20th Century Archives

Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore

Book — Non-fiction. By Elizabeth Rush. 2019. 328 pages.
A book about the impact of climate change on U.S. communities and societies that privileges the voices of those too often kept at the margins.

1919, The Year of Racial Violence White Rage (Book Cover) | Zinn Education Project

1919, The Year of Racial Violence: How African Americans Fought Back

Book — Non-fiction. By David F. Krugler. 2015.
This book details the wave of racist violence that swept the United States in 1919, through the lens of Black armed resistance and freedom struggle.

White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide

Book — Non-fiction. By Carol Anderson. 2016.
An era-by-era account of how the policies and practices of white supremacy have morphed over time while maintaining the singular goal of undermining Black advancement.

Jetnil Kiiner Student Mural (Art by Jocelyn Ng and Aravapo Leo) | Zinn Education Project

Climate Change, Gender, and Nuclear Bombs

Article. By Bill Bigelow. Rethinking Schools, Spring 2018.
Gender is one of the crucial variables determining how the climate crisis affects us.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

Climate Change (Art by Michael Duffy) | Zinn Education Project

Teaching the Truth About Climate Change Is Up to Us, Because Textbooks Lie

Article. By Bill Bigelow. Rethinking Schools, Spring 2018.
Every single one of the texts adopted in Portland, known for being green and liberal, misleads young people about the climate crisis.

Classroom filling with water | Zinn Education Project

Teaching About Climate Change

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. 2009. Rethinking Schools.
The environmental crisis requires a profound social and curricular rethinking.

You got to move (cover art) | Zinn Education Project

You Got to Move: Stories of Change in the South

Film. Directed by Lucy Massie Phenix and Veronica Selver. 1985. 86 minutes.
Documentary about people who learned to organize, and received peer support, at the Highlander Center.

An Unreasonable Woman: A True Story of Shrimpers, Politicos, Polluters, and the Fight for Seadrift, Texas

Book — Non-fiction. By Diane Wilson. 2006. 392 pages.
Shrimp-boat captain Diane Wilson takes on corporate greed and political corruption in a true story about environmental activism on the Texas Gulf Coast.

The Water Will Come by Jeff Goodell Book cover

The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World

Book — Non-fiction. By Jeff Goodell. 2018. 352 pages.
Early 21st century societies scramble to fight rising seas and science journalist Jeff Goodell predicts what will happen if (and when) we fail.

Segregated by Design

Film. Directed by Mark Lopez. Written by Mark Lopez and Richard Rothstein. 2019. 18 minutes.
An animated documentary of how the federal, state and local governments unconstitutionally segregated every major metropolitan area in the U.S. through law and policy.

Counting Descent

Book — Non-fiction. By Clint Smith. 2016. 84 pages.
A teacher and scholar celebrates Black humanity, and guides readers toward self-reflection through his coming-of-age poems that are political, historical, and deeply personal.

The Untold History of the United States: Young Readers Editions, Vols 1 (1898-1945) & 2 (1945-1962)

Book — Non-fiction. By Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick. Adapted by Susan Campbell Bartoletti and Eric S. Singer. Vol 1. 2014. 400 pages. Vol 2. 2019. 320 pages.
These are two volumes of illustrated histories, adapted for students from a documentary book and film of the same name.

Moore was also an activist in his home state. Shown here, he marched to protest segregation at the General Assembly in Annapolis, Maryland.

April 23, 1963: White Civil Rights Activist Murdered on Racial Justice Walk in Alabama

William Lewis Moore, a white postal worker from Baltimore, was murdered on the road in Alabama during a one-person march for racial justice.

Red Summer: The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America

Book — Non-fiction. By Cameron McWhirter. 2012. 368 pages.
A chronicle of white supremacist violence in major U.S. cities across the nation after World War I.

A Message from the Future with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Film. Narrated by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and illustrated by Molly Crabapple. The Intercept. 2019. 7 minutes.
The film flips the script on our future by illustrating one where we survive climate change and thrive because we took action today.

Teaching Climate Change to Adolescents: Reading, Writing, and Making a Difference

Teaching Guide. By Richard Beach, Jeff Share, and Allen Webb. 2017. 148 pages.
This book offers essential resources for English language and literature teachers to teach climate justice.

All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life

Book — Non-fiction. By Winona LaDuke. 1999.
Native American activists provide testimonies to indigenous efforts to resist oppression and fight both cultural and environmental degradation in the face of U.S. colonialism.

How Red Lines Built White Wealth: A Lesson on Housing Segregation in the 20th Century

Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. Rethinking Schools.
The mixer role play is based on Richard Rothstein’s The Color of Law, which shows in exacting detail how government policies segregated every major city in the United States with dire consequences for African Americans.

Teaching Activity by Ursula Wolfe-Rocca