Education Archives

A Talk to Teachers

Article. By James Baldwin. October 16, 1963.
Baldwin addresses the challenges of education to prepare children to grapple with the myths and realities of U.S. history.

Learning for Justice

Website. Films, journal, and readings for teachers on education for equity.

Teaching Untold Stories During Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

By Moé Yonamine

“They’re Latinos . . . I think they’re some kind of farm workers.”

“No, they’re Asians with name tags.”

And then a student in a quiet voice walked by me slowly and muttered, “I think something really bad is happening to them.”

My students at Roosevelt High School in Portland, Oregon — one of the state’s most racially diverse schools — studied each black and white photo posted around the room, inspecting the background and the facial expressions; confused, anxious, frustrated. They began a journey to uncover the hidden story of the Japanese Latin American removal, internment, and deportation during World War II.

Feb. 7, 1926: Carter G. Woodson Launched Negro History Week

Carter G. Woodson initiated the first celebration of Negro History Week which led to Black History Month.

May 2, 1963: Children of Birmingham Fill the Jails

In disciplined groups and singing freedom songs, students “ditch” class to march for justice and fill the jails.

Feb. 24, 1969: Tinker v. Des Moines Case Wins Free Speech Rights for Students

The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in Tinker v. Des Moines that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”

Jan. 24, 1874: Arturo Alfonso Schomburg Born

Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, bibliophile, collector, writer, who spent his life championing Black history, was born on this day.

Dec. 27, 1937: Harriet Elizabeth Brown Case Settled

Harriet Elizabeth Brown, a teacher from Maryland, sued for equal pay for Black teachers and won the case.

Jan. 2, 1915: John Hope Franklin Born

John Hope Franklin, born this day in Rentiesville and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was one of most important historians of the 20th century.

The Confederate Constitute | Zinn Education Project

March 11, 1861: Confederate Constitution Adopted

The Constitution of the Confederate States of America was adopted a month before the Civil War started.

March 15, 1942: Norwegian Teachers Resist Nazi Curriculum

More than 1,300 Norwegian teachers were arrested by the German Nazi-installed government.

April 1, 1955: ANC Protest Bantu Education Act

The African National Congress called on parents to withdraw their children from schools to resist the 1953 Bantu Education Act.

April 18, 1959: Students Petition and March for Integrated Schools

26,000 high school and college students came to Washington, D.C. to demand the end of segregated schools.

Lessons from the Heartland: A Turbulent Half-Century of Public Education in an Iconic American City

Book — Non-fiction. By Barbara Miner. 2013. 305 pages.
The history of public education in Milwaukee in the context of the broader story of racism in the rust belt.

Martha Lum's class photo | Zinn Education Project

Nov. 21, 1927: Lum v. Rice Supreme Court Ruling

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that, in the case of nine-year old Chinese-American Martha Lum, her exclusion on account of race from school was justified.

May 27, 1958: Ernest Green Graduates from Little Rock

Ernest Green became the first African-American to graduate from Little Rock Central High School in 1958.

June 5, 1950: The Supreme Court and School Segregation Cases

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in three cases that weakened the structure of legalized segregation.

June 11, 1965: Chicago School Boycott

More than 100,000 students stayed out of school to protest inequality and segregation in Chicago, Illinois.

June 26, 1959: Prince Edward County Closes Public Schools

Rather than desegregate, the Prince Edward County, Virginia Board of Supervisors refused to appropriate money from the County School Board to the public schools.

Aug. 27, 1963: W. E. B. Du Bois Dies

W. E. B. Du Bois died in Accra, Ghana.

Howard Zinn's Southern Diary | Zinn Education Project

Howard Zinn’s Southern Diary Published

The University of Georgia Press published Howard Zinn's Southern Diary: Sit-Ins, Civil Rights, and Black Women's Student Activism by Robert Cohen in September of 2018.

John Earl Reese | Zinn Education Project

Oct. 22, 1955: John Earl Reese Murdered

In an effort to stop the implementation of Brown v. Board through terrorism, 16-yr-old John Earl Reese was killed in Mayflower, Texas.

Harry Belafonte | Zinn Education Project

Oct. 25, 1958: Youth March for Integrated Schools

A. Philip Randolph, Jackie Robinson, Coretta Scott King, Harry Belafonte, Bayard Rustin, and more led a Youth March for Integrated Schools in Washington, D.C.

Jan. 5, 1931: Lemon Grove Incident

Mexican-American students were barred from attending their local elementary school. The parents took the school district to court.

April 14, 1947: Mendez, et al. v. Westminster Ruling

When Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez, two California farmers, sent their children to a local school, their children were told that they would have to go to a separate facility reserved for Mexican American students.

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