Racism & Racial Identity Archives

Ten Things You Should Know About Selma Before You See the Film

By Emilye Crosby

On each anniversary year of the Selma-to-Montgomery March and the Voting Rights Act it helped inspire, national media focus on the iconic images of “Bloody Sunday,” the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the interracial marchers, and President Lyndon Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act. This version of history, emphasizing a top-down narrative and isolated events, reinforces the master narrative that civil rights activists describe as “Rosa sat down, Martin stood up, and the white folks came south to save the day.”

Here are 10 points to keep in mind about Selma’s civil rights history.

Bombed out cars by Jo Freeman | Zinn Education Project

‘Is This America?’: Sharecroppers Challenged Mississippi Apartheid, LBJ, and the Nation

By Julian Hipkins III and Deborah Menkart

Fannie Lou Hamer gripped the nation with her televised testimony of being forced from her home and brutally beaten (suffering permanent kidney damage) for attempting to exercise her constitutional right to vote.

“Is this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, where our lives be threatened daily, because we want to live as decent human beings?” she asked the credentials committee at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Sept. 15, 1963: 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing

The 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed in an act of terrorism in Birmingham, Alabama.

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, 10th anniversary edition

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

Book — Non-fiction. By Michelle Alexander. Introduction by Cornel West. 2010, updated 10th-anniversary edition released in 2020. 336 pages.
A critical analysis of the role the justice system plays in the oppression of African Americans in the United States.

June 30, 1966: Virginia Censorship Board Ceases Operations

The Virginia Division of Motion Picture Censorship, which racists used to promulgate white supremacy and negative stereotypes of African Americans since 1922, ceased operations.

We Shall Remain (Film) | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

We Shall Remain: America Through Native Eyes

Film. PBS. 2009. 450 minutes.
Three hundred years of Native American history.

Black Abolitionists

Profiles. Zinn Education Project. 2014. Brief biographies of 25 Black abolitionists.

Stealing Home: Eminent Domain, Urban Renewal, and the Loss of Community

Teaching Activity. By Linda Christensen. Rethinking Schools. 9 pages.
Teaching about patterns of displacement and wealth inequality through the history of Palo Verde, La Loma, and Bishop communities and the building of Dodger Stadium.

Teaching Activity by Linda Christensen

July 10, 1902: Nicolás Guillén Born

Cuban poet of social protest and a leader of the Afro-Cuban movement, Nicolás Guillén was born.

What We Don’t Learn About the Black Panther Party — but Should

Teaching Activity. By Adam Sanchez and Jesse Hagopian. Rethinking Schools. 33 pages.
A mixer lesson introduces students to the pivotal history of the Black Panthers.

Two Thumbs Up: Movies and Documentaries to Use (and Avoid) When Teaching Civil Rights

Article from "Understanding and Teaching the Civil Rights Movement" edited by Hasan Kwame Jeffries.
A critical review of films on the Civil Rights Movement and institutionalized racism, with dozens of recommendations of films to watch and those to avoid.

Teaching With Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All

Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. 25 pages.
Students engage in an interactive activity with short excerpts from Martha Jones’ book to learn about the leading role of Black women in the fight for voting rights throughout U.S. history.

Photo of flooded New Orleans, Louisiana, September 11, 2005.

Aug. 29, 2005: Hurricane Katrina Strikes Louisiana

In September 2005, Hurricane Katrina, the third deadliest storm in U.S. history, took a disproportionate toll on the Gulf Coast’s Black residents. The impact of Katrina is still felt today for Gulf Coast residents.

Jan. 10, 1942: Lee Street Massacre

A month after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Black soldiers on R&R in the town of Alexandria, Louisiana were attacked by local and military police, with dozens murdered and countless others injured in this brutal instance of Jim Crow violence.

Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future

Book — Non-fiction. By Jason Stanley. 2026. 272 pages.
A global call to action for those who wish to preserve democracy — in the United States and abroad — before it is too late.

Jan. 1, 1862: Parkersburg Colored School Founded

The first free school south of the Mason-Dixon Line was established in Parkersburg, West Virginia, during the Civil War.

Race, Class, and the Constitutional Convention

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. 2025. 36 pages.
This is a unit with three lessons. The first invites students to think critically about key issues that confronted the framers of the Constitution — examining the perspectives not only of the elites attending the actual Constitutional Convention, but also of enslaved African Americans, poor white farmers, and white workers. The other two lessons are: The Constitutional Convention: Who Really Won? — with students exploring whose interests the Constitution advanced — and Federalist Paper #10: Suppressing “Wicked Projects,” a critical reading activity on James Madison's seminal defense of the Constitution.

On a MOVE: Repairing Histories of State Violence

Activist Mike Africa Jr. and scholar Dr. Krystal Strong joined Rethinking Schools editor Jesse Hagopian to discuss the story of the MOVE organization, repairing histories of state violence, and the “On a MOVE” curriculum project in Philadelphia. This class was part of the Zinn Education Project’s Teach the Black Freedom Struggle online people’s history series.

How We Get Free (Updated 2nd Edition)

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor. 2026. 264 pages.
A collection of essays and interviews with founding members of the Combahee River Collective and contemporary activists who reflect on the organization’s contributions to Black feminism and its impact on today’s struggles.

“Semiquincentennial Blues” – Teaching the 250th Anniversary of the United States through Blues Poetry

Teaching Activity. By Jesse Hagopian. 2025. 19 pages.
A lesson for the 250th anniversary of the U.S. founding exploring the blues as both a cultural art form and a vehicle for political resistance.

Until the Last Gun Is Silent

Book — Non-fiction. By Matthew F. Delmont. 2026. 368 pages.
The history of the Vietnam War with a focus on the African American experience in the antiwar movement and as returning soldiers.

Backtalker: An American Memoir

Book — Non-fiction. By Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw. 2026. 400 pages.
This memoir traces the way Crenshaw’s lived experiences led her to articulate the concepts of intersectionality and critical race theory.

Cane Warriors

Book — Historical fiction. By Alex Wheatle. 2020. 192 pages.
Cane Warriors follows the true story of Tacky's War in Jamaica in 1760.

May 14, 1969: School Librarian’s Lawsuit Against Discrimination

Carrie Coleman Robinson, a Black school librarian in Alabama, brought a landmark case to the U.S. District Court alleging that Alabama’s Department of Education denied her equal protection as a department employee because of her race.

Liberty’s Forgotten Hero: The Revolutionary Life of James Forten

Picture book. By Kesha L. Grant, with illustrations by Anastasia Magloire Williams. 2026. 48 pages.
Tells the story of James Forten, who served in the American Revolution and then dedicated his life to fighting for the ideals set forth by the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal.”

Time Period

Theme

Resource Type

Grade

Keywords