News - Zinn Education Project

Teach Truth Day of Action 2024 Map

In this election year, educators and allies are planning creative Teach Truth Day of Action events all over the country.

"Running the Negro out of Tulsa" | Zinn Education Project

Teaching the Tulsa Massacre

We feature lessons, articles, and other resources to teach about the Tulsa Massacre and the ongoing struggle against institutionalized racism.

Teach Truth Day of Action Press Call

The Zinn Education Project, in conjunction with more than 65 prominent racial and social justice organizations, will hold a national press call on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, to discuss the growing chorus of diverse voices speaking out against politicians and their far-right supporters’ attempts to attack students’ freedom to learn and educators’ freedom to teach. To view full list of the sponsoring organizations, click here.

Racism and Resistance in the North During the Civil Rights Movement

On June 10, 2024, scholar Brian Jones will shed light on the history of the Civil Rights Movement in the North and ways that those stories can be included in the curriculum. This session is part of the Zinn Education Project’s Teach the Black Freedom Struggle online people’s history series.

Teach Truth Day of Action 2024

We invite educators, students, parents, and community members to host an information table or an event at a historic site to defend the freedom to learn and LGBTQ+ rights on June 8, 2024.

Memorial Day, originally published in the New York Times. Used here with permission of the artist Owen Freeman.

People’s History of Memorial Day

On this Memorial Day weekend, we feature two articles: one about the early origins of the holiday, led by African Americans in Charleston, South Carolina after the Civil War, and the second by Howard Zinn urging us to "destroy the weapons of death that . . . threaten our children and grandchildren."

SNCC & Grassroots Organizing: A Black Power Roundtable Discussion

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee veterans Courtland Cox and Jennifer Lawson, and humanities scholars Catherine Adams and Hasan Kwame Jeffries, sat down for a Black Power roundtable discussion.

Reparations and Climate Justice

Philosopher Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò joined Cierra Kaler-Jones and Jesse Hagopian to discuss his book, Reconsidering Reparations. This session was part of the Zinn Education Project’s Teach the Black Freedom Struggle online people’s history series.

Students Defend Human Rights

Throughout U.S. history, young people have protested to demand justice in the United States and around the world. Each time, they face violence from police and vilification by the corporate media.

Urgent Call: Get Out the Vote for School Board Elections

The upcoming school board elections require our urgent attention.

Commemorate International Workers’ Day

This International Workers’ Day — May 1st — comes in the midst of union victories — and ongoing challenges for frontline workers and teachers.

Outside Agitators

“Outside agitators” is a trope used throughout history in response to slave resistance, Reconstruction, the labor movement, the anti-apartheid movement, the Civil Rights Movement, and more to dismiss and repress the legitimate agency, intellect, and concerns of local people.

Teaching About Haiti

Seldom do we see Haiti in the news without the word “crisis.” It is important for young people to learn about the roots of the crisis and the long history of resistance.

Teaching for Black Lives study group photos from participants across the U.S.

Teaching for Black Lives Study Groups

The Zinn Education Project hosts Teaching for Black Lives study groups each year. Applications are open now for the 2024-2025 school year.

Teach Banned History Buttons

Wear Teach Banned History buttons to prompt conversations everywhere about the need to actively oppose book bans, teach truthfully, and defend LGBTQ+ rights.

Black Patience: Performance, Civil Rights, and the Unfinished Project of Emancipation

Historian Julius B. Fleming Jr. joined educator Jessica Rucker to discuss his book, Black Patience: Performance, Civil Rights, and the Unfinished Project of Emancipation. This session was part of the Zinn Education Project’s Teach the Black Freedom Struggle online people’s history series.

Teach Truth Day of Action at Bookstores and Libraries

For this 4th annual Teach Truth Day of Action, we are offering a pop-up display so event hosts can set up an information table at a public space such as a bookstore, library, or farmers' market.

C. J. Prentiss ¡Presente!: A Path Maker for Justice

Inspirational Ohio organizer and political leader C. J. Prentiss died on April 2, 2024.

A mural on Whiterock Road in Belfast commemorating the Irish famine. The mural reads "Britain's genocide by starvation. Ireland's holocaust, 1845-1849. Over 1,500,000 deaths."

Teaching About Famine and Irish History on St. Patrick’s Day

Too often, textbooks present famines as natural phenomena. They are not. As Gaza moves closer toward famine, it is not hard to see its causes.

Health and Healthcare

On the four-year anniversary of the declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic, we offer resources for teaching about health and healthcare.

Dorie Ladner, ¡Presente!

Mississippi-born SNCC veteran and lifelong activist Dorie Ladner died on March 11, in Washington, D.C.

Teaching the Seeds of Violence in Palestine-Israel — A New Lesson

We owe it to our students — and to the people of Gaza — to explore in our classrooms the history of violence that continues in Palestine-Israel. Check out the new mixer/mystery activity on Zionism, anti-Zionism, peasant resistance, the Great War, the British Mandate, and find more teaching resources on Palestine-Israel.