Organizing Archives

Revolution by Fire: New York’s Afro-Irish Uprising of 1741, a Graphic Novel

Book — Historical fiction. By Marcus Rediker and David Lester, with Paul Buhle. 2024. 176 pages.
This book imagines outlaw fugitive John Gwin and an eclectic crew of renegades as they attempt to disrupt and overthrow the colonial social order.

March 8, 1741: New York Conspiracy

A purported conspiracy of the enslaved in New York City led to multiple fires and arsons followed by mass jailings, trials, and eventual executions of many involved.

Black Power and Palestine: Transnational Countries of Color

Book — Non-fiction. By Michael R. Fischbach. 2018. 296 pages.
Explores the connections between organizers of the Black Freedom Struggle and those struggling for Palestinian autonomy.

What Can We Learn from the Great Depression?

Book — Non-fiction. By Dana Frank. 2025. 336 pages.
Four stories of resilience, mutual aid, and radical rebellion that transforms how we understand the Great Depression.

Nov. 21, 1927: Columbine Mine Massacre

In the midst of the 1927–1928 Colorado Coal Strike, police indiscriminately opened fire on hundreds of coal miners and their families who were picketing the Columbine Mine.

Feb. 12, 1971: Raiford Florida State Prison Uprising

Prisoners at Florida State Prison in Raiford, Florida, staged a sit-down strike to protest prison conditions. The 700 incarcerated protesters were met with gunfire by prison guards, leaving 63 prisoners injured.

Freedom Was in Sight: A Graphic History of Reconstruction in the Washington, D.C., Region

Book — Non-fiction. By Kate Masur and illustrated by Elizabeth Clarke. 2024. 192 pages.
This graphic history reveals the hopes and betrayals of Reconstruction, a critical period in American history.

Guns and the Southern Freedom Struggle: What’s Missing When We Teach About Nonviolence

By Charles E. Cobb Jr.

The best way to understand this Mississippi movement episode is...as a story of organizers and the communities they were embedding themselves in during the Freedom Movement of the 1960s. Within this organizing experience, guns in the hands of supporters sometimes existed in tension with the nonviolence usually used to define movement philosophy and practice, but that more often existed in tandem with nonviolence. In other words, something more complex was at play.

March 1, 1954: The Green Feather Movement Launched

Five students from Indiana University at Bloomington (IU) started the Green Feather Movement to protest censorship.

Kid Blink Beats the World

Picture book. By Don Brown. 2004. 32 pages.
The story of the 1899 strike by the children who sold newspapers on the street for grades K-4.

Feb. 14, 2011: Wisconsin Workers Strike

The Wisconsin Workers strike involved as many as 100,000 protesters opposing the 2011 Wisconsin Act 10.

March 10, 1972: National Black Political Convention

Thousands of Black leaders gathered to create a cohesive political strategy at the National Black Political Convention in Gary, Indiana.

March 6, 2023: Tampa 5 Arrested During DeSantis Protest

Four students and a staffer at the University of South Florida faced felony charges following a rally protesting Florida governor DeSantis’ continued restrictions on and defunding of education in the state.

April 22, 1969: Student Strike Shuts Down City College of New York

With a list of five demands, Black and Puerto Rican students at City College of New York (CCNY) orchestrated a campus-wide closure that lasted more than two weeks.

A New Kind of Youth: Historically Black High Schools and Southern Student Activism, 1920-1975

Book — Non-fiction. 2022. By Jon N. Hale. 348 pages.
An examination of Black high school student activism in the civil rights era, illustrating how Black youth supported liberatory movements and inspired their elders across the South.

Journey for Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong

Picture book. By Dawn Bohulano Mabalon and Gayle Romasanta. Illustrated by Andre Sibayan. 2018.
The first nonfiction illustrated Filipino-American history book for children tells the story of labor activist Larry Itliong, who organized farmworkers on the West Coast in the mid-20th century.

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.

Dismantling Mass Incarceration: A Handbook for Change

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by James Forman, Premal Dharia, and Maria Hawilo. 2024. 496 pages.
Surveys various approaches to confronting the carceral state, exploring bold but practical interventions involving police, prosecutors, public defenders, judges, prisons, and even life after prison.

Triangle Factory Fire | Zinn Education Project

March 25, 1911: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

A fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory took the lives of 146 workers, mostly young immigrant women.

Oct. 16, 1859: Abolitionist Raid on Harpers Ferry

An abolitionist raid against a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia in an attempt to start an armed revolt against the institution of slavery.

April 3, 1934: Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union

The Southern Tenant Farmers Union broke away from a larger organization and became a racially integrated workers union.

Si, Se Puede! Yes, We Can!: Janitor Strike in L.A.

Picture book. By Diana Cohn and illustrated by Francisco Delgado. 2008. 31 pages.
A children's book based on the true story of the Justice for Janitors strike.

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.

Organizing Your Own: The White Fight for Black Power in Detroit

Book — Non-fiction. By Say Burgin. 2024. 304 pages.
Shows that the Black freedom movement never experienced a “white purge,” and offers a new way of understanding Black Power’s relationship to white people in United States.

March on Washington | Zinn Education Project

Claiming and Teaching the 1963 March on Washington

By Bill Fletcher Jr.

August 28 marks the anniversary of the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Publicly associated with Dr. King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech, this march brought more than 250,000 people to the nation’s capital. The day went down in history as a powerful show of force against Jim Crow segregation. Over time this great event has risen to levels of near mythology. The powerful speech by Dr. King, replayed, in part, for us every January on Martin Luther King Day, has eclipsed all else — so much so that too many people believe that the March on Washington was entirely the work of Dr. King. It is also barely remembered that the March on Washington was for freedom and jobs.

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