20th Century Archives

Pentagon Papers collage | Zinn Education Project

Camouflaging the Vietnam War: How Textbooks Continue to Keep the Pentagon Papers a Secret

Article. By Bill Bigelow. 2013. If We Knew Our History Series. While new U.S. history textbooks mention the Pentagon Papers, none grapples with the actual import of the Pentagon Papers.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

Bread and Roses Strike of 1912 Exhibition

Digital collection. Digital photo collection of the Bread and Roses Strike of 1912.

James Baldwin

Profile. A brief biography of James Baldwin, writer and social critic.

Child of the Civil Rights Movement

Picture book. By Paula Young Shelton and illustrated by Raul Colon. 2009. 48 pages.
A child’s unique perspective on the Civil Rights Movement by the daughter of Civil Rights activist Andrew Young.

The March on Washington: Jobs, Freedom, and the Forgotten History of Civil Rights

Book — Non-fiction. By William P. Jones. 2013. 296 pages.
A vital text on the hidden history and significance of the March on Washington.

Teaching Activity by William P. Jones

Lawrence and the 1912 Bread and Roses Strike

Book — Non-fiction. By Robert Forrant and Susan Grabski. 2013. 128 pages.
Images, documents, and quotes tell the story of the 1912 landmark strike.

Shocking the Conscience: A Reporter’s Account of the Civil Rights Movement

Book — Non-fiction. By Simeon Booker with Carol McCabe Booker. 2013. 334 pages.
Chronicle by Simeon Booker, the first full-time African American reporter for the Washington Post and Jet magazine's White House correspondent, covering half a century of major events that transformed the United States.

Teaching Activity by Simeon Booker with Carol McCabe Booker

Letter to the Editor by Clyde Kennard, The American, 1958

Article. By Clyde Kennard. 1958.
Letter to the editor of the Hattiesburg American on integration.

Noam Chomsky

Profile. Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is a political activist, professor, linguist, and author.

The Cruel Years: American Voices at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by William Loren Katz and Laurie R. Lehman. 2003. 304 pages.
First-person narratives in the context of their times and within the larger picture of U.S. growth and development.

Teaching Activity by William Loren Katz

Clyde Kennard Letter to the Editor, The American, 1960

Article. By Clyde Kennard. 1960.
Letter to the editor of Hattiesburg American on school integration.

The 1934 West Coast Longshore Strike

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow and Norm Diamond. 20 pages.
Students “become” several of the social groups who participated in the 1934 Longshore Workers Strike — some of whom had to answer the question, “Which side are you on?”

Teaching Activity by Norm Diamond

Rethinking What We Know About the Vietnam War

Teaching Activity. Zinn Education Project. 21 pages.
Two lessons to introduce key facts about the Vietnam War and the Pentagon Papers, documents that provide essential history that is often ignored by textbooks.

The Real Bread and Roses Strike Story Missing from Textbooks

Article. By Robert Forrant. 2013.
The author challenges the common myth that the Bread and Roses Strike was spontaneous.

Oh Freedom After While: The Missouri Sharecropper Protest of 1939

Film. Directed Steven John Ross and written by Candace O'Connor. 1999. 56 minutes.
Archival footage, photographs, and first-hand accounts of sharecroppers — Black and white — organizing in Missouri.

Madiba A to Z: The Many Faces of Nelson Mandela

Book — Non-fiction. Danny Schechter. 2013. 272 pages.
Companion book to the 2013 film about Nelson Mandela, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.

Witness to Apartheid: A Teaching Guide

Teaching Guide. By Bill Bigelow. 1987. 24 pages.
Lessons and activities that accompany the 1986 film Witness to Apartheid.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

Sun City – A Teaching Guide

Teaching Guide. By Bill Bigelow. 6 pages.
Lessons to accompany the 1985 video "Sun City" that promoted the cultural boycott of South Africa initiated by Little Steven van Zandt of Bruce Springsteen’s E St. Band.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow