Racism & Racial Identity Archives

May 13, 1968: Detroit Police Attack Poor People’s Campaign

On its way to Washington, D.C., the Poor People’s Campaign was attacked by the police in Detroit.

Medgar Evers

Profile. By Dernoral Davis.
Medgar Evers (July 2, 1925—June 12, 1963), Civil Rights Movement activist in Mississippi.

Teaching Activity. By Gayle Olson-Raymer. 18 pages.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 7 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on the American policy of "Manifest Destiny" and Native American resistance to their own displacement.

Sylvia & Aki

Book — Historical fiction. By Winifred Conkling. 2011. 160 pages.
Based on the true story of two girls who meet in 1940s California and a landmark lawsuit on education.

The Sum of Us: How Racism Hurts Everyone (Young Readers’ Edition)

Book — Non-fiction. By Heather McGhee. 2023. 240 pages.
This young readers’ edition analyzes racism in U.S. politics and policymaking, and provides a potential path forward through solidarity.

Dec. 3, 1955: Clinton Melton Killed

Just four months after the brutal murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in nearby Money, Mississippi, Clinton Melton was shot and killed while working at a gas station in nearby Glendora, Mississippi.

Aug. 21, 1860: Eliza Winston Wins Freedom via Courts

Enslaved African American Eliza Winston was freed from her Mississippi owner in a Minneapolis court.

Woman screaming at Elizabeth Ann Eckford | Zinn Education Project

“A School Year Like No Other”: Eyes on the Prize: “Fighting Back: 1957-1962”

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. Rethinking Schools. 7 pages.
A companion lesson to the Eyes on the Prize segment on school desegregation.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

Teaching A People’s History of the March on Washington

Teaching Activity. By Jessica Lovaas and Adam Sanchez. Rethinking Schools. 2021. Updated in 2023.
A lesson with case studies from Los Angeles; Birmingham, Alabama; Brooklyn; Detroit; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Albany, Georgia; and Cambridge, Maryland — to introduce students to the diverse struggles across the United States that were represented at the March on Washington.

Teaching Activity by Adam Sanchez

Simulating Redlining: When “Race Was the Real Currency”

Teaching Activity. By Adam Sanchez. Rethinking Schools.
A high school social studies teacher describes a classroom simulation where students experience the effects of decades of racist federal housing policies.

Rethinking Teaching About the USPHS Untreated Syphilis Study at Tuskegee: A Revision that Centers Resistance

Teaching Activity. By Gretchen Kraig-Turner. 2024. Rethinking Schools.
A high school science teacher revises her lesson on the USPHS Untreated Syphilis Study at Tuskegee to center resistance.

Aug. 14, 1908: Springfield Massacre

This massacre was committed against African Americans by a mob of about 5,000 white people in Springfield, Illinois.

Statue of Octavius Catto with people gathered around it

Oct. 10, 1871: Octavius Catto Killed on Election Day in Philadelphia

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Black educator, baseball player, and civil rights activist Octavius V. Catto was murdered by a white supremacist on election day.

Feb. 26, 2012: Trayvon Martin Murdered

Trayvon Martin, a Black teenager, was murdered. The death of Martin and acquittal of the man who shot him sparked the national and global Movement for Black Lives.

June 29, 1820: The Antelope Ship Arrived in Savannah

Two hundred and eighty one Africans aboard The Antelope ship were brought to Savannah by the U.S. Treasury.

Greensboro Massacre Protest (photo) | Zinn Education Project

Nov. 3, 1979: Greensboro Massacre

Five people were killed when the Ku Klux Klan and Nazis fired on an anti-Klan rally in Greensboro, North Carolina.

June 27, 2015: Bree Newsome Removes Confederate Flag

While politicians debated the implications of taking down the Confederate flag after the white supremacist murder of nine African Americans at Emmanuel AME Church, Bree Newsome scaled the South Carolina state flag pole and took the flag down.

On July 16, 1960, seven students from Sterling High along with college freshman, Jesse Jackson, entered the library and were arrested. This group became known as the Greenville Eight.

July 16, 1960: Greenville Eight Stage Read-In at Local Library

In an act of civil disobedience against the whites-only Greenville County Public Library, eight young Black people entered the library, began reading, and were subsequently arrested. They became known as the Greenville Eight, and the library finally desegregated months later after many legal battles.