- Zinn Education Project

Haiku and Hiroshima: Teaching About the Atomic Bomb

Teaching Activity. By Wayne Au. Rethinking Schools. 3 pages.
Lesson for high school students on the bombing of Hiroshima using the film Barefoot Gen and haiku.

The Other Internment: Teaching the Hidden Story of Japanese Latin Americans During WWII

Teaching Activity. By Moé Yonamine. Rethinking Schools. 18 pages.
Poetry, photography, and text are used in this role play to teach about the seldom told history of Japanese Latin American internment during WWII.

May 19, 1921: Yuri Kochiyama Born

Political activist Yuri Kochiyama was born in San Pedro, California.

May 25, 1934: Minneapolis Teamsters Strike

The Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934 reached a settlement with union recognition and reinstatement for all fired workers.

“Riots,” Racism, and the Police: Students Explore a Century of Police Conduct and Racial Violence

Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca.
Students explore three documents produced in the wake of three major episodes of racial violence (1919, 1967, 2014) to understand the long trajectory of police violence in Black communities.

Remembering Jim Crow: African Americans Tell About Life in the Segregated South

Book — Non-fiction (with CD). Edited by William H. Chafe, Raymond Gavins and Robert Korstad. 2008. 346 pages.
Extensive oral history of African American life under segregation.

If We Must Die: A Novel of Tulsa’s 1921 Greenwood Riot

Book — Fiction. By Pat Carr. 2002. 166 pages.
Historical fiction account of the 1921 attack on Tulsa's Black neighborhood Greenwood, known as "Black Wall Street."

Bombing of Guernica | Zinn Education Project

April 26, 1937: The Bombing of Guernica

During the Spanish Civil War, the Nazis tested their new air force on the Basque town of Guernica in northern Spain.

Jan. 31, 1938: Emma Tenayuca Leads Pecan Sheller Strike

Tenayuca was known as “La Pasionaria de Texas” for her commitment to justice for Mexican American laborers.

Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun

Film. By Kristy Andersen. 2008. 84 minutes.
Documentary about the life, literature, and research of Zora Neale Hurston.

Japanese American Evacuation and Resettlement Online Archive

Digital collection. Firsthand accounts and primary sources of the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII.

May 31, 1921: Tulsa Massacre

In what became known as the Tulsa Massacre, white supremacists destroyed a thriving Black community in Oklahoma. This is one of countless white supremacist massacres in U.S. history.

Police use tear gas against participants in San Francisco’s 1934 general strike.

Who Made the New Deal? The Economic Recovery Conference Role Play

Teaching Activity. By Adam Sanchez. Rethinking Schools.
Through role play, students explore how different social groups influenced New Deal legislation.

A Hubert Harrison Reader

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Jeffrey B. Perry. 2001. 505 pages.
Essays by the "father of Harlem radicalism."

No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller

Book — Non-fiction. By Vaunda Micheaux Nelson. Artwork by R. Gregory Christie. 2012. 188 pages.
The story of Lewis Micheaux, owner of the famous National Memorial African Bookstore for grades 7+ .

Feb. 7, 1926: Carter G. Woodson Launched Negro History Week

Carter G. Woodson initiated the first celebration of Negro History Week which led to Black History Month.

May 26, 1937: Battle of the Overpass

The Battle of the Overpass occurred when union members were beaten by Ford Motor Co. reps for distributing leaflets.

Ballad of an American: A Graphic Biography of Paul Robeson

Book — Non-fiction. Written and illustrated by Sharon Rudahl. Edited by Paul Buhle and Lawrence Ware. 2020. 142 pages.
The first-ever graphic biography of Paul Robeson charts Robeson’s career as a singer, actor, scholar, athlete, and activist who achieved global fame.

A People’s History of the United States: Highlights from the Twentieth Century (Audio)

Audio. By Howard Zinn. Read by Matt Damon. 2003. 8 hours, 44 minutes.
Audio book version of excerpted highlights from A People's History of the United States.

Burned Out of Homes and History: Unearthing the Silenced Voices of the Tulsa Massacre

Teaching Activity. By Linda Christensen. Rethinking Schools. 20 pages.
Teaching about racist patterns of murder, theft, displacement, and wealth inequality through the 1921 Tulsa Massacre.

Teaching Activity by Linda Christensen