Education
Teaching Activity PDFs
Discovering Columbus: Re-reading the Past
Teaching Activity PDF. By Bill Bigelow. 6 pages.
How to engage students in a critical analysis of the textbook version of “discovery.”
Education, Imperialism, Individuals in US History, Native American
Re-examining the Revolution
Background Reading PDF. By Ray Raphael. 7 pages.
Based on his book Founding Myths, Raphael critiques the textbook portrayal of the American Revolution. The textbooks say that “a few special people forged American freedom” which “misrepresents, and even contradicts, the spirit of the American Revolution.”
Democracy & Citizenship, Education, Individuals in US History, Laws & Citizen Rights
Presidents and Slaves: Helping Students Find the Truth
Teaching Activity PDF. By Bob Peterson. 7 pages.
How a 5th grade teacher and his students conducted research to answer the question: “Which presidents owned people?”
African American, Education, Individuals in US History, Racism & Racial Identity, Slavery
Testing, Tracking, and Toeing the Line: A Role Play on the Origins of the Modern High School
Teaching Activity PDF. By Bill Bigelow. 13 pages.
A role play on the origins of the modern high school.
Democracy & Citizenship, Education, Immigration, Racism & Racial Identity, Social Class
One Country! One Language! One Flag!
Teaching Activity PDF. By Bill Bigelow. 3 pages.
Discussion questions and teaching ideas for examining the history of the Pledge of Allegiance and the political milieu in which it was written.
The Singing Strike and the Rebel Students: Learning from the Industrial Workers of the World
Reading for Teachers PDF. By Bill Bigelow. 7 pages.
Author describes how students applied strategies from the Lawrence strike to their own present day activism.
Daughter of Earth: Reading, Writing, and Social Class
Teaching Activity PDF. By Bill Bigelow. 7 pages.
A Lesson on the Japanese American Internment
Teaching Activity PDF. By Mark Sweeting. 4 pages.
How one teacher engaged his students in a critical examination of the language used in textbooks to describe the internment.
Asian American, Democracy & Citizenship, Education, Laws & Citizen Rights, Racism & Racial Identity, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements
Warriors Don’t Cry: Connecting History, Literature, and Our Lives
Teaching Activity PDF. By Linda Christensen. 21 pages.
Role play and writing activities for language arts and social studies on the Little Rock Nine, Brown v. Board, and schooling in general. Designed for use with the memoir, Warriors Don’t Cry.
African American, Civil Rights Movements, Education, Language Arts, Racism & Racial Identity
“A School Year Like No Other”: Eyes on the Prize: “Fighting Back: 1957-1962″
Teaching Activity PDF. By Bill Bigelow. 7 pages.
A companion lesson to the Eyes on the Prize segment on school integration.
African American, Civil Rights Movements, Education, Individuals in US History, Laws & Citizen Rights, Organizing, Racism & Racial Identity
Pump Up the Blowouts: Reflections on the 40th Anniversary of the Chicano/a School Blowouts
Teaching Activity PDF. By Gilda L. Ochoa. 5 pages.
Reflections on teaching students about the 1968 walkouts by Chicano students in California.
Civil Rights Movements, Education, Latino, Organizing, Racism & Racial Identity
Teaching Guides
Black Ants and Buddhists: Thinking Critically and Teaching Differently in the Primary Grades
Teaching Guide. By Mary Cowhey. Foreword by Sonia Nieto. 2006. 256 pages.
Practical examples and classroom stories about bringing a people’s history and peace education to grades one and two.
Lessons from Freedom Summer: Ordinary People Building Extraordinary Movements
Book – Teaching Guide. Edited by Kathy Emery, Linda Reid Gold and Sylvia Braselmann. Foreword by Howard Zinn. 2008. 456 pages.
Readings and lessons on the 1964 Mississippi Summer Project.
Make Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions
Book – Teaching Guide. By Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana. Foreword by Wendy D. Puriefoy. 2011. 176 pages.
The uses and methods of the Question Formulation Technique.
The Promise: Brown v. Board of Education, The Civil Rights Movement, and Our Schools
Teaching Guide. Edited by Rethinking Schools. 2004.
Analysis and teaching ideas on school desegregation.
Reading, Writing, and Rising Up: Teaching About Social Justice and the Power of the Written Word
Teaching Guide. By Linda Christensen. 2003. 196 pages.
Lessons for teaching a range of writing genres while addressing social justice themes.
Rethinking Mathematics: Teaching Social Justice by the Numbers
Teaching Guide. Edited by Eric Gutstein and Bob Peterson. 2005. 180 pages.
Lessons and articles on social justice math education for elementary and secondary school classrooms.
Rethinking Our Classrooms: Teaching for Equity and Justice (Volume 1)
Teaching Guide. By Wayne Au, Bill Bigelow and Stan Karp. 2007. 240 pages.
Rethinking Our Classrooms: Teaching for Equity and Justice (Volume 2)
Teaching Guide. Edited by Rethinking Schools. 248 pages.
Social justice lessons for all ages and subjects.
Teaching What Really Happened: How To Avoid the Tyranny of Textbooks and Get Students Excited About Doing History
Teaching Guide. By James W. Loewen. 2010. 264 pages.
A wealth of ideas on how to rethink the teaching of U.S. history.
Articles
Whitewashing Our Past: A Proposal for a National Campaign to Rethink Textbooks
Article. By Bob Peterson. 4 pages.
A critique of social studies textbooks and the rationale for a campaign to rethink them.
Education, Individuals in US History, Racism & Racial Identity
On the Road to Cultural Bias: A Critique of The Oregon Trail
Article for Educators in PDF. By Bill Bigelow. 13 pages.
Critque of the popular Oregon Trail computer game.
The Truth About Helen Keller
Article for Teachers and High School Students – PDF. By Ruth Shagoury. 6 pages.
A review of children’s picture books about the life of Helen Keller reveals the omission of any description of her active role in key social movements of the 20th century.
The Politics of Children’s Literature: What’s Wrong with the Rosa Parks Myth
Aritcle. By Herbert Kohl. 6 pages.
A critical analysis that challenges the myths in children’s books about Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
African American, Civil Rights Movements, Education, Women's History
10 Quick Ways to Analyze Children’s Books for Ableism
Article. By Chloë Myers and Hank Bersani Jr. Rethinking Schools, Volume 23 – Issue 2, Winter 2008/09.
A guide for analyzing children’s books for prejudice by able-bodied and able-minded people toward people with disabilities
Books: Fiction
Freedom School, Yes!
Book – Fiction. By Amy Littlesugar. Illustrated by Floyd Cooper. 2001. 40 pages.
Historical fiction for upper elementary about the 1964 Freedom Schools.
African American, Civil Rights Movements, Education, Organizing, Racism & Racial Identity
My Mother the Cheerleader
Book – Fiction. By Robert Sharenow. 2007. 304 pages.
Louise’s mother spends her mornings at the local elementary school with a group of women known as the Cheerleaders, who harass the school’s first black student, six-year-old Ruby Bridges.
Remember: The Journey to School Integration
Book – Fiction. By Toni Morrison. 2004. 80 pages. Upper elementary and above.
Fictional story and real photographs tell the story of desegregation.
Sylvia & Aki
Book – Historical fiction. By Winifred Conkling. 2011. 160 pages.
Based on the true story of two girls who meet in 1940s California and a landmark lawsuit on education.
Asian American, Civil Rights Movements, Education, Latino, Laws & Citizen Rights, Organizing, Racism & Racial Identity
Books: Non-Fiction
Blackboard Unions: The AFT and the NEA, 1900-1980
Book – Non-fiction. By Marjorie Murphy. 1992. 304 pages.
The history of unionization of teachers.
Following the Threads: Bringing Inquiry Research into the Classroom
Book – Non-fiction. By Doug Selwyn. 2010. 232 pages.
Exploration of how inquiry and effective pedagogy connect learners with the world around them.
Freedom Summer
Book – Non-fiction. By Bruce Watson. 2010. 384 pages.
A history of Freedom Summer, the pivotal period of the Civil Rights Movement in 1964 Mississippi.
Freedom’s Teacher: The Life of Septima Clark
Book – Non-fiction. By Katherine Mellen Charron. 2009. 480 pages.
Biography of Septima Clark who played a major role in the Civil Rights Movement through education.
African American, Civil Rights Movements, Education, Individuals in US History, Women's History
History in the Making: An Absorbing Look at How American History Has Changed in the Telling over the Last 200 Years
Book – Non-fiction. By Kyle Ward. 2007. 374 pages.
From the widely acclaimed co-author of History Lessons comes an examination of ways in which Americans tell the history their country has changed over time.
History Lessons: How Textbooks from Around the World Portray U.S. History
Book – Non-fiction. By Dana Lindaman and Kyle Ward. 2004. 404 pages.
Hope and History: Why We Must Share the Story of the Movement
Book – Non-fiction. By Vincent Harding. 2010 (2nd Edition). 240 pages.
A call to educators, clergy, and community activists to remember and keep alive the story of the black-led freedom movement.
Howard Zinn on Democratic Education
Book – Non-fiction. By Howard Zinn with Donaldo Macedo. 2008. 224 pages.
Essays by Howard Zinn about education and politics.
Howard Zinn on History
Book – Non-fiction. By Howard Zinn. Introduction by Staughton Lynd. 2011. 192 pages.
Zinn explores the powerful question, “Have we reached a point in history where we are ready to embrace a new way of living in the world, expanding not our military power, but our humanity?”
Civil Rights Movements, Democracy & Citizenship, Education, Racism & Racial Identity, Social Class
Keeping the Promise?: The Debate Over Charter Schools
Book-Nonfiction. Edited by Leigh Dingerson, Barbara Miner, Bob Peterson, and Stephanie Walters. 2008. 144 pages.
Landmark Cases Left Out of Your Textbooks
Book – Non-fiction. Edited by Ann Fagan Ginger. 2006. 84 pages.
Short, sharp descriptions of how 43 human rights cases were won, from Haymarket Martyrs of May Day 1886 to Katrina victims in 2005.
Mendez v. Westminster: School Desegregation and Mexican-American Rights
Book – Non-fiction. By Philippa Strum. 2010. 186 pages.
Description of a pre-Brown v. Board desegregation court case involving Mexican-American families.
Not Written in Stone: Learning and Unlearning American History Through 200 Years of Textbooks
Book – Non-fiction. By Kyle Ward. 2010. 368 pages.
A critique of the representation of history in textbooks.
Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Book – Non-Fiction. By Paulo Freire. 1968. 192 pages.
Classic text on critical pedagogy.
A People’s History of the United States: 1492 – Present
Book – Non-fiction. By Howard Zinn. 2005. 702 pages.
Howard Zinn’s groundbreaking work on U.S. history. This book details the lives and facts that are rarely included in textbooks — an indispensable teacher and student resource.
African American, Civil Rights Movements, Democracy & Citizenship, Economics, Education, Immigration, Imperialism, Individuals in US History, Labor, Laws & Citizen Rights, Native American, Organizing, Racism & Racial Identity, Slavery, Social Class, US Foreign Policy, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements, Women's History
Pledging Allegiance: The Politics of Patriotism in America’s Schools
Book – Non-fiction. Edited by Joel Westheimer. Foreword by Howard Zinn. 2007. 219 pages.
Educators address the politics of patriotism in America’s schools.
Radical Equations: Civil Rights from Mississippi to the Algebra Project
Book – Nonfiction. By Robert P. Moses and Charles E. Cobb, Jr. 2001. 256 pages.
Algebra Project founder on math literacy and civil rights.
Silver Rights
Book – Non-fiction. By Constance Curry. Introduction by Marian Wright Edelman. 1996. 288 pages.
The true story of the Carter family’s decision to send their children to an all-white school.
Simple Justice: The History of Brown v. Board of Education and Black America’s Struggle for Equality
Book – Non-fiction. By Richard Kluger. 2004. 880 pages.
One of the first texts, now a classic, on Brown v. Board.
African American, Civil Rights Movements, Education, Laws & Citizen Rights, Racism & Racial Identity
Students on Strike: Jim Crow, Civil Rights, Brown, and Me
Book – Non-fiction. By John A. Stokes with Lois Wolfe. 2007. 128 pages.
First person description of the student led movement to desegregate schools in Prince Edward County.
Teach Freedom: Education for Liberation in the African-American Tradition
Book – Non-fiction. Edited by Charles M. Payne and Carol Sills Strickland. Foreword by Charles E. Cobb Jr. 2008. 304 pages.
Documents the history of the use of education as a tool of collective liberation by African Americans.
Teaching Global History: A Social Studies Approach
Book – Non-fiction. By Alan J. Singer. 2011. 206 pages.
A guide that proposes another way to teach history from a global perspective.
Democracy & Citizenship, Education, Imperialism, World History/Global Studies
Through My Eyes
Book – Non-fiction. By Ruby Bridges. 1999. 64 pages.
Biography of Ruby Bridges for middle school.
Civil Rights Movements, Education, Individuals in US History
Transforming Teachers Unions: Fighting for Better Schools and Social Justice
Book – Non-fiction. Edited by Bob Peterson and Michael Charney. 1999. 144 pages.
Examines the role of teacher unions in social justice education.
Undaunted By The Fight: Spelman College And The Civil Rights Movement, 1957-1967
Book – Non-fiction. By Harry G. Lefever. 2005. 304 pages.
The story of Spelman College students and faculty engagement in the Civil Rights Movement from 1957 to 1967.
African American, Civil Rights Movements, Education, Women's History
Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Senior High
Book – Non-fiction. By Melba Pattillo Beals. 2007. 336 pages.
Story of a teenage girl chosen to integrate Little Rock High School.
African American, Civil Rights Movements, Education, Individuals in US History, Organizing
Films
Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock
Film. Directed by Sharon LaCruise. 2011.
Documentary on the life of Daisy Bates, best know for her role with the Little Rock Nine.
African American, Civil Rights Movements, Education, Laws & Citizen Rights, Organizing, Racism & Racial Identity, Women's History
Granito de Arena/Grain of Sand
DVD. Produced by Jill Freidberg. Corrugated Films. 2005.
Documentary about teachers, parents, and students fighting to defend Mexico’s public education system from the impacts of economic globalization
The Lemon Grove Incident
Film. By Paul Espinosa. 1986.
An early story of desegregation in a 1931 school that barred Mexican-Americans.
The Road to Brown
Film. Producer/Director/Writer: William Elwood. 56 min. 1990.
The little known story of Charles Hamilton Houston who paved the road to Brown v. Board.
African American, Education, Laws & Citizen Rights, Racism & Racial Identity
Walkout
Film. Produced by Moctesuma Esparza. 2006. 111 minutes.
Walkout tells the true story of the Chicano students of East L.A., who in 1968 staged several dramatic walkouts in their high schools to protest academic prejudice and dire school conditions.
Civil Rights Movements, Education, Latino, Organizing, Racism & Racial Identity
Picture Books
Freedom School, Yes!
Book – Fiction. By Amy Littlesugar. Illustrated by Floyd Cooper. 2001. 40 pages.
Historical fiction for upper elementary about the 1964 Freedom Schools.
African American, Civil Rights Movements, Education, Organizing, Racism & Racial Identity
Spanish/Bilingual
Granito de Arena/Grain of Sand
DVD. Produced by Jill Freidberg. Corrugated Films. 2005.
Documentary about teachers, parents, and students fighting to defend Mexico’s public education system from the impacts of economic globalization
Websites
American Indians in Children’s Literature
Website. By Debbie Reese.
Critical perspectives of indigenous peoples in children’s books, the school curriculum, popular culture, and society-at-large.
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