Organizing Archives

‘Repeat After Me: The United States Is Not an Imperialist Country — Oh, and Don’t Get Emotional About War’

By Bill Bigelow

You may have seen that an administrative law judge in Arizona, Lewis Kowal, just upheld the decree by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction that Tucson’s Mexican American Studies program violates state law. Judge Kowal found that the Tucson program was teaching Latino history and culture “in a biased, political, and emotionally charged manner.” According to CNN, one lesson that the judge objected to taught that the historic treatment of Mexican Americans was “marked by the use of force, fraud and exploitation.”

Try this “history detective” experiment. Ask the next person you encounter to tell you what they know about the U.S. war with Mexico. More than likely, this will be a short conversation, because that war (1846-48) merits barely a footnote in U.S. history textbooks.

Fasanella - The Great Strike | Zinn Education Project

One Hundred Years After the Singing Strike

By Norm Diamond

Today’s Occupy movement is a reminder that throughout U.S. history a major engine of change has been grassroots organizing and solidarity. As an old Industrial Workers of the World song goes:

An injury to one, we say’s an injury to all, United we’re unbeatable, divided we must fall. —“Dublin Dan” Liston, The Portland Revolution

Major history textbooks, however, downplay the role of ordinary people in shaping events, especially those who formed labor unions and used the strike to assert their rights. One of the most significant strikes in U.S. history occurred exactly 100 years ago, in the Lawrence, Mass. textile mills, and yet it merits barely a mention in the most widely used U.S. history textbooks.

A confrontation between a policeman wielding a nightstick and a striker during the San Francisco General Strike, 1934.

May 9, 1934: Longshore Strike

Starting in the spring of 1934, longshoremen across every port on the West Coast struck against the unfair hiring tactics that they experienced daily.

Sept. 29, 1951: “A Call to Negro Women” Sojourners for Truth and Justice

A decade before the March on Washington, a group of Black women known as the Sojourners for Truth and Justice gathered in Washington D.C. to advocate for their rights.

Oct. 17, 1950: Empire Zinc Strike

The local chapter of the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers went on strike to protest their segregated housing and unfair wages and living conditions.

Aug. 15 and 17, 1973: Two Striking United Farm Workers Killed

Two striking United Farm Workers (UFW) were killed on Aug. 15 and 17, 1973, while picketing.

Freedom Song

Film. By Phil Alden Robinson. 2006. 117 minutes.
Based on the actual history of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), student activism, and voter registration in McComb, Mississippi, during the Civil Rights Movement.

Sept. 20, 1830: The First Meeting of the Colored Conventions Movement

Forty African Americans, elected by communities in nine states, met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1830 to organize for improving the lives of Black people in North America. That week, they founded the National Colored Conventions movement and held its first official series of formal meetings.

Sept. 23, 1968: Young Lords Founded

The Young Lords were established in Chicago, Illinois in 1968, led by a street activist named Cha Cha Jiménez, who organized the group to fight local gentrification, police brutality, and racism.

Oct. 15, 1966: The Black Panther Party Founded

The Black Panther Party sought justice for African Americans and other oppressed communities through a combination of revolutionary theory, education, and community programs.

Salt of the Earth

Film. By Herbert Biberman. 1954. 94 minutes.
This classic, powerful film about a miners strike in New Mexico can be used to teach about the intersection of class, race, national origin, and gender.

After Gandhi: One Hundred Years of Nonviolent Resistance

Book — Non-fiction. By Anne Sibley O'Brien and Perry Edmund O'Brien. 2009. 192 pages.
Stories about 15 activists who continue in the tradition of Gandhi, written and illustrated for upper elementary and middle school.

Teaching a People’s History of Abolition and the Civil War

Teaching Guide. Edited by Adam Sanchez. 2019. Rethinking Schools. 181 pages.
Students will discover the real abolition story, one about some of the most significant grassroots social movements in U.S. history.

Who Fought to End Slavery? Meet the Abolitionists

Teaching Activity. By Adam Sanchez, Brady Bennon, Deb Delman, and Jessica Lovaas.
This mixer role play introduces students to the stories of famous and lesser-known abolitionists, through biography and investigation.

‘We Had Set Ourselves Free’: Lessons on the Civil Rights Movement

Teaching Activity. By Doug Sherman. Rethinking Schools. 4 pages.
The author describes how he uses biographies and film to introduce students to the role of people involved in the Civil Rights Movement beyond the familiar heroes. He emphasizes the role and experiences of young people in the Movement.

Nov. 20, 1835: New York Committee of Vigilance Founded

Radical abolitionists organized to liberate kidnapped Black New Yorkers and fight racist police violence in the decades after New York abolished slavery.

Missing persons poster created by the FBI in 1964, shows the photographs of Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner.

June 21, 1964: Three Civil Rights Workers Murdered in Mississippi

James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman were tortured and murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in Neshoba County, Mississippi.

How to Change Everything: The Young Human’s Guide to Protecting the Planet and Each Other

Book — Non-fiction. By Naomi Klein and Rebecca Stefoff. 2021.
Young leaders are showing the world that this moment of increasingly dangerous climate change is also a moment of great opportunity — an opportunity to change everything for the better.

workers protesting against Ford Motor Co.

March 7, 1932: Hunger March Against Ford Motors

A hunger march by unemployed workers against Ford Motors.

The Neutral Ground

Film. Directed by C. J. Hunt. 2021. 82 minutes.
A co-production of POV and ITVS, in association with the Center for Asian American Media. A student-friendly documentary on the fight over Confederate monuments and the Lost Cause narrative.

The Way to Freedom: Selma and the Making of a Movement

Film. National Park Service. 2020. 23 minutes.
Documentary about the role of young people in the voting rights movement in Alabama in the 1960s.

Jan. 5, 2021: Grassroots Organizing Shifts Balance of Power in Senate

In 2021, two new Democratic lawmakers from Georgia were elected to the U.S. Senate, one of whom is only the 11th African American senator in U.S. history.

person taking photograph of photographer, book cover

Chicana Movidas: New Narratives of Activism and Feminism in the Movement Era

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Cotera, Espinoza, and Blackwell. 2018. 488 pages.
This anthology focuses on Chicana organizing, activism, and leadership and the intellectual and political legacies of early Chicana feminism.

Teaching Activity by Edited by María Eugenia Cotera, Dionne Espinoza, and Maylei Blackwell

Photograph of National Woman's Party watchfire demonstrators standing with banners and fire in urn in front of White House. One banner reads, "President Wilson is deceiving the world when he appears as the prophet of democracy. President Wilson has opposed those who demand democracy for this country. He is responsible for the disfranchisement of millions of Americans. We in America know this. The world will find him out."

Feb. 9, 1919: Women Burn Effigy of President Wilson and Demand Right to Vote

In one of the more spectacular demonstrations for women's voting rights, the National Woman’s Party burned President Woodrow Wilson in effigy in front of the White House during the campaign for the 19th Amendment.

mug shot of Wobbly Ben Fletcher, book cover

Ben Fletcher: The Life and Times of a Black Wobbly

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Peter Cole. 2021. 352 pages.
This biography details the life of Black IWW organizer Ben Fletcher and the working class struggles he took part in.

Teaching Activity by Peter Cole (editor)

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