- Zinn Education Project

Howard Zinn: You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train

Film. By Deb Ellis and Denis Mueller. 2010. 78 minutes.
Documentary on life and work of Howard Zinn.

A Peoples History of the United States Book | Zinn Education Project

A People’s History of the United States: 1492 – Present

Book — Non-fiction. By Howard Zinn. 2005, with a new introduction by Anthony Arnove in 2015. 784 pages.
Howard Zinn's groundbreaking work on U.S. history. This book details lives and facts rarely included in textbooks—an indispensable teacher and student resource.

Salt of the Earth: Grounds Students in Hope

Teaching Activity. By S. J. Childs. Rethinking Schools. 6 pages.
The author describes how she introduces students to the classic 1953 film, Salt of the Earth, about a miners’ strike in New Mexico.

Testing, Tracking, and Toeing the Line: A Role Play on the Origins of the Modern High School

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. Rethinking Schools. 13 pages.
A role play on the origins of the modern high school allows students to question aspects of schooling they often take for granted, such as tracking (“ability grouping”) and standardized testing — and to reflect on the racial biases of these so-called reforms.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

Daughter of Earth: Reading, Writing, and Social Class

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. 7 pages.
Students read a poignant excerpt from Agnes Smedley's novel, Daughter of Earth, and use it to think and write about how schooling—their own included—teaches lessons about social class.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

Depiction of rioters and police during the New York City draft riots of 1863.

The Draft Riot Mystery

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. 9 pages.
Students are invited to solve a mystery, using historical clues, about the real story of the Draft Riots.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America

Book — Non-fiction. By Ronald Takaki, with a foreword by Clint Smith. 2023. 576 pages.
A multicultural history of the United States, in the voices of Indigenous people, African Americans, Jews, Irish Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and others.

Servitude and Rebellion

Teaching Activity. By Gayle Olsen-Raymer. 15 pages.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 3 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on the role and dissent of indentured servants in American colonial history.

Preparing the Revolution

Teaching Activity. By Gayle Olson-Raymer.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 4 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on class differences and internal dissent before and during the Revolutionary War.

Half a Revolution

Teaching Activity. By Gayle Olson-Raymer. 16 pages.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 5 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on the Revolutionary War as "a rich man's war and a poor man's fight," as well as the failure of early Americans to complete a full revolution.

The Singing Strike and the Rebel Students: Learning from the Industrial Workers of the World

Reading for Teachers. By Bill Bigelow. 7 pages.
Author describes how students applied strategies from the Lawrence strike to their own present day activism.

Teaching Activity by Bill Bigelow

Civil War and Class Conflict

Teaching Activity. By Gayle Olson-Raymer. 16 pages.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 10 of Voices of a People's History of the United States" on "The Other Civil War — the class conflict fought by the poor in the north and south.

Strikers and Populists in the Golden Age

Teaching Activity. By Gayle Olson-Raymer. 18 pages.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 11 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on the Gilded Age.

From the Jazz Age to the Uprisings of the 1930s

Teaching Activity. By Gayle Olson-Raymer. 20 pages.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 15 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on the economic and social realities of the 1920s and 1930s, as well as the corresponding rise of unions and the Communist Party.

The Black Upsurge Against Racial Segregation

Teaching Activity. By Tasha Boettcher.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 17 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on the long Civil Rights Movement in America.

Vietnam and Beyond: The Historic Resistance

Teaching Activity. By Mike Benbow and Robin Pickering. 17 pages.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 18 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on opposition to the Vietnam War.

The Carter–Reagan–Bush Consensus

Teaching Activity. By Ron Perry.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 21 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on the recently rising disparities in power, wealth and quality of life in America.

A People’s History of Poverty in America

Book — Non-fiction. By Stephen Pimpare. 2008. 322 pages.
A vivid description of poverty from the perspective of poor and welfare-reliant Americans, from the big city to the rural countryside.

Matewan

Film. Written and directed by John Sayles. 1987. 132 minutes.
A feature ﬁlm depicting a strike in a mining town in Appalachia and the struggle for solidarity across racial lines.

Chávez Ravine: A Record by Ry Cooder

Songs. By Ry Cooder. 2005. 70 minutes.
The story of the Chicano community bulldozed to pave the way for the Dodger Stadium in Santa Monica, told through bilingual songs.

Social Stratification in the United States: The American Profile Poster

Poster and book. By Stephen J. Rose. 2007; updated 2015. 56 pages.
Visual representation of the distribution of wealth in the United States.

Remembering Jim Crow: African Americans Tell About Life in the Segregated South

Book — Non-fiction (with CD). Edited by William H. Chafe, Raymond Gavins and Robert Korstad. 2008. 346 pages.
Extensive oral history of African American life under segregation.

A Power Governments Cannot Suppress

Book — Non-fiction. By Howard Zinn. 2006. 293 pages.
A collection of essays on American history, class, immigration, justice, and ordinary citizens who have made a difference.

Scraps of Time: Abby Takes a Stand, 1960

Book — Fiction. By Patricia McKissack. 2006. 112 pages.
Historical fiction about the lunch counter sit-ins for ages 9+.

A People’s History of the United States: Highlights from the Twentieth Century (Audio)

Audio. By Howard Zinn. Read by Matt Damon. 2003. 8 hours, 44 minutes.
Audio book version of excerpted highlights from A People's History of the United States.

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