Teaching Materials Archive

The Great War: July 1, 1916: The First Day of the Battle of the Somme

Book — Non-fiction. By Joe Sacco. 2013. 54 pages.
Illustrated book depicting the horrific Battle of Somme, emblematic of a hideous war.

Angel Island: Gateway to Gold Mountain

Book — Non-fiction. By Russell Freedman. 2014. 96 pages.
An account of Angel Island, California, the entry point for one million Asian immigrants in the early 20th century.

Brazil’s Dance with the Devil: The World Cup, the Olympics, and the Fight for Democracy

Book — Non-fiction. By Dave Zirin. 2016. 276 pages.
Examines the cultural, economic, and political context and impact of the World Cup and the Olympics on Brazil.

This Little Light of Mine: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer

Book — Non-fiction. By Kay Mills. 2007. 390 pages.
First-hand accounts of Fannie Lou Hamer's emergence as a leader of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

Trampling Out the Vintage: Cesar Chavez and the Two Souls of the United Farm Workers

Book — Non-fiction. By Frank Bardacke. 2012. 848 pages.
A reappraisal of the political trajectory of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers.

The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights

Book — Non-fiction. By Steve Sheinkin. 2014. 208 pages.
The story of 50 African American sailors charged with mutiny during World War II for challenging working conditions after a deadly munitions explosion.

Agitation with a Smile: Howard Zinn’s Legacies and the Future of Activism

Book — Non-fiction. By Stephen Bird, Adam Silver, and Joshua Yesnowitz. 2014. 274 pages.
Engage the various complexities and tensions present throughout Howard Zinn's work and subject them to a 21st century assessment.

Voices From the Plain of Jars: Life Under an Air War

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Fred Branfman. 2013 (original edition, 1972). 196 pages.
Essays, drawings, and poems by Laotian villagers who survived almost 10 years of widespread, persistent, and devastating bombing during the Vietnam War in a covert operation in Laos.

Yes! We Are Latinos!

Book — Non-fiction. By Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy. Pictures by David Diaz. 2013. 96 pages.
Book that features the rich diversity of the Latino and Latina experience in the United States.

The Right to Stay Home: How U.S. Policy Drives Mexican Migration

Book — Non-fiction. By David Bacon. 2013. 328 pages.
The story of the growing resistance of Mexican communities to the poverty that forces people to migrate to the United States.

The Long Haul: An Autobiography

Book — Non-fiction. By Myles Horton with Herbert R. Kohl and Judith Kohl. 1997. 167 pages.
History of the role the Highlander Folk School played in the labor and Civil Rights Movements.

Ruth First and Joe Slovo in the War Against Apartheid

Book — Non-fiction. By Alan Weider. Foreword by Nadine Gordimer. 2013. 464 pages.
Comprehensive biography of South African freedom fighters Ruth First and Joe Slovo.

A People’s History of the United States, Abridged Edition

Book — Non-fiction. By Howard Zinn, Kathy Emery, and Ellen Reeves. 2003.
Howard Zinn's original text, abridged for high school students.

Madiba A to Z: The Many Faces of Nelson Mandela

Book — Non-fiction. Danny Schechter. 2013. 272 pages.
Companion book to the 2013 film about Nelson Mandela, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.

The Cruel Years: American Voices at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by William Loren Katz and Laurie R. Lehman. 2003. 304 pages.
First-person narratives in the context of their times and within the larger picture of U.S. growth and development.

Columbus: His Enterprise: Exploding the Myth

Book — Non-fiction. By Hans Koning. Afterword by Bill Bigelow. 1976. 141 pages.
A biography that gives a true account of Columbus’ life and voyages.

Shocking the Conscience: A Reporter’s Account of the Civil Rights Movement

Book — Non-fiction. By Simeon Booker with Carol McCabe Booker. 2013. 334 pages.
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.