Colonization
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.”
The People vs. Columbus, et al.
Teaching Activity PDF. By Bill Bigelow. 8 pages.
Role play in the form of a trial to determine who is responsible for the death of millions of Tainos on the island of Hispaniola in the late 15th century.
The Color Line
Teaching Activity PDF. By Bill Bigelow. 6 pages.
A lesson on the countless colonial laws enacted to create division and inequality based on race. This helps students understand the origins of racism in the United States and who benefits.
African American, Laws & Citizen Rights, Native American, Racism & Racial Identity, Slavery
Reading Between the Lines: An Art Contest Helps Students Imagine the Lives of Runaway Slaves
Teaching Activity PDF. By Thom Thacker and Michael A. Lord. 4 pages.
An art contest is used as the basis from which students can examine primary historical documents (advertisements for runaway slaves) to gain a deeper understanding of the institution of slavery in the North.
Reclaiming Hidden History: Students Create a Slavery Walking Tour in Manhattan
Teaching Activity PDF. By Alan Singer. 7 pages.
How a teacher and his students organized a tour of the hidden history of slavery in New York.
Columbus and Las Casas
Teaching Activity PDF. By Gayle Olson-Raymer. 15 pages.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 1 of Voices of a People’s History of the United States on Columbus’ arrival in the “New World,” and the contrasting accounts of Bartolome de Las Casas and Eduardo Galeano.
The First Slaves
Teaching Activity PDF. By Gayle Olson-Raymer. 15 pages.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 2 of Voices of a People’s History of the United States on early American slavery, resistance, and rebellion.
Servitude and Rebellion
Teaching Activity PDF. 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.
Teaching Guides
Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years
Teaching Guide. Edited by Bill Bigelow and Bob Peterson. 2003. 192 pages.
Readings and lessons for pre-K to 12 about the impact and legacy of the arrival of Columbus in the Americas.
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.
Books: Fiction
Hurricane Dancers
Book – Fiction. By Margarita Engle. 2011. 160 pages.
Historical fiction in the form of poetry about the conquest and resistance.
Books: Non-Fiction
Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux
Book – Non-fiction. By John G. Neihardt, Standing Bear, Raymond J. Demallie. 2008. 334 pages.
The life and visions of the Lakota healer Nicholas Black Elk and the history of his Sioux people.
Colonialism in the Americas: A Critical Look
Book – Non-fiction. By Susan Gage. 1991. 51 pages.
Graphic/comic book tackles history of colonialism in the Americas.
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, Labor, Laws & Citizen Rights, Native American, Organizing, Racism & Racial Identity, Slavery, Social Class, US Foreign Policy, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements, Women's History
Slave Nation: How Slavery United the Colonies & Sparked the American Revolution
Book – Non-fiction. By Alfred Blumrosen and Ruth Blumrosen. 2006.
A detailed account of the role slavery played in the drawing of the U.S. Constitution and in shaping the United States.
Films
Bartolomé de las Casas: “Devastation of the Indies: A Brief Account”
Bartolome de las Casas’ “Devastation of the Indies: A Brief Account” (1542) read by John Sayles, Viggo Mortensen, and Staceyann Chin. From Voices of a People’s History of the United States.
Even the Rain/También la lluvia
Film. Directed by Icíar Bollaín and written by Paul Laverty. 2010. 103 minutes.
As a crew shoots a film about Columbus’ genocide, local people in Cochabamba, Bolivia rise up against plans to privatize the water supply.
Economics, Imperialism, Latino, Organizing, US Foreign Policy, World History/Global Studies
Posters
Lies My Teacher Told Me About Christopher Columbus
Poster. By James W. Loewen. 2006. Booklet, 48 pp. Poster, 32.5″ x 21″
Graphic corrective to the Columbus story told in many American classrooms.
Profiles
Hatuey: 1512 – 2012
Profile. Hatuey.
Hatuey was a freedom fighter in the early 1500s who mobilized Caribbean islanders against invasion, theft, and murder by European conquistadors.
Joseph, Chief Hinmton Yalaktit
Profile. Chief Joseph Hinmton Yalaktit. Native American Leader, 1840—1904.
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