Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow and Norm Diamond. 4 pages.
Activity for students to write from the point of view of one of the women featured in the film Union Maids.
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Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow and Norm Diamond. 14 pages.
In this role play activity, students assume the roles of union members and attempt to figure out how to respond to a threatened plant closure.
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Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow and Norm Diamond. 7 pages.
Students explore the power of songs to build solidarity and increase understanding. This is the final activity from Bigelow and Diamond’s labor history book, The Power in Our Hands, and draws on the other lessons.
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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.
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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.
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Teaching Activity. By Adam Renner, Bridget Brew, and Crystal Proctor. Rethinking Schools. 5 pages.
An article describing how math teachers in a San Francisco high school shed light on the ways economics and racism affect education, housing, and job opportunities.
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Teaching Activity. By Katharine Johnson. Rethinking Schools. 10 pages.
An elementary school teacher introduces the history of redlining through a role play designed for 1st and 2nd graders.
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Book — Non-fiction. By Howard Zinn, edited by Richard Kreitner. 2014. 215 pages.
A collection of articles spanning 50 years, by and about Howard Zinn, originally published in The Nation magazine.
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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.
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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.
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Film. Produced by Bill Brummel. Learning for Justice. 2015. 40 minutes.
Documentary about the students and teachers of Selma, Alabama who fought for voting rights.
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Teaching Activity. Teaching for Change. 2015. 20 pages.
Introductory lesson on key people and events in the long history of the Selma freedom movement.
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A peaceful demonstration in Chicago for the eight-hour day ended in tragedy when the police barged in and a bomb exploded.
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Book — Non-fiction. By James Green. 2015. 448 pages.
History of one of the most protracted and deadly labor struggles in U.S. history that was waged in West Virginia.
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Article. By James Baldwin. October 16, 1963.
Baldwin addresses the challenges of education to prepare children to grapple with the myths and realities of U.S. history.
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International Workers’ Day began as a commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket massacre in Chicago.
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Teaching Activity. By Adam Sanchez. Rethinking Schools. 24 pages.
A series of role plays that explore the history and evolution of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, including freedom rides and voter registration.
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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.
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The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, known as the United States Bill of Rights, were ratified.
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The South Carolina constitutional convention met with a majority of Black delegates, adopting a constitution that provided for all people regardless of race, economic class, or gender.
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Book — Non-fiction. By Naomi Klein. 2018. 91 pages.
Post-Hurricane Maria, Puerto Ricans are engaged in a pitched struggle with "disaster capitalists" over how to remake the island.
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Article. By Bill Bigelow. Rethinking Schools, Winter 2018.
The “just transition” away from fossil fuels can also be a move toward a society that is cleaner, more equal, and more democratic.
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Film. Directed by Mark Lopez. Written by Mark Lopez and Richard Rothstein. 2019. 18 minutes.
An animated documentary of how the federal, state and local governments unconstitutionally segregated every major metropolitan area in the U.S. through law and policy.
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Book — Non-fiction. By Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick. Adapted by Susan Campbell Bartoletti and Eric S. Singer. Vol 1. 2014. 400 pages. Vol 2. 2019. 320 pages.
These are two volumes of illustrated histories, adapted for students from a documentary book and film of the same name.
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