- Zinn Education Project

Re-examining the Revolution

Background Reading. By Ray Raphael. 7 pages.
Based on his book Founding Myths, Raphael critiques the textbook portrayal of the American Revolution. The textbooks say that "a few special people forged American freedom" which "misrepresents, and even contradicts, the spirit of the American Revolution."

The Color Line

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. 6 pages.
A lesson on the countless colonial laws enacted to create division and inequality based on race. This helps students understand the origins of racism in the United States and who benefits.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow

Film. 2002. 4 episodes — 56 minutes each.
Documentary on the history of the Jim Crow era.

Rights Matter: The Story of the Bill of Rights

Teaching Guide. By Nancy Murray. 2006. 69 pages.
A free, downloadable, student-friendly booklet on the Bill of Rights, available in English and Spanish.

Half a Revolution

Teaching Activity. By Gayle Olson-Raymer. 16 pages.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 5 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on the Revolutionary War as "a rich man's war and a poor man's fight," as well as the failure of early Americans to complete a full revolution.

The Early Women’s Movement

Teaching Activity. By Gayle Olson-Raymer.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 6 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on the early women's movement, including their efforts for social, racial, and political equality.

Freedom’s Unfinished Revolution: Teaching a People’s History of Reconstruction

Article. Background reading for teachers. By Bill Bigelow. 4 pages.
A review of Freedom's Unfinished Revolution, a collection of primary documents for high school on the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

World War II and McCarthyism

Teaching Activity. By Gayle Olson-Raymer.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 16 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on domestic opposition to the "good war" and the impact of McCarthyism.

The Black Upsurge Against Racial Segregation

Teaching Activity. By Tasha Boettcher.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 17 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on the long Civil Rights Movement in America.

A People’s History of Poverty in America

Book — Non-fiction. By Stephen Pimpare. 2008. 322 pages.
A vivid description of poverty from the perspective of poor and welfare-reliant Americans, from the big city to the rural countryside.

The First American Revolution: Before Lexington and Concord

Book — Non-fiction. By Ray Raphael. 2003. 288 pages.
The events leading up to the American Revolution.

Remembering Jim Crow: African Americans Tell About Life in the Segregated South

Book — Non-fiction (with CD). Edited by William H. Chafe, Raymond Gavins and Robert Korstad. 2008. 346 pages.
Extensive oral history of African American life under segregation.

Simple Justice: The History of Brown v. Board of Education and Black America’s Struggle for Equality

Book — Non-fiction. By Richard Kluger. 2004. 880 pages.
One of the first texts, now a classic, on Brown v. Board of Education.

Teaching Activity by Richard Kluger

A People’s History of the United States: Highlights from the Twentieth Century (Audio)

Audio. By Howard Zinn. Read by Matt Damon. 2003. 8 hours, 44 minutes.
Audio book version of excerpted highlights from A People's History of the United States.

Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow

Book — Fiction. By James Sturm and Rich Tommaso with an introduction by Gerald Early. 2007. 96 pages.
Told from the point of view of a sharecropper, this narrative in graphic novel format follows baseball champion Satchel Paige as he travels throughout the segregated South.

Mendez v. Westminster: School Desegregation and Mexican-American Rights

Book — Non-fiction. By Philippa Strum. 2010. 186 pages.
Description of a pre-Brown v. Board desegregation court case involving Mexican-American families.

The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther

Book — Non-fiction. By Jeffrey Haas. 2019. 400 pages.
The life and murder of Fred Hampton as told by Jeffrey Haas, co-founder of the People’s Law Office and attorney for the plaintiffs in the federal suit Hampton v. Hanrahan.

Conscience and the Constitution

Film. By Frank Abe. 2000. 57 minutes.
In World War II, 63 Japanese Americans refused to be drafted from a U.S. concentration camp.

May It Please the Court: Live Recordings and Transcripts of Landmark Oral Arguments Made Before the Supreme Court Since 1955

Book — Non-fiction and CD. Edited by Peter Irons and Stephanie Guitton. 2007. 400 pages.
Book and CD provide a candid view of Supreme Court deliberations; includes MP3 recordings.