Economics Archives

Speaking Out: Women, War and the Global Economy

Teaching Guide (with DVD). By Jan Haaken, Ariel Ladum, et al. 2005.
Interactive lessons on the 1990s civil war in Sierra Leone and broader issues such as cross-cultural awareness, the global trade in diamonds and guns, and the effects of war on women.

Rethinking Mathematics: Teaching Social Justice by the Numbers

Teaching Guide. Edited by Eric Gutstein and Bob Peterson. Rethinking Schools. 2013 (2nd edition). 300 pages.
Lessons and articles on social justice math education for elementary and secondary school classrooms.

Cover of "Race and Place" - RS magazine | Zinn Education Project

“Why Is This the Only Place in Portland I See Black People?”: Teaching Young Children About Redlining

Teaching Activity. By Katharine Johnson. Rethinking Schools. 10 pages.
An elementary school teacher introduces the history of redlining through a role play designed for 1st and 2nd graders.

Slave Nation: How Slavery United the Colonies & Sparked the American Revolution

Book — Non-fiction. By Alfred Blumrosen and Ruth Blumrosen. 2006. 304 pages.
A detailed account of the role slavery played in the Revolutionary War and the writing of the U.S. Constitution.

Studs Terkel’s “Working”: A Teaching Guide

Teaching Guide. By Rick Ayers. 2001. 208 pages.
Discussion questions and teaching ideas for Terkel's classic 1974 text.

Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged, and Profited from Slavery

Book — Non-fiction. By Anne Farrow, Joel Lang and Jenifer Frank. 2005. 304 pages.
Challenges the misconception that only the South was involved in or profited from slavery.

The Real Cost of Prisons Comix

Book — Non-fiction. By Ellen Miller-Mack, Craig Gilmore, Lois Ahrens, Susan Willmarth, and Kevin Pyle. 2008. 104 pages.
This comic book presents the human stories behind the statistics.

The Corporation

Film. By Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott, and Joel Bakan. 2004. 145 minutes.
This award-winning documentary examines the nature, evolution, impacts, and future of the modern business corporation and the increasing role it plays in society and our everyday lives.

Social Stratification in the United States: The American Profile Poster

Poster and book. By Stephen J. Rose. 2007; updated 2015. 56 pages.
Visual representation of the distribution of wealth in the United States.

The Shock Doctrine (Book - Non-fiction) | Zinn Education Project

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

Book — Non-fiction. By Naomi Klein. 2008. 720 pages.
Klein demonstrates how shock has been used by global elites to push through a radical agenda of privatization and "free trade."

The Field Guide to the Global Economy

Book — Non-fiction. By Sarah Anderson, John Cavanagh, and Thea Lee. 2005. 160 pages.
The economics of globalization in easy to read charts.

Ultimate Field Guide to the U.S. Economy: A Compact and Irreverent Guide to Economic Life in America

Book — Non-fiction. By Jonathan Teller-Elsberg, James Heintz and Nancy Folbre. 2006. 256 pages.
Easy to read graphs make complex economic data accessible to all ages.

A Peoples History of the United States Book | Zinn Education Project

A People’s History of the United States: 1492 – Present

Book — Non-fiction. By Howard Zinn. 2005, with a new introduction by Anthony Arnove in 2015. 784 pages.
Howard Zinn's groundbreaking work on U.S. history. This book details lives and facts rarely included in textbooks—an indispensable teacher and student resource.

Roger and Me: The Story of a Rebel and His Mike

Film. Directed by Michael Moore. 1989. 91 minutes.
Documentary chronicling the efforts of the world's largest corporation, General Motors, as it turns its hometown of Flint, Michigan, into a ghost town.

Stealing Home: Eminent Domain, Urban Renewal, and the Loss of Community

Teaching Activity. By Linda Christensen. Rethinking Schools. 9 pages.
Teaching about patterns of displacement and wealth inequality through the history of Palo Verde, La Loma, and Bishop communities and the building of Dodger Stadium.

Teaching Activity by Linda Christensen

Plotting Inequalities, Building Resistance: High School Students Use Math to Reflect on Social Inequality

Teaching Activity. By Adam Renner, Bridget Brew, and Crystal Proctor. Rethinking Schools. 5 pages.
An article describing how math teachers in a San Francisco high school shed light on the ways economics and racism affect education, housing, and job opportunities.

Greed as a Weapon: Teaching the Other Iraq War

Teaching Activity. By Adam Sanchez. Rethinking Schools. 14 pages.
A role play investigating the economic consequences of the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

Teaching Activity by Adam Sanchez

Oh Freedom After While: The Missouri Sharecropper Protest of 1939

Film. Directed Steven John Ross and written by Candace O'Connor. 1999. 56 minutes.
Archival footage, photographs, and first-hand accounts of sharecroppers — Black and white — organizing in Missouri.

People taking part in the sit in at the Vestas plant in Newport, Isle of Wight.

Shutdown! — Confronting Plant Closures

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow and Norm Diamond. 14 pages.
In this role play activity, students assume the roles of union members and attempt to figure out how to respond to a threatened plant closure.