Imperialism Archives

The Overthrow of Democracy in Chile — A Timeline

Article. Timeline by Bill Bigelow. 2023.
A timeline of the overthrow of democracy in Chile — the fall of Salvador Allende and the rise of Augusto Pinochet.

La historia del pueblo de Estados Unidos para jóvenes

Book — Non-fiction. By Howard Zinn, adapted by Rebecca Stefoff with additions by Ed Morales. Translated by Hugo García Manríquez. 2023. 608 pages.
A Spanish translation of the young adult version of the best-selling A People’s History of the United States.

The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic

Book — Non-fiction. By Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker. 2013. 448 pages.
A sweeping history of the role of the dispossessed in the making of the modern world.

We Are Still Here!: Native American Truths Everyone Should Know

Picture book. By Traci Sorell, and illustrated by Frane Lessac. 2021. 40 pages.
Twelve Native American kids present historical and contemporary laws, policies, struggles, and victories in Native life.

July 30, 1975: Massacre in El Salvador

Dozens of high school and university students in a peaceful protest were killed and injured by the U.S. backed Salvadoran police and National Guard.

A Plaque in Jamaica commemorating Tacky's Rebellion

April 7, 1760: Tacky’s Rebellion Began

Inspired by the First Maroon War, a group of enslaved Ghanaian rebels in Jamaica sought to overthrow the British colonialists and create an independent Black nation on the island.

Outdoor portrait of Navajo Treaty signers at Fort Sumner, June 1868.

June 1, 1868: Navajo Treaty of 1868

Bringing an end to the Navajo Wars, the Navajo Treaty of 1868 created a sovereign nation for the Navajo peoples and returned those interned at Fort Sumner following the Long Walk.

April 4, 1985: Students Blockade Columbia Univ. to Protest Apartheid

The successful 1985 student blockade of Hamilton Hall lasted for three weeks, as students demanded that Columbia University divest from corporations profiting from apartheid South Africa.

book cover showing freedom riders protesting near a bus

A Young People’s History of the United States: Revised and Updated

Book — Non-fiction. By Howard Zinn, adapted by Rebecca Stefoff with additions by Ed Morales. 2022. 544 pages.
A young adult version of the best-selling A People’s History of the United States, ideal for 6th through 9th grade students.

Image from an American Friends Service Committee traveling art exhibit called Windows and Mirrors: Reflections on the War in Afghanistan.

Oct. 7, 2001: United States and U.K. Began War in Afghanistan

The United States and United Kingdom began the war in Afghanistan.

A Revolution of Values

Teaching Activity. By Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 3 pages.
Text of speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the Vietnam War, followed by three teaching ideas.

Rethinking the Vietnam War | Zinn Education Project

Rethinking the Teaching of the Vietnam War

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. Rethinking Schools. 8 pages.
A role play on the history of the Vietnam War that is left out of traditional textbooks.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

A Moment in the Sun

Book — Fiction. By John Sayles. 2011. 955 pages.
Spanning five years and half a dozen countries, Sayles' novel of historical fiction paints a picture of the late 1890s — from the racist coup in Wilmington, North Carolina, to the bloody dawn of U.S. interventionism in Cuba and the Philippines.

May 6, 1882: Chinese Exclusion Act Signed

The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act was signed, prohibiting Chinese immigration to the United States.

June 10, 2018: Ancestral Land Returned to Ponca Tribe

Along the “Trail of Tears” in Neligh, Nebraska, a farmer signed a deed to return ancestral land to the Ponca Tribe.

Brown University students on strike in 1970, holding signs, protesting in a large crown on campus.

May 5, 1970: Brown University Student Strike

Students at Brown University went on strike to demand that the university take a stand against the escalation of the Vietnam War into neighboring Cambodia.

April 30, 1975: End of U.S. War Against Vietnam

April 30 marks the end of the U.S. war in Vietnam — the capture by Vietnamese forces of Saigon in 1975.

Oct. 25, 1977: Puerto Rican Nationalists Occupy Statue of Liberty

Puerto Rican nationalists and their supporters occupied the Statue of Liberty, hanging the Puerto Rican flag from Lady Liberty’s crown and demanding the release of five U.S.-held Puerto Rican political prisoners.

Odawa Chief Pontiac Meets with Gladwin | Zinn Education Project

July 31, 1763: Chief Pontiac Wins Battle of Bloody Run at Fort Detroit

Fighting alongside Odawa Chief Pontiac, the unified Native warriors defeated 250 British soldiers during their siege at Fort Detroit during Pontiac’s War.

Grenada education poster| Zinn Education Project

Grenada: ‘A Lovely Little War’

By Bill Bigelow

Anti-bullying curricula are the rage these days. But the official history curriculum teachers are provided often celebrates, or at least excuses, bullying among nations. Well, at least when the United States is the bully.

A good example is the U.S. invasion of Grenada — Operation Urgent Fury, as it was called by the Reagan administration — launched on Oct. 25, 1983. Grenada made an unlikely target of U.S. military might. Its main product was not oil but nutmeg. Its naval fleet consisted of about 10 fishing trawlers. Grenada’s population of 110,000 was smaller than Peoria, Illinois. At the time of the invasion, there was not a single stoplight in the entire country. So what put Grenada in the crosshairs of the Reagan administration?

Voices From the Plain of Jars: Life Under an Air War

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Fred Branfman. 2013 (original edition, 1972). 196 pages.
Essays, drawings, and poems by Laotian villagers who survived almost 10 years of widespread, persistent, and devastating bombing during the Vietnam War in a covert operation in Laos.

Theme: Imperialism

The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic

We Are Still Here!: Native American Truths Everyone Should Know

April 7, 1760: Tacky’s Rebellion Began

June 1, 1868: Navajo Treaty of 1868

April 4, 1985: Students Blockade Columbia Univ. to Protest Apartheid

May 6, 1882: Chinese Exclusion Act Signed

June 10, 2018: Ancestral Land Returned to Ponca Tribe

Voices From the Plain of Jars: Life Under an Air War

May 4, 2016: Indigenous People March to Demand Revocation of the Doctrine of Discovery

Sept. 21, 1976: Sheridan Circle Car Bomb

Aug. 18, 1823: The Demerara Uprising

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