Theme: Civil Rights Movements

Civil Rights Movements

Rethinking America’s Past

Book — Non-fiction. By Robert Cohen and Sonia E. Murrow. 2021. 344 pages.
The first work to use archival and classroom evidence to assess the impact that Zinn's classic work has had on historical teaching and learning and on U.S. culture.
Continue reading

The Young Lords: A Radical History

Book — Non-fiction. By Johanna Fernández. 2020. 480 pages.
Fernandez demonstrates how the Young Lords redefined the character of protest, the color of politics, and the cadence of popular urban culture in the age of great dreams.
Teaching Activity by Johanna Fernández
Continue reading

Colin in Black and White: The Kaepernick Curriculum

Teaching Guide. Presented by Ra Vision Media & Know Your Rights Camp. 2022. 85 pages.
In conjunction with the Netflix series of the same name, this teaching guide provides students with resources and activities to understand and address systemic and institutional racism.
Continue reading

Standing Up

Book — Fiction. By Ellen Bravo and Larry Miller. 2021. 284 pages.
This collection of stories highlights the importance of collective struggle, both in the workplace and in the community.
Teaching Activity by Ellen Bravo and Larry Miller
Continue reading

July 4, 1963: Clyde Kennard Died

Clyde Kennard (June 12, 1927–July 4, 1963) bravely and righteously tried to pursue higher education in Mississippi. He faced the fatal wrath of the state as a result of his efforts to challenge white supremacy.
Continue reading

The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks

Film. Directed by Johanna Hamilton and Yoruba Richen. Produced by Soledad O’Brien. 2022. 101 minutes.
This documentary sheds light on Rosa Parks' extensive organizing, radical politics, and lifelong dedication to justice.
Continue reading

Teaching A People’s History of the March on Washington

Teaching Activity. By Jessica Lovaas and Adam Sanchez. Rethinking Schools. 2021. Updated in 2023.
A lesson with case studies from Los Angeles; Birmingham, Alabama; Brooklyn; Detroit; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Albany, Georgia; and Cambridge, Maryland — to introduce students to the diverse struggles across the United States that were represented at the March on Washington.
Teaching Activity by Adam Sanchez
Continue reading

How Should Rosa Parks’s Legacy Be Memorialized?

This lesson by Cierra Kaler-Jones invites students to consider how Rosa Parks’ legacy is memorialized by critically examining her statue at the U.S. Capitol. Students learn the fuller story of Rosa Parks’ life and use that information to determine how they would memorialize her legacy.
Continue reading

Rosa Parks: Countering the Master Narrative

Teaching Activity. By Jesse Hagopian. 4 pages.
With a short video and readings with competing viewpoints, students will learn about master narratives and counter-narratives and how they apply to Rosa Parks’ life. This activity can be introduced before watching the film or reading the book, The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks.
Continue reading

Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power

Film. Directed by Sam Pollard and Geeta Gandbhir. 2022. 90 minutes.
The story of young SNCC organizers who fought for voting rights and Black power in Lowndes County, Alabama.
Teaching Activity by Directed by Sam Pollard & Geeta Gandbhir
Continue reading
Rosa Parks and Ericka Huggins at a Black Panther Party free breakfast program.

Framing Black Power Through the Life of Rosa Parks

Teaching Activity. By Tiffany Mitchell Patterson and Jessica Rucker.
In this lesson, students explore the core ideas of Black Power through a gallery walk with images and quotes connected to the life of Rosa Parks, and then consider how to define Rosa Parks’s activism.
Continue reading

The Radical King

Book — Non-fiction. By Dr. Martin Luther King. 320 pages.
Arranged thematically in four parts, The Radical King includes twenty-three selections, curated and introduced by Dr. Cornel West, that illustrate King’s revolutionary vision, underscoring his identification with the poor, his unapologetic opposition to the Vietnam War, and his crusade against global imperialism.
Continue reading