19th Century Archives

Rethinking Cinco de Mayo

By Sudie Hofmann

I recently came across a flier in an old backpack of my daughter’s: Wanted: Committee Chairs for this Spring’s Cinco de Mayo All School Celebration. The flier was replete with cultural props including a sombrero, cactus tree, donkey, taco, maracas, and chili peppers. Seeing this again brought back the moment when, years earlier, my daughter had handed the flier to me, and I’d thought, “Oh, no.” The local K-6 elementary school’s Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) was sponsoring a stereotypical Mexican American event. There were no Chicana/o students, parents, or staff members who I was aware of in the school community and I was concerned about the event’s authenticity. I presumed the PTSA meant well, and was attempting to provide a multicultural experience for students and families, but it seemed they were likely to get it wrong.

‘Repeat After Me: The United States Is Not an Imperialist Country — Oh, and Don’t Get Emotional About War’

By Bill Bigelow

You may have seen that an administrative law judge in Arizona, Lewis Kowal, just upheld the decree by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction that Tucson’s Mexican American Studies program violates state law. Judge Kowal found that the Tucson program was teaching Latino history and culture “in a biased, political, and emotionally charged manner.” According to CNN, one lesson that the judge objected to taught that the historic treatment of Mexican Americans was “marked by the use of force, fraud and exploitation.”

Try this “history detective” experiment. Ask the next person you encounter to tell you what they know about the U.S. war with Mexico. More than likely, this will be a short conversation, because that war (1846-48) merits barely a footnote in U.S. history textbooks.

Poster for an event in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1849, to commemorate the end of slavery in the British West Indies.

Aug. 1, 1834: Britain Passes Slavery Abolition Act

August First Day became a symbol of hope for enslaved people and abolitionists in the United States when Britain passed the Slavery Abolition Act in 1834, abolishing slavery throughout its colonies around the world.

How We Remember: The Struggle Over Slavery in Public Spaces

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow, Jesse Hagopian, Cierra Kaler-Jones, Ana Rosado, and Ursula Wolfe-Rocca.
Students read about sites of memory in How the Word Is Passed and imagine how to commemorate what occurred there. They then compare that to how the respective site is currently commemorated and described by docents.

Lives in Our Lineage: A Lesson on Oral Histories

Teaching Activity. By Cierra Kaler-Jones.
In this lesson, students use key excerpts from How the Word Is Passed by Clint Smith as inspiration for a project where they tell their and their loved ones’ stories.

The Birchbark House

Book — Fiction. By Louise Erdrich. 1999. 244 pages.
Historical fiction set in the mid-19th century in the Lake Superior area.

The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader: The “Great Truth” about the “Lost Cause”

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by James W. Loewen and Edward H. Sebesta. 2010. 484 pages.
Primary documents on the causes of the Civil War.

House of Purple Cedar

Book — Fiction. By Tim Tingle. 2014. 326 pages.
A young girl's story of growing up in Indian Territory in pre-statehood Oklahoma.

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Five Myths About Reconstruction

Article. By James W. Loewen. 2015.
Overview of five common fallacies that Americans still tell themselves about the Reconstruction era.

Aug. 21, 1831: Nat Turner Launches Rebellion

Nathaniel Turner launched one of the most historic revolts to end enslavement.

The Women Who Caught the Babies: A Story of African American Midwives

Picture book. By Eloise Greenfield. Illustrated by Daniel Minter. 2019. 32 pages.
This unique picture book begins with historical background on the work of midwives and then switches to poetry to tell vignettes from lives of midwives during slavery, emancipation, and today.

How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America

Book — Non-fiction. By Clint Smith. 2021. 336 pages.
An examination of how monuments and landmarks represent — and misrepresent — the central role of slavery in U.S. history and its legacy today.

Until Justice Be Done: America’s First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction

Book — Non-fiction. By Kate Masur. 2021.
The movement for equal rights in the decades before the Civil War.

Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

Book — Non-fiction. By Brandy Colbert. 2021. 216 pages.
History of Oklahoma including Trail of Tears, Reconstruction, Black towns, Red Summer, Jim Crow, Black and white newspapers, lynchings, Tulsa Race Massacre, and the ongoing fight for reparations and historical memory.

Statue of Octavius Catto with people gathered around it

Oct. 10, 1871: Octavius Catto Killed on Election Day in Philadelphia

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Black educator, baseball player, and civil rights activist Octavius V. Catto was murdered by a white supremacist on election day.

March 12, 1890: Platform of Las Gorras Blancas Published

The populist Las Gorras Blancas published a human rights declaration.

Freedom’s Unfinished Revolution: An Inquiry Into the Civil War and Reconstruction

Teaching Guide. By American Social History Project with foreword by Eric Foner. 1996.
Primary documents, essays, and questions to teach the untold story of Reconstruction.

Oct. 25, 1868: St. Bernard Parish Massacre

The St. Bernard Parish massacre of African Americans was carried out by white men to terrorize the recently emancipated voters in Louisiana.

U.S. flag raised on October 18, 1898 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Oct. 18, 1898: U.S. Troops Raised U.S. Flag Over Puerto Rico

U.S. troops raised the U.S. flag over Puerto Rico.

Indigenous People's History Young Readers (book cover) | Zinn Education Project

An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States for Young People

Book — Non-fiction. By Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz; adapted by Debbie Reese and Jean Mendoza. 2019. 244 pages.
The original academic text is fully adapted by renowned curriculum experts Debbie Reese and Jean Mendoza, for middle-grade and young adult readers.

Presidents and Slaves: Helping Students Find the Truth (Teaching Activity) | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

Presidents and the Enslaved: Helping Students Find the Truth

Teaching Activity. By Bob Peterson. Rethinking Schools. 7 pages.
How a 5th grade teacher and his students conducted research to answer the question: “Which presidents owned people?” Available in Spanish.

The Cherokee/Seminole Removal Role Play

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. 10 pages.
What led up to the Trail of Tears? In this lesson, students learn about the decision to remove the Cherokee and Seminole people from their lands.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

Period: 19th Century

Rethinking Cinco de Mayo

‘Repeat After Me: The United States Is Not an Imperialist Country — Oh, and Don’t Get Emotional About War’

Aug. 1, 1834: Britain Passes Slavery Abolition Act

How We Remember: The Struggle Over Slavery in Public Spaces

Lives in Our Lineage: A Lesson on Oral Histories

The Birchbark House

House of Purple Cedar

Five Myths About Reconstruction

Aug. 21, 1831: Nat Turner Launches Rebellion

The Women Who Caught the Babies: A Story of African American Midwives

How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America

Until Justice Be Done: America’s First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction

Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

Oct. 10, 1871: Octavius Catto Killed on Election Day in Philadelphia

March 12, 1890: Platform of Las Gorras Blancas Published

Oct. 25, 1868: St. Bernard Parish Massacre

An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States for Young People

Presidents and the Enslaved: Helping Students Find the Truth

The Cherokee/Seminole Removal Role Play

Freedom Road

Teaching a People’s History of Abolition and the Civil War

Traveling Black: A Story of Race and Resistance

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