20th Century Archives

Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir

Book — Non-fiction and prose. Deborah A. Miranda. 2012. 240 pages.
A compilation of documents, photos, and memoir that recounts the establishment of missions in California and the impact on Indigenous people—then and today.

Teaching Activity by Deborah A. Miranda

The Voting Rights Act: Ten Things You Should Know

Article. By Emilye Crosby and Judy Richardson. 2015.
Key points in the history of the 1965 Voting Rights Act missing from most textbooks.

Teaching Activity by Emilye Crosby

Counter Histories

Digital Collection. Produced by John T. Edge and the Southern Foodways Alliance; directed by Kate Medley.
Five short films that document the civil disobedience staged at segregated lunch counters in the 1950s and 60s.

The Devil Is Here in These Hills

Book — Non-fiction. By James Green. 2015. 448 pages.
History of one of the most protracted and deadly labor struggles in U.S. history that was waged in West Virginia.

Coalition of Immokalee Workers

Profile. Overview of the farm labor organization, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, with artwork by Erin Currier.

Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer

Picture book. By Carole Boston Weatherford. Illustrated by Ekua Holmes. 2015. 45 pages.
Illustrated biography of Fannie Lou Hamer, activist for voting and economic rights from Mississippi.

This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate

Book — Non-fiction. By Naomi Klein. 2015. 576 pages.
Naomi Klein tackles the war our economic model is waging against life on earth.

Count Them One by One: Black Mississippians Fighting for the Right to Vote

Book — Non-fiction. By Gordon A. Martin Jr. 2014. 272 pages.
A detailed portrait of brave individuals who risked everything in their fight for the right to vote.

A Talk to Teachers

Article. By James Baldwin. October 16, 1963.
Baldwin addresses the challenges of education to prepare children to grapple with the myths and realities of U.S. history.

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution

Film. By Stanley Nelson. 2015. 115 minutes.
Documentary on the Black Panther Party for Self Defense.

Catonsville Nine Website | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

Catonsville Nine Files

Digital collection. Features documents, photos, and audio and video accounts about the Catonsville Nine who burned Vietnam war draft files.

The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth, & Harlem's Greatest Bookstore ( Book) | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth, and Harlem’s Greatest Bookstore

Picture book. By Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. 2015. 32 pages.
Tells the story of Lewis Michaux Sr.'s Harlem bookstore that was a center of African American history, scholarship, debate, and activism, for grades 2-5.

RoundandRound (Book) | Zinn Education Project: teaching People's History

Round and Round Together: Taking a Merry-Go-Round Ride Into the Civil Rights Movement

Book — Non-fiction. By Amy Nathan. 2011. 250 pages.
History of the decade long struggle to desegregate the Gwynn Oak Amusement Park in Baltimore, Maryland.

“All the Real Indians Died Off”: And 20 Other Myths about Native Americans

Book — Non-fiction. By Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Dina Gilio-Whitaker. 2016. 224 pages.
Deconstructs persistent myths about American Indians rooted in fear and prejudice — an astute and lively primer of European-Indian relations.

Teaching Central America

Website. An online collection of lessons, book lists, biographies of noted historical figures, and readings for free use by classroom teachers.

Blood in the Water: The Attica Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy

Book — Non-fiction. By Heather Ann Thompson. 2016. 752 pages.
The hidden history of the infamous 1971 Attica Prison Uprising.

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America

Book — Non-fiction. By Richard Rothstein. 2017. 368 pages.
A history of the laws and policy decisions passed by local, state, and federal governments that promoted racial segregation.

Teaching Activity by Richard Rothstein

Nuclear Savage: The Islands of Secret Project 4.1

Film. By Adam Jonas Horowitz. 2012. 60 and 87 minutes.
History of the U.S. government's testing of nuclear weapons and fallout on the people of the Marshall Islands.

Rad Women Worldwide (Book) | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

Rad Women Worldwide: Artists and Athletes, Pirates and Punks and Other Revolutionaries Who Shaped History

Book — Non-fiction. By Kate Schatz. Illustrated by Miriam Klein Stahl. 2016. 112 pages.
Profiles of women who fight for social justice around the world.

Somos como las nubes/We Are Like the Clouds

Picture book. By Jorge Argueta. Illustrated by Alfonso Ruano. 2016. 36 pages.
Poems written in Spanish and English address the struggles of child refugees fleeing Central America for the United States. Grade 2+.

Fannie Never Flinched (Book) | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

Fannie Never Flinched: One Woman’s Courage in the Struggle for American Labor Union Rights

Book — Non-fiction. By Mary Cronk Farrell. 2016. 56 pages.
Biography of labor union activist Fannie Sellins.

First Light

Film. By Upstander Project. 2015. 13 minutes.
Story of forced removal of Native American children in Maine sent to boarding schools.

The Era of Reconstruction, 1861-1900

Book — Non-fiction. By National Park Service. 2017. 165 pages.
A theme study on the history of the Reconstruction era.

Coretta Scott King (R) with Women Strike for Peace founder Dagmar Wilson, 1963 | Zinn Education Project

W. E. B. Du Bois to Coretta Scott King: The Untold History of the Movement to Ban the Bomb

By Vincent Intondi

When the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. announced his strong opposition to the war in Vietnam, the media attacked him for straying outside of his civil rights mandate. In so many words, powerful interests told him: “Mind your own business.” In fact, African American leaders have long been concerned with broad issues of peace and justice — and have especially opposed nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, this activism is left out of mainstream corporate-produced history textbooks.

Teaching Untold Stories During Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

By Moé Yonamine

“They’re Latinos . . . I think they’re some kind of farm workers.”

“No, they’re Asians with name tags.”

And then a student in a quiet voice walked by me slowly and muttered, “I think something really bad is happening to them.”

My students at Roosevelt High School in Portland, Oregon — one of the state’s most racially diverse schools — studied each black and white photo posted around the room, inspecting the background and the facial expressions; confused, anxious, frustrated. They began a journey to uncover the hidden story of the Japanese Latin American removal, internment, and deportation during World War II.

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