She Came to Slay: The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman Book — Non-fiction. By Erica Armstrong Dunbar. 2019. 176 pages. This book blends traditional biography with illustrations, photos, and engaging sidebars that illuminate the life of Harriet Tubman. Continue reading
How to Survive a Plague Film. Directed by David France. Public Square Films. 2012. 109 minutes. This documentary is about the early years of the AIDS epidemic, and the grassroots movement of activists, many of them in a life-or-death struggle, who seized upon scientific research to help develop the drugs that turned HIV from a mostly fatal infection to a manageable disease. Continue reading
The Rebellious Lives of Mrs. Rosa Parks Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. In this mixer lesson, students learn about Rosa Parks' many decades of activism by taking on roles from various times in her life. In this way, students learn about her radicalism before, during, and long after the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Continue reading
Films with a Conscience Article. The films listed below are ones that can help students gain insights into how the world works. Many of these also alert students to how individuals and social movements have tried to make life better. Continue reading
The Good Doctors: The Medical Committee for Human Rights and the Struggle for Social Justice in Health Care Book – Non-fiction. By John Dittmer. 2017. 344 pages. This book explores the history of SNCC's Medical Committee for Human Rights, which was founded in 1964 to care for civil rights activists and later worked to make healthcare more accessible for disenfranchised communities. Continue reading
Stolen Justice: The Struggle for African American Voting Rights Book — Non-fiction. By Lawrence Goldstone. 2020. 288 pp. This young adult book documents the long and ongoing struggle for voting rights for African Americans. Continue reading
Unpunished Murder: Massacre at Colfax and the Quest for Justice Book – Non-fiction. By Lawrence Goldstone. 2018. 288 pages. This young adult book provides students with the history of the 1873 massacre of unarmed African Americans in Colfax, Louisiana and the subsequent Supreme Court Case. Continue reading
The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords Film. Directed and produced by Stanley Nelson. 1999. 83 min. This documentary chronicles 150 years of Black journalists, printers, and Black-owned newspapers in the United States. Continue reading
At the River I Stand Film. Directed by David Appleby, Allison Graham, and Steven Ross. 1993. 58 min. Documentary film on the African American sanitation workers' 1968 fight for human dignity and a living wage in Memphis. Continue reading
Texas Freedom Colonies Project Atlas & Study Digital Collection. This digital mapping project documents historic Black settlements, called "freedom colonies," founded across Texas from 1866-1930. Continue reading
Teaching About Rosa Parks Resources referenced during the "People’s Historians Online for Middle and High School" mini-classes about Rosa Parks in March and April of 2020. Continue reading
How History Got the Rosa Parks Story Wrong Article. By Jeanne Theoharis. The Washington Post. 2015. The radical life history of Rosa Parks, before and after the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Continue reading
Glory Film. Directed by Edward Zwick. 1989. 122 minutes. The all-Black 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment is brought to the screen in this star-studded Civil War film. Continue reading
Battle of Algiers Film. Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo. 1966. 123 minutes. This film documents the armed insurgency against the French colonial powers in Algiers, showing the brutality and desperation of war. Continue reading
Triangle Fire (Film) Film. Written by Mark Zwonitzer and Directed by Jamila Wignot. 2018. 52 minutes. After a tragic workplace accident, the private industry of the American factory would never be the same. Continue reading
Rabbit-Proof Fence Film. Directed by Phillip Noyce. 2002. 79 minutes. In 1931, three aboriginal girls escape after being plucked from their homes to be trained as domestic staff and set off on a journey across the Outback. Continue reading
Rad American History A-Z: Movements and Moments That Demonstrate the Power of the People Book - Non-fiction. By Kate Schatz and illustrated by Miriam Klein Stahl. Ten Speed Press. 176 pp. 2020. Paired with dynamic paper-cut art, readers explore several centuries of U.S. politics, culture, art, activism, and liberation. Continue reading
One Person, No Vote (YA edition): How Not All Voters Are Treated Equally Book - Non-fiction. By Carol Anderson with Tonya Bolden. 2019. 288 pp. A young readers edition of Anderson's voter suppression analysis and history, One Person, No Vote. Continue reading
Necessity: Oil, Water, and Climate Resistance Film. Directed by Jan Haaken and Samantha Praus. Work in Progress. 58 minutes. Pilot for a series on direct action for the climate, the film explores the work of attorneys, valve turners, and other water protectors in Minnesota. Continue reading
40 Acres and a Mule: Role-Playing What Reconstruction Could Have Been Teaching Activity. By Adam Sanchez. Rethinking Schools, 2020. This multimedia, creative role play introduces students to the ways African American life changed immediately after the Civil War by focusing on the Sea Islands before and during Reconstruction. Continue reading
The Land That Never Has Been Yet Podcast. Produced by John Biewen with co-host Chenjerai Kumanyika. 2020. Center for Documentary Studies. This twelve-part series tells a story of the United States from its beginnings up to the present that questions the traditional narrative about democracy as a foundational value. Continue reading
One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy Book - Non-fiction. By Carol Anderson. 2018. 368 pages. This history of voter suppression highlights the aftermath and challenges to the 2013 Supreme Court ruling that gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Continue reading
Who Gets to Vote? Teaching About the Struggle for Voting Rights in the United States Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. 2020. Unit with three lessons on voting rights, including the history of the struggle against voter suppression in the United States. Continue reading
Passionate Declarations: Essays on War and Justice Book - Non-fiction. By Howard Zinn. 2003. 368 pages. A selection of passionate, honest, and piercing essays looking at political ideology in the United States. Continue reading
She Came to Slay: The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman Book — Non-fiction. By Erica Armstrong Dunbar. 2019. 176 pages. This book blends traditional biography with illustrations, photos, and engaging sidebars that illuminate the life of Harriet Tubman. Continue reading
How to Survive a Plague Film. Directed by David France. Public Square Films. 2012. 109 minutes. This documentary is about the early years of the AIDS epidemic, and the grassroots movement of activists, many of them in a life-or-death struggle, who seized upon scientific research to help develop the drugs that turned HIV from a mostly fatal infection to a manageable disease. Continue reading
The Rebellious Lives of Mrs. Rosa Parks Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. In this mixer lesson, students learn about Rosa Parks' many decades of activism by taking on roles from various times in her life. In this way, students learn about her radicalism before, during, and long after the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Continue reading
Films with a Conscience Article. The films listed below are ones that can help students gain insights into how the world works. Many of these also alert students to how individuals and social movements have tried to make life better. Continue reading
The Good Doctors: The Medical Committee for Human Rights and the Struggle for Social Justice in Health Care Book – Non-fiction. By John Dittmer. 2017. 344 pages. This book explores the history of SNCC's Medical Committee for Human Rights, which was founded in 1964 to care for civil rights activists and later worked to make healthcare more accessible for disenfranchised communities. Continue reading
Stolen Justice: The Struggle for African American Voting Rights Book — Non-fiction. By Lawrence Goldstone. 2020. 288 pp. This young adult book documents the long and ongoing struggle for voting rights for African Americans. Continue reading
Unpunished Murder: Massacre at Colfax and the Quest for Justice Book – Non-fiction. By Lawrence Goldstone. 2018. 288 pages. This young adult book provides students with the history of the 1873 massacre of unarmed African Americans in Colfax, Louisiana and the subsequent Supreme Court Case. Continue reading
The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords Film. Directed and produced by Stanley Nelson. 1999. 83 min. This documentary chronicles 150 years of Black journalists, printers, and Black-owned newspapers in the United States. Continue reading
At the River I Stand Film. Directed by David Appleby, Allison Graham, and Steven Ross. 1993. 58 min. Documentary film on the African American sanitation workers' 1968 fight for human dignity and a living wage in Memphis. Continue reading
Texas Freedom Colonies Project Atlas & Study Digital Collection. This digital mapping project documents historic Black settlements, called "freedom colonies," founded across Texas from 1866-1930. Continue reading
Teaching About Rosa Parks Resources referenced during the "People’s Historians Online for Middle and High School" mini-classes about Rosa Parks in March and April of 2020. Continue reading
How History Got the Rosa Parks Story Wrong Article. By Jeanne Theoharis. The Washington Post. 2015. The radical life history of Rosa Parks, before and after the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Continue reading
Glory Film. Directed by Edward Zwick. 1989. 122 minutes. The all-Black 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment is brought to the screen in this star-studded Civil War film. Continue reading
Battle of Algiers Film. Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo. 1966. 123 minutes. This film documents the armed insurgency against the French colonial powers in Algiers, showing the brutality and desperation of war. Continue reading
Triangle Fire (Film) Film. Written by Mark Zwonitzer and Directed by Jamila Wignot. 2018. 52 minutes. After a tragic workplace accident, the private industry of the American factory would never be the same. Continue reading
Rabbit-Proof Fence Film. Directed by Phillip Noyce. 2002. 79 minutes. In 1931, three aboriginal girls escape after being plucked from their homes to be trained as domestic staff and set off on a journey across the Outback. Continue reading
Rad American History A-Z: Movements and Moments That Demonstrate the Power of the People Book - Non-fiction. By Kate Schatz and illustrated by Miriam Klein Stahl. Ten Speed Press. 176 pp. 2020. Paired with dynamic paper-cut art, readers explore several centuries of U.S. politics, culture, art, activism, and liberation. Continue reading
One Person, No Vote (YA edition): How Not All Voters Are Treated Equally Book - Non-fiction. By Carol Anderson with Tonya Bolden. 2019. 288 pp. A young readers edition of Anderson's voter suppression analysis and history, One Person, No Vote. Continue reading
Necessity: Oil, Water, and Climate Resistance Film. Directed by Jan Haaken and Samantha Praus. Work in Progress. 58 minutes. Pilot for a series on direct action for the climate, the film explores the work of attorneys, valve turners, and other water protectors in Minnesota. Continue reading
40 Acres and a Mule: Role-Playing What Reconstruction Could Have Been Teaching Activity. By Adam Sanchez. Rethinking Schools, 2020. This multimedia, creative role play introduces students to the ways African American life changed immediately after the Civil War by focusing on the Sea Islands before and during Reconstruction. Continue reading
The Land That Never Has Been Yet Podcast. Produced by John Biewen with co-host Chenjerai Kumanyika. 2020. Center for Documentary Studies. This twelve-part series tells a story of the United States from its beginnings up to the present that questions the traditional narrative about democracy as a foundational value. Continue reading
One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy Book - Non-fiction. By Carol Anderson. 2018. 368 pages. This history of voter suppression highlights the aftermath and challenges to the 2013 Supreme Court ruling that gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Continue reading
Who Gets to Vote? Teaching About the Struggle for Voting Rights in the United States Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. 2020. Unit with three lessons on voting rights, including the history of the struggle against voter suppression in the United States. Continue reading
Passionate Declarations: Essays on War and Justice Book - Non-fiction. By Howard Zinn. 2003. 368 pages. A selection of passionate, honest, and piercing essays looking at political ideology in the United States. Continue reading
