The Supreme Court ruled that schools in the U.S. had to desegregate “immediately,” instead of the previous ruling of “with all deliberate speed.”
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Teaching Guide. Edited by Annika Butler-Wall, Kim Cosier, Rachel Harper, Jeff Sapp, Jody Sokolower, and Melissa Bollow Tempel. Rethinking Schools. 2016. 476 pages.
A collection of essays on how to create a nurturing classroom at different grade levels, curriculum, teachers coming out, organizing beyond classroom walls, and integrating LGBTQ+ content into teacher education programs and ongoing teacher education.
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Mrs. White of the Indiana Textbook Commission called for a ban of Robin Hood in all school books for promoting communism.
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Film. Produced by Moctesuma Esparza. 2006. 111 minutes.
Walkout tells the true story of the Chicano students of East L.A., who in 1968 staged several dramatic walkouts in their high schools to protest academic prejudice and dire school conditions.
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In the face of attempts by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to ban AP African American studies, social justice books, and critical race theory in K–12 schools (and DEI in public colleges), we take a look at stories in Florida history that would be off limits to students.
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Teaching Activity. By Samia Shoman. Rethinking Schools. 2014.
A social studies teacher uses conflicting narratives to engage students in studying the history of Palestine and Israel, focusing on the events of 1948.
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Book — Non-fiction. By Brian Jones. 2025. 208 pages.
A look at how the study of Black history challenges our understanding of race, nation, and the stories we tell about who we are.
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Federal funds were quickly restored to Chicago public schools after they were withheld for continued segregation in schools, effectively curtailing enforcement of the Civil Rights Act in Chicago.
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At the height of McCarthyism, the School District of Philadelphia suspended 32 teachers for their alleged connections to the Communist Party.
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Students and faculty joined in an ultimately successful anti-Apartheid campaign at Calvin College.
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Book — Non-fiction. By Aaron G. Fountain Jr. 2025. 398 pages.
Highlights the crucial impact of high school activists in the 1960s and 1970s.
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Article. By Herbert Kohl. Rethinking Schools.
A critical analysis that challenges the myths in children's books about Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
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The Ku Klux Klan bombed the home of labor and voting rights activists Harry T. Moore and Harriette Moore — killing them both. Harriette Moore taught elementary school, secretly teaching her students Black history in the face of bans by the state superintendent.
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Book — Non-fiction. By Dave Zirin. 2026. 400 pages.
A biography of iconic radical historian Howard Zinn, examining his life and work as a progressive icon and thought leader through the story of the times that shaped him and the world.
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Teaching Activity. By Mark Sweeting. Rethinking Schools. 4 pages.
How one teacher engaged his students in a critical examination of the language used in textbooks to describe the Japanese American incarceration.
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Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. Rethinking Schools. 6 pages.
How to engage students in a critical analysis of the textbook version of "discovery."
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Book — Historical fiction. By Winifred Conkling. 2011. 160 pages.
Based on the true story of two girls who meet in 1940s California and a landmark lawsuit on education.
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Book — Historical fiction. By María Dolores Águila. 2025. 304 pages.
A middle grade novel in verse based on the true story of Roberto Alvarez and the fight for education equity in Lemon Grove.
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Mexican-American students were barred from attending their local elementary school. The parents took the school district to court.
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Teaching activity. By Freda Anderson. 2023. Rethinking Schools.
A high school teacher has students problematize the conditions of their school to learn about funding disparities and the disastrous effects of district debt.
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Delaware teacher and librarian Robert Coram authored a pamphlet that advocated for a well-funded public education system to help close the wealth gap in the United States.
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Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. Rethinking Schools. 7 pages.
A companion lesson to the Eyes on the Prize segment on school desegregation.
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Film. By Catherine Murphy. 2013. 32 minutes.
Documentary about the successful 1961 literacy campaign in Cuba.
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Teachers and administrators from the Florida Education Association (FEA) walked out in what is reported to be the first statewide teachers’ strike.
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Article. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. Rethinking Schools Blog, September 2019.
A call to action for teachers to join students, whether in the streets or in classrooms, by using their voices for climate justice.
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