- Zinn Education Project

A photograph of Black Panther children in a classroom with their teacher, Evon Carter, widow of Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter, at the Intercommunal Youth Institute, the Black Panther Party school.

‘What We Want, What We Believe’: Teaching with the Black Panthers’ 10-Point Program

Teaching Activity. By Wayne Au. Rethinking Schools. 7 pages.
How students can use the Black Panther Party's 10-Point Program to assess issues in their own communities and to develop 10-Point Programs of their own. Available in Spanish.

Teaching Activity by Wayne Au

Salt of the Earth: Grounds Students in Hope

Teaching Activity. By S. J. Childs. Rethinking Schools. 6 pages.
The author describes how she introduces students to the classic 1953 film, Salt of the Earth, about a miners’ strike in New Mexico.

Panama, the 1991 Gulf War, and the War at Home

Teaching Activity. By Robert Standish.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 22 of Voices of a People’s History of the United States on Panama, the 1991 Gulf War, and the War on the Poor in the United States.

Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat

Picture book. Edited by Nikki Giovanni. 2008, with CD. 80 pages.
A celebration of poetry with a beat. Includes CD with selected recordings of poems and historical background.

Bread and Roses, Too

Book — Fiction. By Katherine Paterson. 2006. 275 pages.
Moving young adult historical-fiction novel based on a major strike in Lawrence, Mass., in 1912.

A Thousand Never Evers

Book — Fiction. By Shana Burg. 2008. 320 pages.
Set in 1963 Mississippi, this historical fiction introduces middle/high school readers to the life at that time through the experiences of a 12-year-old.

The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow

Film. 2002. 4 episodes — 56 minutes each.
Documentary on the history of the Jim Crow era.

School Days: Hail, Hail, Rock ‘n’ Roll!

Teaching Activity. By Rick Mitchell. Rethinking Schools. 10 pages.
Description of a course on the history of music in the United States.

Race and Membership in American History: The Eugenics Movement

Teaching Guide. 2020. By Alan Stoskopf. Facing History and Ourselves. 374 pages.
Resources for teaching about the eugenics movement in the United States.

Testing, Tracking, and Toeing the Line: A Role Play on the Origins of the Modern High School

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. Rethinking Schools. 13 pages.
A role play on the origins of the modern high school allows students to question aspects of schooling they often take for granted, such as tracking (“ability grouping”) and standardized testing — and to reflect on the racial biases of these so-called reforms.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

Daughter of Earth: Reading, Writing, and Social Class

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. 7 pages.
Students read a poignant excerpt from Agnes Smedley's novel, Daughter of Earth, and use it to think and write about how schooling—their own included—teaches lessons about social class.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

The Meaning of Sacco and Vanzetti

Audio. By Howard Zinn. 2008. 35 minutes.
A lecture by Howard Zinn on "The Meaning of Sacco and Vanzetti" at the Dante Alighieri Society Italian Cultural Center.

Lawrence, 1912: The Singing Strike

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow and Norm Diamond.
Role play on the 1912 Bread and Roses strike in Lawrence, Mass.

Teaching Activity by Norm Diamond

The Line Between Us (Book) | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

The Line Between Us: Teaching About the Border and Mexican Immigration

Teaching Guide. By Bill Bigelow. 2006. 160 pages. Rethinking Schools.
Lessons for teaching about the history of U.S.–Mexico relations and current border and immigration issues.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

Mighty Times: The Children’s March

Film. By Hudson and Houston. Learning for Justice. 2005. 40 minutes.
This Academy Award-winning documentary film tells the heroic story of the young people in Birmingham, Alabama, who brought segregation to its knees.

Scarred Justice: The Orangeburg Massacre 1968

Film. Produced by Judy Richardson and Bestor Cram. 2009. 57 minutes.
A documentary film that brings to light the story of the attack by state police on a demonstration in Orangeburg, South Carolina -- leaving three students killed and 28 injured.

Barefoot Gen: The Bombing of Hiroshima As Seen Through the Eyes of a Young Boy

Film. By Geneon; directed by Mori Masaki. 1992. 170 minutes.
A story about the devastating effects of war on everyday life.

February One

Film. Produced by Dr. Steven Channing. 2004. 61 minutes.
The story surrounding the 1960 Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins.

Standing on My Sisters’ Shoulders

Film. By Joan Sadoff, Robert Sadoff, and Laura Lipson. 2002. 60 minutes.
Documentary film on women in the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi.

Teaching About the Montgomery Bus Boycott

Film. By Teaching for Change. 2006. 15 minutes.
First grade teacher Maggie Donovan (SNCC veteran) introduces her students to the fight to desegregate the buses, placing Rosa Parks in the context of the larger community efforts.

National Visionary Leadership Project

Digital collection. Oral history interviews with hundreds of Africans Americans of note.

Haiku and Hiroshima: Teaching About the Atomic Bomb

Teaching Activity. By Wayne Au. Rethinking Schools. 3 pages.
Lesson for high school students on the bombing of Hiroshima using the film Barefoot Gen and haiku.

A Hubert Harrison Reader

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Jeffrey B. Perry. 2001. 505 pages.
Essays by the "father of Harlem radicalism."

Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott

Book — Non-fiction. By Russell Freedman. 2006. 114 pages.
Written for middle school, the grassroots history of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Pump Up the Blowouts: Reflections on the 40th Anniversary of the Chicano/a School Blowouts

Teaching Activity. By Gilda L. Ochoa. Rethinking Schools. 5 pages.
Reflections on teaching students about the 1968 walkouts by Chicano students in California.

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