1920–1944 Archives

Burning Tulsa: The Legacy of Black Dispossession

By Linda Christensen

The author describes teaching about racist patterns of murder, land theft, displacement, and wealth inequality through the 1921 Tulsa Massacre.

The term “race riot” does not adequately describe the events of May 31 - June 1, 1921 in Greenwood, a Black neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In fact, the term itself implies that both Blacks and whites might be equally to blame for the lawlessness and violence. The historical record documents a sustained and murderous assault on Black lives and property. This assault was met by a brave but unsuccessful armed defense of their community by some Black World War I veterans and others.

A confrontation between a policeman wielding a nightstick and a striker during the San Francisco General Strike, 1934.

May 9, 1934: Longshore Strike

Starting in the spring of 1934, longshoremen across every port on the West Coast struck against the unfair hiring tactics that they experienced daily.

Aug. 23, 1927: Bartolomeo Vanzetti and Nicola Sacco Executed

Italian-born immigrants, workers, and anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti were executed in Boston, Massachusetts.

Aug. 24, 1922: Howard Zinn Born

Howard Zinn, a historian, author, professor, playwright, and activist, was born in Brooklyn, New York.

Sept. 14, 1941: Rally Against Police Brutality

Following years of organizing against police brutality, four marches from different points in the city of Washington, D.C. converged at 10th and U Streets NW.

Coltrane at Blue Train session, 1957. By Francis Wolff.

Sept. 23, 1926: John Coltrane Born

John Coltrane was born. Also born #tdih: Mary Church Terrell (1863), Ray Charles (1930), and Bruce Springsteen (1949).

Oct. 2, 1937: Parsley Massacre

Under the orders of U.S.-backed Dominican dictator President Rafael Trujillo, the execution of more than 20,000 Haitians began in what is now known as the Parsley Massacre at Massacre River.

March in support of Ethiopia | Zinn Education Project

Oct. 3, 1935: Ethiopia Invaded by Italy

Ethiopia was invaded by Fascist Italy under Benito Mussolini.

Southern Conference on Race Relations, Durham, N.C.: Statement of Purpose.

Oct. 20, 1942: Durham Manifesto

The Southern Conference on Race Relations (SCRR) was held in Durham, North Carolina to address dichotomy between African American soldiers fighting overseas in the name of democracy while in the U.S. they were facing racial violence and being denied basic human rights.

Shirley Chisholm | Zinn Education Project

Nov. 30, 1924: Shirley Chisholm Born

Born on this day, Shirley Chisholm was the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Congress

workers protesting against Ford Motor Co.

March 7, 1932: Hunger March Against Ford Motors

A hunger march by unemployed workers against Ford Motors.

mug shot of Wobbly Ben Fletcher, book cover

Ben Fletcher: The Life and Times of a Black Wobbly

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Peter Cole. 2021. 352 pages.
This biography details the life of Black IWW organizer Ben Fletcher and the working class struggles he took part in.

Teaching Activity by Peter Cole (editor)

Still Dreaming / Seguimos soñando

Picture book. Written by Claudia Guadalupe Martínez, illustrated by Magdalena Mora, and translated by Luis Humberto Crosthwaite. 2022. 40 pages.
The story of a boy and his family who leave their beloved home to avoid being separated by the government during the Mexican Repatriation.

April 17, 1944: Modjeska Simkins Challenges SC Governor to a Debate

Prompted by South Carolina’s all-white political primary system, civil rights advocate Modjeska Monteith Simkins wrote a letter to Governor Olin D. Johnston of South Carolina challenging him to a debate on white supremacy.

Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad

Book — Non-fiction. By Matthew Delmont. 2024. 400 pages.
Accounts from the Black press, Black workers and veterans, and civil rights activists, will help teachers and students tell a fuller, truer, and more historically useful story of World War II.

Mary McLeod Bethune, pictured in the 1920s, when her school became a co-ed institution and she became the president of the National Association of Colored Women.

Fall, 1922: Mary McLeod Bethune Confronts Klan to Defend Black Voting Rights

Mary McLeod Bethune faced off against the Ku Klux Klan in defense of Black voting rights in Daytona, Florida.

book cover showing African American school child on stage holding a microphone.

How Do You Spell Unfair?: MacNolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee

Picture Book. By Carole Boston Weatherford. Illustrated by Frank Morrison. 2023. 40 pages.
The story of eighth grader MacNolia Cox, the first African American to win the Akron, Ohio, spelling bee, and the racism she faced during her journey to compete at the prestigious National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.