April 16, 1862: Compensated Emancipation Act

The Zinn Education Project has produced a series of lessons and a collection of discussion questions for How the Word Is Passed by Clint Smith to help teachers introduce the central role of slavery in U.S. history classes across the country.

Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca, Alex Stegner, Chris Buehler, Angela DiPasquale, and Tom McKenna.
Students meet dozens of advocates and recipients of reparations from a variety of historical eras to grapple with the possibility of reparations now and in the future.

Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca.
In this activity, students take on the role of activist-experts to improve upon a Congressional bill for reparations for Black people. They talk back to Congress’ flimsy legislation and design a more robust alternative.

Article. By Clarence Lusane.  If We Knew Our History Series.
Textbooks erase enslaved African Americans from the White House and the presidency and present a false portrait of our country’s history.

The Zinn Education Project produced a national report on the teaching of the Reconstruction era. The report examines state standards, course requirements, frameworks, and support for teachers in each state. It also includes stories about creative efforts by districts and/or individual teachers in each state to teach outside the textbook about Reconstruction.

Teaching Guide. Edited by Adam Sanchez. 2019. Rethinking Schools. 181 pages.
Students will discover the real abolition story, one about some of the most significant grassroots social movements in U.S. history.

Book — Non-fiction. By Clarence Lusane. 2010. 544 pages.
The untold story of African Americans in the White House from the 18th century to the present, including the presidents who held people in bondage.

David Walker published An Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World, one of the most important documents of the 19th century.

Seventy-seven enslaved people attempted to flee Washington, D.C. by sailing away on a schooner called the Pearl.

African Americans across the United States, free and enslaved, in the North and South, held watch meetings for the abolition of slavery.

The Emancipation Proclamation took effect in 1863. Who did it “emancipate”? And who gets credited?

Demands by Black ministers after the Ebenezer Creek Massacre led to the short-lived land distribution during Reconstruction known as Special Field Order No. 15.

Juneteenth — June 19th, also known as Emancipation Day — Juneteenth — is one of the many commemorations of people seizing their freedom in the United States.

The Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty, and Pension Association was founded with a dual mission to organize mutual aid for its members and to pass federal pension legislation that would compensate every formerly enslaved person.