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

Constitution Role Play: Whose “More Perfect Union”? and The Constitutional Convention: Who Really Won?

Teaching Activity PDF. By Bill Bigelow. 23 pages.
A role play on the issues involved with the framing of the Constitution.

Democracy & Citizenship, Individuals in US History, Laws & Citizen Rights, Racism & Racial Identity, Slavery, Social Class

Rethinking the U.S. Constitutional Convention: A Role Play

Teaching Activity PDF. By Bob Peterson. 14 pages.
A role play on the Constitutional Convention which brings to life the social forces active during and immediately following the American Revolution with focus on two key topics: suffrage and slavery. An elementary school adapation of the Constitution Role Play by Bill Bigelow.

Democracy & Citizenship, Laws & Citizen Rights, Native American, Slavery, Women's History

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An art contest is used as the basis from which students can examine primary historical documents (advertisements for runaway slaves) to gain a deeper understanding of the institution of slavery in the North.

African American, Racism & Racial Identity, Slavery

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.

African American, Racism & Racial Identity, Slavery

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.

Democracy & Citizenship, Immigration, Labor, Social Class

Half a Revolution

Teaching Activity PDF. 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.

Democracy & Citizenship, Laws & Citizen Rights, Social Class

The American Revolutionaries: A History in Their Own Words, 1750-1800

Book – Non-fiction. Edited by Milton Meltzer. 1987. 224 pages.
First hand accounts and primary documents on the American Revolution.

The First American Revolution: Before Lexington and Concord

Book – Non-fiction. By Ray Raphael. 2003. 288 pages.
The events leading up to the American Revolution.

Democracy & Citizenship, Laws & Citizen Rights, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements

Founding Myths: Stories That Hide Our Patriotic Past

Book – Non-fiction. By Ray Raphael. 2004. 368 pages.
Myths and the reasons that they have come to replace the real stories of the Revolutionary period.

Democracy & Citizenship

A People’s History of the American Revolution: How Common People Shaped the Fight for Independence

Book – Non-fiction. By Ray Raphael. Series editor: Howard Zinn. 2002. 528 pages.
Using hundreds of primary sources, this book tells the more accurate, populist, complicated, and interesting story of the American Revolution.

Democracy & Citizenship, Immigration, Individuals in US History, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements

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

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.

Economics, Slavery