World History/Global Studies Archives

Sept. 2, 1945: Vietnam Declared Independence from France

Ho Chi Minh declared the independence of Vietnam from France.

Aug. 19, 1953: U.S. and Britain Topple Democratically Elected Government of Iran

Democratically elected Iranian Premier Mohammad Mossadegh was removed from power in a coup.

Sept. 11, 1990: Murder of Myrna Mack

Anthropologist Myrna Mack Chang was murdered in Guatemala by the U.S.-backed military due to her outspoken criticism of the Guatemala government’s treatment of the indigenous Maya.

Oct. 5, 1986: Eugene Hasenfus Captured During Iran-Contra Scandal

The cover-up of the Iran-Contra scandal began to unravel when Eugene Hasenfus was captured by Nicaraguan troops.

Salvador Allende | Zinn Education Project

Nov. 3, 1970: Salvador Allende Became President of Chile

Salvador Allende became president of Chile and adopted policies for the social good, such as raising minimum wage and increasing access to health care and education.

Hanoi's Hospital | Zinn Education Project

Dec. 18, 1972: Christmas Bombing of Vietnam

Richard Nixon initiated a massive “carpet bombing” campaign in Northern Vietnam, mainly targeting Hanoi.

Operation Just Cause | Zinn Education Project

Dec. 20, 1989: Invasion of Panama

The United States invaded Panama in “Operation Just Cause.”

March 17: St. Patrick’s Day

Challenging myths about the Irish Potato Famine.

Lumumba at the 1960 Round Table conference | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

Jan. 17, 1961: Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba was Executed

Prime minister of the Republic of the Congo, Patrice Lumumba, was executed with the assistance of the governments of Belgium and the United States.

Feb. 11, 1990: Mandela Released from Prison

Nelson Mandela was released from prison in South Africa after 27 years.

Young person at climate justice protest (photo) | Zinn Education Project

Our House Is on Fire — Time to Teach Climate Justice

Article. By Bill Bigelow. Rethinking Schools, Spring 2019.
For too long, the fossil fuel industry has tried to buy teachers’ and students’ silence. But teaching climate justice has never been more urgent.

Climate Illustration - Schafer | Zinn Education Project

The Young People’s Climate Conference: Teaching Global Warming to 3rd Graders

Teaching Activity. By Rowan Shafer. Rethinking Schools.
A teacher adapts the “Climate Change Mixer” designed for older students as a springboard for a unit on global warming and climate justice. She asks, "How could I bring up an issue so big and abstract, so gloom and doom, with 3rd graders? How could I not?"

Resplendant Quetzel Illustration - Olivia Wise | Zinn Education Project

Where Are the Climate Change Superheroes? Systems Thinking and Climate Activism in the Children’s Eternal Rainforest

Teaching Activity. By Eric Fishman. Rethinking Schools.
An elementary school teacher developed the engaging Quetzal Conundrum game to help students understand the impact of climate change in Costa Rica.

Classroom filling with water | Zinn Education Project

Teaching About Climate Change

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. 2009. Rethinking Schools.
The environmental crisis requires a profound social and curricular rethinking.

The Water Will Come by Jeff Goodell Book cover

The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World

Book — Non-fiction. By Jeff Goodell. 2018. 352 pages.
Early 21st century societies scramble to fight rising seas and science journalist Jeff Goodell predicts what will happen if (and when) we fail.

The Untold History of the United States: Young Readers Editions, Vols 1 (1898-1945) & 2 (1945-1962)

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.

June 4, 2010: Haitian Farmers Burn “Gift” of Monsanto Seeds

Approximately 10,000 Haitian farmers protested the donation of 475 tons of Monsanto hybrid seeds.

April 17, 1996: Landless Workers Movement Protesters Murdered by Brazilian Government

Brazil’s military police gunned down 19 peasant farm workers in the Via Campesina movement who were marching for land sovereignty in 1996.

One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps

Book — Non-fiction. By Andrea Pitzer. 2017. 480 pages.
Starting with 1890s Cuba, this book is a chronological and geopolitical history of concentration camps that is filled with prisoner perspectives.

Jan. 22, 1932: La Matanza (“The Massacre”) Begins in El Salvador

The government of El Salvador launched a murderous, anti-indigenous and anti-leftist campaign that led to the deaths of 30,000 Salvadorans.

Trinkets and Beads

Film. By Christopher Walker. 1996. 52 minutes.
This documentary reveals the funny, heartbreaking, and thrilling story of the battle waged by indigenous people to preserve their way of life in the Amazon, in the face of international capitalism and colonialism.

NECESSITY: A Two-Part Documentary Series on Climate Resistance

Films. Directed by Jan Haaken and Samantha Praus. 58 minutes & 57 minutes.
Oil, Water, and Climate Resistance explores the work of attorneys, valve turners, and other water protectors in Minnesota. Climate Justice and the Thin Green Line examines climate resistance in the Pacific Northwest.

Rabbit-Proof Fence

Film. Directed by Phillip Noyce. 2002. 79 minutes.
In 1931, three aboriginal girls escape after being plucked from their homes to be trained as domestic staff and set off on a journey across the Outback.

Battle of Algiers

Film. Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo. 1966. 123 minutes.
This film documents the armed insurgency against the French colonial powers in Algiers, showing the brutality and desperation of war.

Trans-Atlantic and Intra-American Slave Trade Database

Digital collection. Through this website, over 130,000 voyages made in the Trans-Atlantic and Intra-American slave trade can be searched, filtered, and sorted by variables including the port of origin, the number of enslaved Africans on board, and the ship's name.

Time Period

Theme

Resource Type

Grade

Keywords