June 16, 1976: Soweto Uprising
Student-led protests in South Africa that began in response to the introduction of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in local schools.
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Theme: Racism & Racial Identity
Racism & Racial Identity
June 21, 1925: Black Baseball Team Beats Klan Players
The Wichita Monrovians bested a squad fielded by the white-supremacist Ku Klux Klan terrorist organization at the height of Jim Crow apartheid.
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July 7, 1948: Katz Drug Store Denies Service to Edna Griffin
When WWII veteran Edna Griffin was denied service at a Des Moines drug store, she took the company to court and the lawsuit became a test case.
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The Strange Careers of the Jim Crow North: Segregation and Struggle Outside of the South
Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Brian Purnell and Jeanne Theoharis with Komozi Woodard. 2019. 352 pages.
This important work shows how the Jim Crow North maintained inequality in the nation’s most liberal places, and chronicles how activists worked to undo those inequities born of Northern Jim Crow.
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This important work shows how the Jim Crow North maintained inequality in the nation’s most liberal places, and chronicles how activists worked to undo those inequities born of Northern Jim Crow.
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You
Book — Non-fiction. By Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds. 2020. 320 pages.
Described as 'Stamped from the Beginning' "remixed," this young adult book brings African American history into sharp focus as context for the here and now.
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Described as 'Stamped from the Beginning' "remixed," this young adult book brings African American history into sharp focus as context for the here and now.
Who’s to Blame? A People’s Tribunal on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Teaching Activity. By Caneisha Mills.
This people’s tribunal begins with the premise that a heinous crime is being committed as tens of millions of people’s lives are in danger due to COVID-19. But who was responsible for this crime? Students weigh the evidence.
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This people’s tribunal begins with the premise that a heinous crime is being committed as tens of millions of people’s lives are in danger due to COVID-19. But who was responsible for this crime? Students weigh the evidence.
“Riots,” Racism, and the Police: Students Explore a Century of Police Conduct and Racial Violence
Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca.
Students explore three documents produced in the wake of three major episodes of racial violence (1919, 1967, 2014) to understand the long trajectory of police violence in Black communities.
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Students explore three documents produced in the wake of three major episodes of racial violence (1919, 1967, 2014) to understand the long trajectory of police violence in Black communities.
Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice
Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Denisha Jones and Jesse Hagopian. 2020.
This collection of writings offers lessons from successful challenges to institutional racism that have been won through the grassroots Black Lives Matter at School movement.
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This collection of writings offers lessons from successful challenges to institutional racism that have been won through the grassroots Black Lives Matter at School movement.
They Left Great Marks on Me: African American Testimonies of Racial Violence from Emancipation to World War I
Book — Non-fiction. By Kidada Williams. 2012. 281 pages.
This book documents African Americans' testimonies about racial violence during Jim Crow, and the crusades against that violence that became political training grounds for the Civil Rights Movement.
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This book documents African Americans' testimonies about racial violence during Jim Crow, and the crusades against that violence that became political training grounds for the Civil Rights Movement.
Reconstruction: Repression and Resistance
In a people's history online class, Professor Kidada Williams and Tiffany Mitchell Patterson discussed African American survivors of racist violence in the context of Reconstruction, drawing parallels to the contemporary moment.
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May 23, 1914: Indian Migrants on the Komagata Maru Denied Entry Into Canada
Nearly 400 South Asian immigrants — many of whom were Sikh — steamed into Vancouver’s harbor on the Japanese ship Komagata Maru in search of a new home, but were blocked from docking and disembarking due to racist immigration policies.
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The Colored Conventions Movement: Black Organizing in the Nineteenth Century
Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Gabrielle Foreman, Jim Casey, and Sarah Patterson. Introduction by P. Gabrielle Foreman. 2021.
This volume of essays is the first to focus on the Colored Conventions movement, the nineteenth century’s longest campaign for Black civil rights.
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This volume of essays is the first to focus on the Colored Conventions movement, the nineteenth century’s longest campaign for Black civil rights.
Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre
Picture book. By Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Floyd Cooper. 2021. 32 pages.
This children's book centers the history of the thriving Black community of Greenwood before the 1921 Tulsa Massacre.
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This children's book centers the history of the thriving Black community of Greenwood before the 1921 Tulsa Massacre.
Teaching After Georgia Victory and Attempted Coup
How to contextualize and frame the two major political events of Jan. 6, 2021: An historic grassroots organizing victory in Georgia and an attempted coup at the U.S. Capitol.
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Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight against Medical Discrimination
Book — Non-fiction. By Alondra Nelson. 2013.
Drawing on extensive historical research as well as interviews with former members of the Black Panther Party, Alondra Nelson documents the Party’s focus on health care.
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Drawing on extensive historical research as well as interviews with former members of the Black Panther Party, Alondra Nelson documents the Party’s focus on health care.
Feb. 2 and 5, 1951: Virginia Executes the Martinsville Seven
In 1951, the Commonwealth of Virginia executed seven Black men despite a national campaign in their defense.
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The First Rainbow Coalition
Film. Directed and produced by Ray Santisteban. Nantes Media LLC. 2019. 56 minutes.
In this documentary, Chicago's Black Panther Party forms alliances across lines of race and ethnicity with other community-based movements in the city to collectively confront issues such as police brutality and substandard housing.
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In this documentary, Chicago's Black Panther Party forms alliances across lines of race and ethnicity with other community-based movements in the city to collectively confront issues such as police brutality and substandard housing.
The Lost Education of Horace Tate: Uncovering the Hidden Heroes Who Fought for Justice in Schools
Book — Non-fiction. By Vanessa Siddle Walker. 2018.
This history tells the little-known story of how Black educators in the South laid the groundwork for 1954’s Brown v. Board of Education and weathered its aftermath.
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This history tells the little-known story of how Black educators in the South laid the groundwork for 1954’s Brown v. Board of Education and weathered its aftermath.
Racial Equity Tools (Website)
Website.
RET offers research, tips, curricula, and ideas for people who want to increase their own understanding and to help those working for racial justice at every level.
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March 13, 2020: Breonna Taylor Killed by Louisville Police
Louisville police officers opened fire in the home of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor, shooting and killing her.
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To ‘Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women’s Lives and Labors After the Civil War
Book — Non-fiction. By Tera W. Hunter. 1998.
An examination of post-Civil War lives of African American women, focusing on their labor organizing, leisure, hope, and struggle.
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An examination of post-Civil War lives of African American women, focusing on their labor organizing, leisure, hope, and struggle.
May 13, 1985: Philadelphia Police Bomb MOVE
The Philadelphia Police Department dropped a C-4 bomb on the home of the MOVE organization, killing eleven people (including five children) and wiping out half a city block.
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Echoes of Enslavement
Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca.
Students discover “echoes of enslavement” in their own state — discrete sites of remembering, forgetting, honoring, lying, or distorting — in this lesson based on the book How the Word Is Passed by Clint Smith.
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Students discover “echoes of enslavement” in their own state — discrete sites of remembering, forgetting, honoring, lying, or distorting — in this lesson based on the book How the Word Is Passed by Clint Smith.
Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People
Book — Non-Fiction. By Kekla Magoon. 2021.
An account of militant revolutionaries and human rights advocates working to defend and protect their community.
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An account of militant revolutionaries and human rights advocates working to defend and protect their community.
Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage
Book — Non-fiction. By William Loren Katz. 2012. 272 pages.
History book for ages 10 to adult that traces relations between Blacks and American Indians since the time of the conquest.
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History book for ages 10 to adult that traces relations between Blacks and American Indians since the time of the conquest.