Racism & Racial Identity Archives

The History All Around Us: Roosevelt High School and the 1968 Eastside Blowouts

Teaching Activity. By Brian C. Gibbs. Rethinking Schools. 6 pages.
A teacher uses the activist history of Theodore Roosevelt High School in East Los Angeles to pose students the question: “What would you be willing to do to create change?"

Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama’s Black Belt

Book — Non-fiction. By Hasan Kwame Jeffries. 2010. 372 pages.
History of the role that activists in Lowndes County played in spurring Black activists nationwide to fight for civil and human rights in new and more radical ways.

On the Road to Voting Rights: Freedom Day in Selma, 1963

Article. By Howard Zinn. Excerpt from Chapter 5 of You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train.
Howard Zinn’s first-hand account of Selma’s Freedom Day in 1963.

Malcolm X: Make It Plain

Film. Written by Steve Fayer and Orlando Bagwell. 1994. 138 minutes.
Documentary film on the life and words of Malcolm X/ El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz.

To Write in the Light of Freedom: The Newspapers of the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Schools

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by William Sturkey and Jon N. Hale. 2015. 176 pages.
A collection and examination of the creative literary work of students published during 1964 Freedom Summer in Mississippi.

Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir

Book — Non-fiction and prose. Deborah A. Miranda. 2012. 240 pages.
A compilation of documents, photos, and memoir that recounts the establishment of missions in California and the impact on Indigenous people—then and today.

Teaching Activity by Deborah A. Miranda

June 12, 1963: Medgar Evers Murdered in Mississippi

Medgar Evers, WWII veteran and civil rights activist, was murdered by a white supremacist in Jackson, Mississippi.

The Voting Rights Act: Ten Things You Should Know

Article. By Emilye Crosby and Judy Richardson. 2015.
Key points in the history of the 1965 Voting Rights Act missing from most textbooks.

Teaching Activity by Emilye Crosby

African Americans Against the Bomb: Nuclear Weapons, Colonialism, and the Black Freedom Movement

Book — Non-fiction. By Vincent Intondi. 2015. 224 pages.
History of Black activists who fought for nuclear disarmament.

Teaching Activity by Vincent Intondi

Counter Histories

Digital Collection. Produced by John T. Edge and the Southern Foodways Alliance; directed by Kate Medley.
Five short films that document the civil disobedience staged at segregated lunch counters in the 1950s and 60s.

Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer

Picture book. By Carole Boston Weatherford. Illustrated by Ekua Holmes. 2015. 45 pages.
Illustrated biography of Fannie Lou Hamer, activist for voting and economic rights from Mississippi.

Dayshaun’s Gift

Book — Historical fiction. By Zetta Elliott. 2015. 88 pages.
Time travelling historical fiction for upper elementary school students on the New York City Draft Riots.

Reconstructing the South: A Role Play

Lesson. By Bill Bigelow. 17 pages.
This role play engages students in thinking about what freedpeople needed in order to achieve — and sustain — real freedom following the Civil War. It's followed by a chapter from the book Freedom's Unfinished Revolution.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

The Reconstruction Era and the Fragility of Democracy

Teaching Guide. By Facing History and Ourselves. 2015.
A collection of lessons, videos, and primary sources to teach about Reconstruction.

A Short History of Reconstruction, Updated Edition

Book — Non-fiction. By Eric Foner. 2015. 352 pages.
A people's history view of the Reconstruction era.

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America

Book — Non-fiction. By Richard Rothstein. 2017. 368 pages.
A history of the laws and policy decisions passed by local, state, and federal governments that promoted racial segregation.

Teaching Activity by Richard Rothstein

The Era of Reconstruction, 1861-1900

Book — Non-fiction. By National Park Service. 2017. 165 pages.
A theme study on the history of the Reconstruction era.

Now Can We Talk? 40 Years Later

Film. By Lee Anne Bell and Markie Hancock. 2013. 45 minutes.
This DVD and discussion guide offer a powerful way to engage students, teachers, and community groups in honest dialogue about the ongoing problems of racism and what we can do to address them.

Teaching Untold Stories During Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

By Moé Yonamine

“They’re Latinos . . . I think they’re some kind of farm workers.”

“No, they’re Asians with name tags.”

And then a student in a quiet voice walked by me slowly and muttered, “I think something really bad is happening to them.”

My students at Roosevelt High School in Portland, Oregon — one of the state’s most racially diverse schools — studied each black and white photo posted around the room, inspecting the background and the facial expressions; confused, anxious, frustrated. They began a journey to uncover the hidden story of the Japanese Latin American removal, internment, and deportation during World War II.