Book — Non-fiction. By Debbie Levy. 2025. 288 pages.
The story of John Scopes, a Tennessee teacher who was found guilty of teaching about evolution, and the nationwide debate that followed about what students should learn in school.
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Teaching Guide. By Linda Christensen. Rethinking Schools., 2017, 2nd edition. 314 pages.
Lessons for teaching a range of writing genres while addressing social justice themes.
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Helen Keller wrote a letter to the students who planned on burning all books deemed “un-German.”
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After decades of organizing and strategic efforts by parents, teachers, lawyers, and more — the U.S. Supreme Court issued the unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education on school segregation.
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Article. By Bill Bigelow.
The story of how teachers, parents, and students in Portland, Oregon organized to demand that climate change be taught honestly and to pass a climate justice resolution.
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Book — Non-fiction. By Jarvis R. Givens. 2021. 320 pages.
Details the long assault on Black education that occurred from the period of enslavement through the life of one of the founders of the Black studies tradition, Carter G. Woodson.
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Enacted in response to David Walker’s Appeal, this law criminalized the distribution of materials that could incite rebellion to slavery, reflecting fears of literacy empowering resistance.
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Following the publication of David Walker’s Appeal in 1829, this Virginia law prohibited the education of enslaved and free Black people, seeking to suppress potential uprisings. Several other states enacted similar bans at this time.
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One of many anti-literacy laws at the time, this law prohibited the establishment of schools for Black students who were not residents of Connecticut.
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Film. Directed by Vicki Abeles. 2024. 89 minutes.
Explores misconceptions about the role math plays in our lives, who can learn it, and how it should be taught.
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Digital collection. Intellectual, political, and cultural contributions of Black educators during the Jim Crow era through the Civil Rights era.
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Book — Non-fiction. By Mike Selby. 2019. 208 pages.
This book reveals the histories of grassroots "freedom libraries" that were at the heart of the Civil Rights Movement in the Deep South and tells the stories of courageous people who operated and used them.
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Learn directly from people's historians by listening to these audio recordings of Teach the Black Freedom Struggle online classes.
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Four Black teenagers tried to enter the whites-only St. Helena branch of the Audubon Regional Library in Greensburg, Louisiana. Instead, the library closed. Undeterred, the St. Helena Four continued to try to desegregate the local library and other segregated facilities.
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Book — Non-fiction. By Jesse Hagopian. 2025. 302 pages.
A call to defend honest education for our students, showing how we can reclaim suppressed history by creating beloved classroom communities and healthy social movements.
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Film. Directed by Kate Way. 2024. 93 minutes.
Follows three students and their adult allies as they fight to reinstate 97 books suddenly pulled from their school libraries.
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Article. By Mariame Kaba, design by Cindy Lau, artwork by Erik Ruin, and research support by Noah Berlatsky. 2025. 12 pages.
Walks readers through the history of assaults on librarians and examples of library workers pushing back.
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Student-led protests in South Africa that began in response to the introduction of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in local schools.
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On Flag Day 1943, the Supreme Court invalidated a compulsory flag salute law in public schools and established that students possess some level of First Amendment rights.
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Picture book. By Megan Madison and Jessica Ralli , and illustrated by Isabel Roxas. 2021. 38 pages.
This read-aloud board book on race offers the opportunity to begin important conversations with young children in an informed, safe, and supported way.
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Teaching Activity. By Jesse Hagopian. 2025. 40 pages.
This lesson explores major examples of laws passed to suppress Black education in the wake of major victories for the Black Freedom Struggle, highlighting the historical context and motivations behind these legislative efforts.
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