn on prison abolition from Justice in Everyday Life: The Way It Really Works. Continue reading
Evicted!: The Struggle for the Right to Vote Picture book. By Alice Faye Duncan and illustrated by Charly Palmer. 2022. 64 pages. This critical civil rights book for middle-graders examines the little-known Tennessee's Fayette County Tent City Movement in the late 1950s and reveals what is possible when people unite and fight for the right to vote. Continue reading
Race Against Time: The Untold Story of Scipio Jones and the Battle to Save Twelve Innocent Men Book — Non-fiction. By Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace. 2021. 144 pages. Scipio Africanus Jones — a self-taught attorney who was born enslaved — leads a momentous series of court cases to save twelve Black men who'd been unjustly sentenced to death. Continue reading
Running Book — Fiction. By Natalia Sylvester. 2020. 328 pages. A story that celebrates young people who find themselves as they come to political consciousness and commitment. Continue reading
Black Was the Ink Book — Fiction. By Michelle Coles. Illustrations by Justin Johnson. 2021. 368 pages. A powerful coming-of-age story and an eye-opening exploration of the Reconstruction era. Continue reading
Paradise on Fire Book — Fiction. By Jewell Parker Rhodes. 2021. 256 pages. A powerful coming-of-age survival tale exploring issues of race, class, and climate change. Continue reading
No Planet B: A Teen Vogue Guide to the Climate Crisis Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Lucy Diavolo. 2021. 224 pages. A small volume made up of short student-friendly readings that offer lots of teaching possibilities. Continue reading
