1900 Archives

History Textbooks: “Theirs” and “Ours”: A Rebellion or a War of Independence?

Teaching Activity. By John DeRose. Rethinking Schools. 4 pages.
Analysis of textbook passages from different countries, videos and books are used to explore different perspectives about the same event in history, i.e. "Philippine-American War" vs. "War of Philippine Independence."

What the Tour Guide Didn’t Tell Me: Tourism, Colonialism, and Resistance in Hawai’i

Teaching Activity. By Wayne Wah Kwai Au. Rethinking Schools. 5 pages.
Lesson on the history of Hawai'i and the impact of colonization and tourism.

One Country! One Language! One Flag!

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. Rethinking Schools. 3 pages.
Discussion questions and teaching ideas for examining the history of the Pledge of Allegiance and the political milieu in which it was written.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

Exploring Women’s Rights: The 1908 Textile Strike in a 1st-grade Class

Teaching Activity. By Dale Weiss. Rethinking Schools. 3 pages.
A teacher's reflections about a curriculum unit on women's rights contextualizes the history of the feminist movement within the broader struggle of people working for greater equality in the United States.

Lawrence, 1912: The Singing Strike (Teaching Activity) | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

Socialists and Wobblies

Teaching Activity. By Gayle Olson-Raymer. 17 pages.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 13 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on the labor movement at the turn of the century.

A Boy from Ireland

Book — Fiction. By Marie Raphael. 2007. 217 pages.
Historical fiction about the life of the Irish in New York City at the beginning of the 20th century for ages 12+.

Vietnam and Beyond: The Historic Resistance

Teaching Activity. By Mike Benbow and Robin Pickering. 17 pages.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 18 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on opposition to the Vietnam War.

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.

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.

Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America

Book — Non-fiction. By James Green. 2007. 400 pages.
History of the late 19th century labor movement.

Silver People: Voices from the Panama Canal

Book — Fiction. By Margarita Engle. 2016. 272 pages.
Historical fiction in free verse about the building of the Panama Canal.

We as Freemen: Plessy v. Ferguson

Book — Non-fiction. By Keith Medley. 2012. 256 pages.
This book documents the untold history of the organizing leading up the Plessy v. Ferguson case.

Mary Harris “Mother” Jones

Profile. Mother Jones (1830–1930) was a labor leader and organizer.

Lewis Hine’s Photographs

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow and Bob Peterson. Rethinking Schools. 4 pages.
Using photographs to spark creative writing and critical thinking about child labor issues and social justice.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

Zora and Me

Book — Fiction. By Victoria Bond and T. R. Simon. 2010. 186 pages.
A coming-of-age story inspired by the early life of Zora Neale Hurston for ages 10 and up.

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.

Labor Matters

Teaching Activity. By Learning for Justice.
Introduces students to the role of the labor movement in securing contemporary benefits such as the 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, and workplace safety regulations.

Right to Ride: Streetcar Boycotts and African American Citizenship in the Era of Plessy v. Ferguson

Book — Non-fiction. By Blair L. M. Kelley. 2010. 280 pages.
Examines acts of protest and resistance to segregated trains and streetcars during the early Jim Crow era.

A Moment in the Sun

Book — Fiction. By John Sayles. 2011. 955 pages.
Spanning five years and half a dozen countries, Sayles' novel of historical fiction paints a picture of the late 1890s — from the racist coup in Wilmington, North Carolina, to the bloody dawn of U.S. interventionism in Cuba and the Philippines.