- Zinn Education Project

School Days: Hail, Hail, Rock ‘n’ Roll!

Teaching Activity. By Rick Mitchell. Rethinking Schools. 10 pages.
Description of a course on the history of music in the United States.

Film Tackles the U.S. Occupation of Japan: ‘ANPO: Art X War’

Teaching Activity. By Moé Yonamine. Rethinking Schools. 11 pages.
Lesson based on ANPO: Art X War, a documentary about visual resistance to U.S. military bases in Japan by Japan’s foremost contemporary artists.

Teaching Activity by Moé Yonamine

After the Levees Broke: Bearing Witness Through Poetry

Teaching Activity. By Renée Watson. Rethinking Schools. 7 pages.
A teacher's reflection on the power of poetry to spark critical discussion and reflection on current issues of inequality surrounding disaster response in the United States.

Labor Songs

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow and Norm Diamond. 7 pages.
Students explore the power of songs to build solidarity and increase understanding. This is the final activity from Bigelow and Diamond’s labor history book, The Power in Our Hands, and draws on the other lessons.

Teaching Activity by Norm Diamond

Lawrence, 1912: The Singing Strike

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow and Norm Diamond.
Role play on the 1912 Bread and Roses strike in Lawrence, Mass.

Teaching Activity by Norm Diamond

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

Union Maids

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow and Norm Diamond. 4 pages.
Activity for students to write from the point of view of one of the women featured in the film Union Maids.

Teaching Activity by Norm Diamond

Remembering Mahmoud Darwish

Teaching Activity. By Naomi Shihab Nye and Linda Christensen. 4 pages.
An essay, poem, and teaching idea utilizing famous Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish's work to help students "name the invisible forces that imprison them."

Teaching Activity by Linda Christensen

Stenciling Dissent: A Student Project Draws on the Language of the Streets

Teaching Activity. By Andrew Reed. Rethinking Schools. 5 pages.
Teaching activity connects students to history of art as a means of protest and gives them opportunity and skills to create their own stencil with a powerful message.

Rhythm and Resistance: Teaching Poetry for Social Justice

Teaching Guide. Edited by Linda Christensen and Dyan Watson. Rethinking Schools. 2015. 262 pages.
Lessons and poetry to help students develop writing skills, build community, and create a vision of a future with justice.

Sun City – A Teaching Guide

Teaching Guide. By Bill Bigelow. 6 pages.
Lessons to accompany the 1985 video "Sun City" that promoted the cultural boycott of South Africa initiated by Little Steven van Zandt of Bruce Springsteen’s E St. Band.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

Strangers In Their Own Country: A Curriculum Guide on South Africa

Teaching Guide. By Bill Bigelow. 1985.
Lessons on apartheid in South Africa and the global anti-apartheid movement.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat

Picture book. Edited by Nikki Giovanni. 2008, with CD. 80 pages.
A celebration of poetry with a beat. Includes CD with selected recordings of poems and historical background.

I and I: Bob Marley

Picture book. By Tony Medina. Illustrations by Jesse Joshua Watson. 2009. 48 pages.
The life of Bob Marley told through poems and illustrations.

I See the Rhythm

Picture book. By Toyomi Igus and Michele Wood. 2005. 32 pages.
A lyrical voyage through 500 years of African American music, from its roots in Africa to contemporary hip-hop for ages 6+.

No More! Stories and Songs of Slave Resistance

Picture book. By Doreen Rappaport. Illustrated by Shane W. Evans. 2005. 64 pages.
Picture book for upper elementary/middle school on the many forms of resistance to slavery.

Nobody Gonna Turn Me ‘Round: Stories and Songs of the Civil Rights Movement

Picture book. By Doreen Rappaport. Illustrated by Shane W. Evans. 2008. 64 pages.
Stories and songs for upper elementary from the Civil Rights Movement from 1955 to 1965.

Sing a Song: How Lift Every Voice and Sing Inspired Generations

Picture book. By Kelly Starling Lyons. Illustrated by Keith Mallett. 2019. 32 pages.
The 120-year history of the song through generations of her family who have passed it on — starting with a young girl who learned it in 1900 in Jacksonville, Florida, from her principal (James Weldon Johnson) and his brother.

When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop

Picture book. By Laban Carrick Hill. Illustrations by Theodore Taylor III. 2013. 32 pages.
A picture book biography about DJ Kool Herc, and the birth of hip hop.

Which Side Are You On?: The Story of A Song

Picture book. By George Ella Lyon. Artwork by Christopher Cardinale. 2011. 40 pages.
This children's book tells the story of a classic union song written in 1931 and the harsh conditions under which it was written.

1919

Book — Non-fiction. By Eve L. Ewing. 2019. 96 pages.
Poetic reflections on the Chicago Race Riots of 1919 — part of 'Red Summer' — in a history told through Ewing's speculative and Afrofuturist lenses.

Artists in Times of War

Book — Non-fiction. By Howard Zinn. 2004. 112 pages.
In this collection of four essays, Zinn writes about the unique role of artists, activists, and publishers in working toward change.

Teaching Activity by Howard Zinn

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.

Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A Hip-Hop History

Book — Non-fiction. By Jeff Chang and Davey D Cook. 2021. 352 pages.
An essential guide for understanding hip-hop music and culture.

Caribbean Connections: The Dominican Republic

Book — Non-fiction and Fiction. Edited by Gallin, Glasser, Santana. 2005. 250 pages.
Reader-friendly overview of the history, politics, and culture of the fourth largest Latino community in the United States.