People’s Historians Online: Mini-Classes with Jeanne Theoharis and Jesse Hagopian in April

In support of middle and high school teachers while school buildings are closed, the Zinn Education Project is hosting online people’s historians mini-classes.

The upcoming sessions, led by historian and author Jeanne Theoharis and high school teacher/Rethinking Schools editor Jesse Hagopian, are:

Friday, April 3, 10:00am PST/ 1:00pm EST: The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks. Did you know that Rosa Parks was an activist for many years prior to the Montgomery Bus Boycott (MBB), went to the Highlander Folk School, and dedicated decades of her life challenging racism in the North after the MBB? Join us for a conversation about Parks’ rebellious life.

Friday, April 10, 11:00am PST/ 2:00pm EST: Teenagers in the Civil Rights Movement. Did you know that teenagers played leading roles in the Civil Rights Movement, at times against the objections of many adults in their lives? Join a conversation on the role of young people in the Civil Rights Movement, from the teenagers desegregating Montgomery’s buses to the student sit-ins to the high school walkouts of the 1960s.

Friday, April 17, 11:00am PST/ 2:00pm EST: The Civil Rights Movement in the North. Did you know that the biggest civil rights demonstration of the 1960s happened in New York City? Did you know that at the same time people were pressing for desegregation in Montgomery and Birmingham, they were doing so in Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and Boston? Join us for a conversation on the Civil Rights Movement outside the South.

The pilot “People’s Historians Online” session also featured Theoharis and Hagopian, on March 27 on “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks.”

Jeanne Theoharis is a distinguished professor at Brooklyn College. She is the author or co-author of nine books and numerous articles on the Civil Rights and Black Power movements and the politics of race and education. Her books include the award-winning titles The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks and A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History.

Jesse Hagopian teaches Ethnic Studies and is the co-adviser to the Black Student Union at Garfield High School in Seattle. He is an editor for Rethinking Schoolsthe co-editor of Teaching for Black Lives, and editor of More Than a Score: The New Uprising Against High-Stakes Testing.

The response to the pilot session was so enthusiastic that it led us to add three additional sessions.

The session format is as follows:

  • Presentation by Jeanne Theoharis in conversation with Jesse Hagopian.
  • Small group conversations by participants (using Zoom breakout rooms) with time to discuss insights from the talk and approaches to teaching.
  • Facilitators respond to questions with the full group and share teaching resources.
  • Evaluation by participants.

Participants will need access to Zoom (on computer or phone). Register below. A day before the session, you will receive a confirmation, the Zoom link (with a password), and an optional pre-reading. Register below:

Register (Button) | Zinn Education Project

Questions? Write to zep@zinnedproject.org

Please consider making a donation so that we can continue to offer people’s history lessons, resources, workshops — and now online mini-classes — for free to K-12 teachers and students. We receive no corporate support and depend on individuals like you.

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