- Zinn Education Project

The Color Line

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. 6 pages.
A lesson on the countless colonial laws enacted to create division and inequality based on race. This helps students understand the origins of racism in the United States and who benefits.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

Columbus and Las Casas

Teaching Activity. By Gayle Olson-Raymer. 15 pages.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 1 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on Columbus' arrival in the "New World," and the contrasting accounts of Bartolome de Las Casas and Eduardo Galeano.

Discovering Columbus: Re-reading the Past

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. Rethinking Schools. 6 pages.
How to engage students in a critical analysis of the textbook version of "discovery."

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

The People vs. Columbus, et al.

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow with contributions from members of the Taíno Community. Rethinking Schools. 13 pages.
A trial role play asks students to determine who is responsible for the death of millions of Taínos on the island of Hispaniola in the late 15th century.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

Reading Between the Lines: An Art Contest Helps Students Imagine the Lives of Runaway Slaves

Teaching Activity. By Thom Thacker and Michael A. Lord. Rethinking Schools. 4 pages.
An art contest is used as the basis from which students can examine primary historical documents (advertisements for runaway slaves) to gain a deeper understanding of the institution of slavery in the North.

Reclaiming Hidden History: Students Create a Slavery Walking Tour in Manhattan

Teaching Activity. By Alan J. Singer. Rethinking Schools. 7 pages.
How a teacher and his students organized a tour of the hidden history of slavery in New York.

Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years

Teaching Guide. Edited by Bill Bigelow and Bob Peterson. Rethinking Schools. 2003. 192 pages.
Readings and lessons for grades 5 to 12 about the impact and legacy of the arrival of Columbus in the Americas.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

Teaching What Really Happened: How to Avoid the Tyranny of Textbooks and Get Students Excited About Doing History

Teaching Guide. By James W. Loewen. 2010. 264 pages.
A wealth of ideas on how to rethink the teaching of U.S. history.

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.

Before Columbus: The Americas of 1491

Book — Non-fiction. By Charles C. Mann. 2009. 128 pages.
An illustrated book for young readers based on 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus.

Black Elk Speaks (Book) | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux

Book — Non-fiction. By John G. Neihardt, Standing Bear, Raymond J. Demallie. 2008. 334 pages.
The life and visions of the Lakota healer Nicholas Black Elk and the history of his Sioux people.

Christopher Columbus and the Conquest of Paradise

Book — Non-fiction. By Kirkpatrick Sale. 2006.
An account of Christopher Columbus's life, separating the man from the legend.

Colonialism in the Americas: A Critical Look

Book — Non-fiction. By Susan Gage. 1991. 51 pages.
Graphic/comic book tackles history of colonialism in the Americas.

Columbus: His Enterprise: Exploding the Myth

Book — Non-fiction. By Hans Koning. Afterword by Bill Bigelow. 1976. 141 pages.
A biography that gives a true account of Columbus’ life and voyages.

Do All Indians Live in Tipis?

Book — Non-fiction. By National Museum of the American Indian. 2007. 256 pages.
Introduction to Native American history and contemporary culture.

Hurricane Dancers

Book — Fiction. By Margarita Engle. 2011. 160 pages.
Historical fiction in the form of poetry about the conquest and resistance.

A Peoples History of the United States Book | Zinn Education Project

A People’s History of the United States: 1492 – Present

Book — Non-fiction. By Howard Zinn. 2005, with a new introduction by Anthony Arnove in 2015. 784 pages.
Howard Zinn's groundbreaking work on U.S. history. This book details lives and facts rarely included in textbooks—an indispensable teacher and student resource.

Slave Nation: How Slavery United the Colonies & Sparked the American Revolution

Book — Non-fiction. By Alfred Blumrosen and Ruth Blumrosen. 2006. 304 pages.
A detailed account of the role slavery played in the Revolutionary War and the writing of the U.S. Constitution.

Lies My Teacher Told Me About Christopher Columbus

Poster and booklet. By James W. Loewen. 2006; updated 2014.
Graphic corrective to the traditional textbook narratives about Columbus.

Chief Hinmton Yalaktit Joseph

Profile. Chief Joseph Hinmton Yalaktit (1840 -1904), a Nez Percé Indian chief in what is now northeastern Oregon.

Time to Abolish Columbus Day

Article. By Bill Bigelow. 2015. If We Knew Our History Series. When the school curriculum celebrates Columbus, children are taught that it’s OK for white people to rule over peoples of color and that militarily powerful nations can bully weaker nations. By his own account, Columbus enslaved people, destroyed cultures, and terrorized those who challenged his rule. It’s time to abolish Columbus Day.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow