1920–1944 Archives

Suffragists White House | Zinn Education Project

Aug. 26, 1920: 19th Amendment Adopted

The 19th Amendment was formally adopted.

Oct. 17, 1920: Marie Equi Jailed

Marie Equi entered San Quentin prison to serve a one-year term for her anti-war protests.

The Persons Case | Zinn Education Project

Oct. 18, 1929: The Persons Case

The Persons Case, a legal milestone in Canada, established the right of women to sit in the Senate of Canada.

July 30, 1920: Lynching of Sergeant Edgar Caldwell

Sergeant Edgar Caldwell, a Black man, was hanged before a crowd of spectators in the yard of the Calhoun County jail for riding in a white streetcar.

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

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

Jazz Owls: A Novel of the Zoot Suit Riots

Book — Historical fiction. By Margarita Engle. 2018. 192 pages.
A novel that uses free verse to tell the story of the 1943 Zoot Suit (or Sailor) Riots through a wide range of characters.

A. Philip Randolph (photo) | Zinn Education Project

Jan. 25, 1941: A. Philip Randolph and March on Washington

A. Philip Randolph, president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters union, made the official call for a march on Washington, with the demand to end segregation in defense industries.

Photo of Will Brown from the "World-Herald," 1919.

Sept. 28, 1919: The Omaha Courthouse Lynching and Riot

A white mob of between 5,000 to 15,000 lynched African American Will Brown. The Army arrested mob ringleaders. Even though photographs identified them, all of the suspects were eventually released.

Aug. 30, 1919: The Knoxville Riot

A group of white people rioted after forming a mob to lynch Maurice Mays, a Black man in custody on for the alleged (with no evidence) murder of a white woman in Knoxville, Tennessee.

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.

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.

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.

Breadline at McAuley Water Street Mission under Brooklyn Bridge, New York, circa 1930.

What Caused the Great Depression? The Widget Boom Game

Teaching Activity. By Adam Sanchez. Rethinking Schools.
A simulation helps students understand the causes of economic crises.

Jan. 22, 1932: La Matanza (“The Massacre”) Begins in El Salvador

The government of El Salvador launched a murderous, anti-indigenous and anti-leftist campaign that led to the deaths of 30,000 Salvadorans.

Eslanda: The Large and Unconventional Life of Mrs. Paul Robeson

Book — Non-fiction. By Barbara Ransby. 2013. 373 pages.
This biography of cosmopolitan anthropologist Eslanda Cardozo Goode Robeson explores her influence on her husband's early career, their open marriage, and her life as a prolific journalist, a tireless advocate of women's rights, and an outspoken anti-colonial and antiracist activist.

The Strange Careers of the Jim Crow North: Segregation and Struggle Outside of the South

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Brian Purnell and Jeanne Theoharis with Komozi Woodard. 2019. 352 pages.
This important work shows how the Jim Crow North maintained inequality in the nation’s most liberal places, and chronicles how activists worked to undo those inequities born of Northern Jim Crow.

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.

Dec. 6, 1929: Cayes Massacre

One of the worst massacres of civilians during the 19-year American occupation of Haiti took place in Les Cayes.

Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre

Picture book. By Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Floyd Cooper. 2021. 32 pages.
This children's book centers the history of the thriving Black community of Greenwood before the 1921 Tulsa Massacre.

Feb. 12, 1938: Ellen Harris Refuses to Move for White Passenger

Ellen Harris told the bus driver she would accept a refund and get off the bus, but the driver refused to accept her terms and had her arrested for breaking segregation law.

July 16, 1944: Irene Morgan Refuses to Change Seats on Bus

Irene Morgan refused to change her seat on a segregated bus in Virginia.

May 6, 1922: Gloria Richardson Born

Civil rights activist Gloria Richardson was born in Baltimore.

The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights

Book — Non-fiction. By Steve Sheinkin. 2014. 208 pages.
The story of 50 African American sailors charged with mutiny during World War II for challenging working conditions after a deadly munitions explosion.

The Forgotten Fight Against Fascism

By William Loren Katz

Anyone who has gone through school in the United States knows that history textbooks devote a lot of attention to the so-called “Good War”: World War II. A typical textbook, Holt McDougal’s The Americans, includes 61 pages covering the buildup to World War II and the war itself. Today’s texts acknowledge “blemishes” like the internment of Japanese Americans, but the texts either ignore or gloss over the fact that for almost a decade, during the earliest fascist invasions of Asia, Africa, and Europe, the Western democracies encouraged rather than fought Hitler and Mussolini, and sometimes gave them material aid.

Jan. 23, 1935: Robert Parris Moses Born

Lifelong organizer in SNCC and with the Algebra Project, Robert Parris Moses, was born on this day in Harlem, New York.

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