All US History Archives - Zinn Education Project

IDA Treaties Explorer

Digital Collection. View digitized historic treaties between Indigenous tribes and the U.S. government alongside key historic works that provide context to the agreements made and the histories of shared lands.

A Disability History of the United States

Book — Non-fiction. By Kim E. Nielsen. 2013. Covering the entirety of US history from pre-1492 to the present, this is the first book to place the experiences of people with disabilities at the center of the American narrative.

The United States Is Not a Democracy. Stop Telling Students That It Is.

By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca

When our students only learn about this exceptionally strange system, the electoral college, from their corporate-produced history and government textbooks, they have no clue why this is how we choose our president. More importantly, they develop a stunted sense of their own power — and little reason to believe they might have the potential to create something better.

Mississippi Governor Attacks Teaching of People’s History

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves' state budget proposal include three million dollars for a “Patriotic Education Fund,” which argues that "the United States is the greatest country in the history of the world."

Disobedience and Democracy: Nine Fallacies on Law and Order

Books - Non-fiction. By Howard Zinn. 1968. A cogent defense of civil disobedience.

The Southern Mystique

Book - Non-fiction. By Howard Zinn. 1964. In one of his earliest published works, Howard Zinn writes about his experiences teaching and organizing with the Civil Rights Movement in the South.

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You

Book — Non-fiction. By Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds. 2020. 320 pages. Described as 'Stamped from the Beginning' "remixed," this young adult book brings African American history into sharp focus as context for the here and now.

Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All

Book — Non-fiction. By Martha S. Jones. 2020. 352 pp. This book excavates the lives and work of Black women from the earliest days of the republic to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and beyond.

A Black Women’s History of the United States

Book — Non-fiction. By Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross. 2020. 288 pages. A history that emphasizes the perspectives and stories of African American women to show how they are — and have always been — instrumental in shaping our country.

Making Our Way Home: The Great Migration and the Black American Dream

Book — Non-fiction. By Blair Imani. 2020. 192 pages. An illustrated chronicle of the Great Migration and African American history in the 20th century.

Rad American History A-Z: Movements and Moments That Demonstrate the Power of the People

Book - Non-fiction. By Kate Schatz and illustrated by Miriam Klein Stahl. Ten Speed Press. 176 pp. 2020. Paired with dynamic paper-cut art, readers explore several centuries of U.S. politics, culture, art, activism, and liberation.

The Land That Never Has Been Yet

Podcast. Produced by John Biewen with co-host Chenjerai Kumanyika. 2020. Center for Documentary Studies. This twelve-part series tells a story of the United States from its beginnings up to the present that questions the traditional narrative about democracy as a foundational value.

Teaching Voting Rights in 2020

Though our students' textbooks suggest otherwise, on this 150th anniversary of the 15th Amendment the struggle for ballot access is not over.

Who Gets to Vote? Teaching About the Struggle for Voting Rights in the United States

Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. 2020. Unit with three lessons on voting rights, including the history of the struggle against voter suppression in the United States.

Teaching Activity by Ursula Wolfe-Rocca

An African American and Latinx History of the United States

Book - Non-fiction. By Paul Ortiz. 2018. 296 pages. This narrative, intersectional history describes the shared struggle for African American and Latinx civil rights, and argues that the “Global South” was crucial to the development of the United States.

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

Book — Non-fiction. By Ibram X. Kendi. 2016. 608 pages. This book chronicles the origins and growth of anti-Black racist ideas, and their power, over the course of U.S. history.

One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps

Books - Non-fiction. By Andrea Pitzer. 2017. 480 pp. Starting with 1890s Cuba, this book is a chronological and geopolitical history of concentration camps that is filled with prisoner perspectives.

A Queer History of the United States for Young People

Book - Non-fiction. By Michael Bronski, adapted for by Richie Chevat. 336 pages. 2019. A young adult readers edition of the original text explores the history of LGBTQ+ experiences in the U.S. since 1500.

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.

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. 400 pages. 2014. Vol 2. 320 pages. 2019. These are two volumes of illustrated histories, adapted for students from a documentary book and film of the same name.

We the Resistance (Book cover) published by City Lights 2019

We the Resistance: Documenting a History of Nonviolent Protest in the United States

Book -- Non-fiction. Edited by Michael G. Long, foreword by Chris Hedges, afterword by Dolores Huerta. 610 pages. 2019. Encounter the voices of activists sharing instructive stories through narrative and primary documents.

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

Young person at climate justice protest (photo) | Zinn Education Project

Our House Is on Fire — Time to Teach Climate Justice

Article. By Bill Bigelow. Rethinking Schools, Spring 2019. For too long, the fossil fuel industry has tried to buy teachers’ and students’ silence. But teaching climate justice has never been more urgent.

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.

Nov. 11: Veterans Day

On Veterans Day, we share a collection of stories about African American veterans who fought in various wars and upon their return to the U.S., were murdered in the fight for democracy and human rights. We also share resources for teaching about the veterans who speak out against war.