ZINN EDUCATION PROJECT PACKET
The following items are included in the Zinn Education Project Packet. They can be purchased separately.
Lives and facts rarely included in textbooks--an indispensable teacher resource. "Professor Zinn writes with an enthusiasm rarely encountered in the leaden prose of academic history, and his text is studded with telling quotations." Eric Foner, The New York Times. Includes a forward by Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change, and an updated biography.
By Howard Zinn, HarperCollins, 2005. Paperback, 702 pp.
This is a documentary on the life of Howard Zinn--noted author, historian and social activist. Zinn has authored numerous books on U.S. history including the classic A People's History of the United States. The film weaves archival footage with interviews with Alice Walker, Daniel Berrigan, Noam Chomsky, and others. Clips could be used in the classroom to introduce specific historic events. Narrated by Matt Damon with music by Pearl Jam, Woody Guthrie & Billy Bragg.
By Deb Ellis and Denis Mueller, First Run Features, 2004. Color, 78 min.
A people's history requires a people's pedagogy to match. Developed for the Zinn Education Project, A People's History for the Classroom offers 12 classroom-tested lessons and role plays for key chapters in Howard Zinn's classic text A People's History of the United States. This volume includes a new introductory essay on teaching strategies that align with A People's History of the United States, and collects exemplary teaching articles, lesson plans, and role plays from Rethinking Schools publications.
By Bill Bigelow, Rethinking Schools, 2008. Paperback, 120 pages.
(120 Pages in a PDF File. File Size is 7.85MB)
The Line Between Us: Teaching About the Border and Mexican Immigration
The Power in Our Hands: A Curriculum on the History of Work and Workers in the United States
The Promise: Brown v. Board of Education, The Civil Rights Movement, and Our Schools
Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years
Rethinking Our Classrooms: Teaching for Equity and Justice, Volume 1
Rethinking Our Classrooms, Volume 2
Whose Wars: Teaching about the Iraq War and the War on Terror
LITERATURE, FILM AND TEACHING GUIDES
Here are selected recommendations of literature, teaching guides, and films which emphasize the "people's history" of the United States.Books: Biographies
Growing Up in Slavery by Yuval Taylor. Ten individuals tell stories of their childhood and teenage years in slavery. (MS-HS)
Mirror to America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin by John Hope Franklin. American history as lived and told by a great historian. (HS-Adult)
Passing It On: A Memoir by Yuri Nakahara Kochiyama. Includes her family experience in the internment camps, role in the Civil Rights Movement, and more. (HS-Adult)
Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals. The true story of the battle to integrate Little Rock High School. (MS-HS)
We are One: The Story of Bayard Rustin by Larry Dane Brimner. A key strategist and activist before and during the Civil Rights Movement. (ES-MS)
Books: Historical Fiction
Bread and Roses, Too by Katherine Paterson. Based on the Lawrence Massachusetts labor strike. (MS-HS)
Bull Run by Paul Fleischman. The Civil War told through various perspectives. (MS)
My Mother the Cheerleader by Robert Sharenow. Based on the protest of school integration in New Orleans. (MS-HS)
Books: Non-Fiction Texts
500 Year of Chicana Women's History/500 Años de la Mujer Chicana by Elizabeth Betita Martinez. Chock full of photos and graphics. (MS-Adult)
Addicted to War: Why the U.S. Can't Kick Militarism by Joel Andreas. A comic book explanation of why the U.S. has been in so many wars, who benefits, and who loses. (HS- Adult)
Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America by Lerone Bennett, Jr. A detailed history and analysis of African American history in the U.S. (HS-Adult)
The Black Americans: A History in Their Own Words edited by Milton Meltzer. Engaging first person stories and primary documents arranged by historical events. (MS-HS)
Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged, and Profited from Slavery by Anne Farrow, et al. Challenges the misconception that only the South was involved in or benefited from slavery. (HS-Adult)
A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America by Ronald Takaki. US history through the experiences of Native Americans, African Americans, Jews, Irish Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinos. (HS-Adult)
Founding Myths: Stories That Hide Our Patriotic Past by Ray Raphael. The actual events related to many popularly told stories in American history. (Adult)
Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Russell Freedman. The "people's history" of the 381-day boycott. (MS)
Freedom's Unfinished Revolution: An Inquiry Into the Civil War and Reconstruction by the American Social History Project. Full of primary documents to bring the people's history of the Civil War and Reconstruction to life for students. (HS)
Landmark Cases Left out of Your Textbooks by Ann Fagan Ginger. Summaries of how many human rights cases were won. (HS)
No More! Stories and Songs of Slave Resistance by Doreen Rappaport. Illustrated account of the many forms of resistance to enslavement. (ES-MS)
A Place at the Table: Struggles for Equality in America by Maria Fleming. Reader friendly stories on many unsung heroes who challenge barriers in education, voting, employment, housing, and more. (MS)
A People’s History of the Civil War: Struggles for the Meaning of Freedom by David Williams. A detailed study of the Civil War, endorsed by Howard Zinn. (Adult)
Race and Membership in American History: The Eugenics Movement by Alan Stoskopf and Margot Stern. Readings and questions for students on the eugenics movement. (HS-Adult)
Rights Matter: The Story of the Bill of Rights by Nancy Murray. The history of the Bill of Rights from the colonial period to post 9/11. (MS-HS)
Slave Nation: How Slavery United the Colonies and Sparked the American Revolution by Alfred Blumrosen and Ruth Blumrosen. (HS-Adult)
Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism by James Loewen. Research on the history and legacy of towns which legally excluded African Americans. (Adult)
Voices of a People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove. Paralleling the 24 chapters of A People’s History of the United States with first person voices. (MS–Adult) Read a review for teachers of Voices of a People's History of the United States from Rethinking Schools.
Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America by Peniel E. Joseph. Detailed history that corrects many of the myths about the Black Power Movement and its relationship to the Civil Rights Movement. (Adult)
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson. Illustrated history of the Negro Leagues. (MS)
What's My Name, Fool?: Sports and Resistance in the United States by Dave Zirin. A no-holds-barred look at the history and business of sports. (HS-Adult)
A Young People's History of the United States - Vol.I & II by Howard Zinn and Rebecca Stefoff. Excerpted from the full volume of A People’s History to make it reader-friendly for middle school. (MS)
Books: Teaching Guides
Beyond Heroes and Holidays: A Practical Guide to K-12 Anti-Racist, Multicultural Education and Staff Development by Enid Lee, Deborah Menkart, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. The theory and practical examples for various grades and subjects on how to infuse a multicultural approach to all aspects of the school and classroom.
History in the Present Tense: Engaging Students Through Inquiry and Action by Douglas Selwyn, Jan Maher. How to make history relevant to students’ lives today.
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James Loewen. A thorough and essential critique of major US history high school textbooks.
The Line Between Us: Teaching About the Border and Mexican Immigration by Bill Bigelow. The history of U.S.-Mexican relations and the roots of Mexican immigration. Interactive lessons for grades 7-12.
The Power in Our Hands: A Curriculum on the History of Work and Workers in the United States by Bill Bigelow and Norm Diamond. Role plays for grades 7-12 on historic events and key issues regarding labor.
Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching by Jenice View, Deborah Menkart, and Alana Murray. Readings and lessons for K-12 on the Civil Rights Movement, with an emphasis on the role of “ordinary people”, women, youth, and related movements.
Resistance in Paradise: Rethinking 100 Years of U.S. Involvement in the Caribbean and the Pacific by Deborah Wei and Rachael Kamel. Lessons for high school on the impact and legacy of the Spanish-American War.
Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years edited by by Bill Bigelow and Bob Peterson. Lesson plans, short stories and interviews which reevaluate the legacy of Columbus in North America.
Rethinking Globalization: Teaching for Justice in an Unjust World by Bill Bigelow and Bob Peterson. Lessons for grades 4 - 12 on the global economy, labor, and the environment.
Teaching Economics as if People Mattered by Tamara Giecek. Twenty-one lessons on the impact of the economy on people. (HS)
Teaching with Voices of a People's History of the U.S. by Gayle Olson-Raymer. Questions and activities to accompany Voices of a People's History of the United States.
Whose Wars: Teaching about the Iraq War and the War on Terror by Rethinking Schools. The best collection available of readings and lessons on how to teach about the war in elementary and secondary schools.
A People’s History of the United States Wall Charts by Howard Zinn and George Kirschner. Illustrated timelines of over 500 years of US history.
Social Stratification in the United States: American Profile Poster by Stephen J. Rose. Book and full poster on class related to race, gender, education and occupation.
Study History illustrated by Ricardo Levins Morales. Poster with quotes about the value of studying history.
Barefoot Gen 1 & 2: The Bombing of Hiroshima as Seen Through the Eyes of a Young Boy. Animated story of a young boy living in Hiroshima. (HS)
Death on a Friendly Border. The human impact of immigration and border policies. (HS–Adult)
Earth and the American Dream. U.S. history from the standpoint of the earth. (HS–Adult)
February One. The 1960 Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins. (HS–Adult)
Freedom Riders. How the Freedom Riders of 1961 helped to end segregation in interstate travel in the South. (HS–Adult)
Freedom Song. The story the Civil Rights Movement, paticularly SNCC, in Mississippi told through the voice of an African-American teenager. (MS–Adult)
The Lemon Grove Incident: A Story of Early Desegregation. How the Mexican American community of this San Diego suburb organized against segregation. (HS–Adult)
Made in LA. How three women organize for fair labor rights in the apparel industry. (HS–Adult)
Matewan. A strike in a mining town in Appalachia and the struggle for solidarity across racial lines. (HS–Adult)
Out of the Past: The Struggle for Gay and Lesbian Rights in America. Told through the eyes of a 17-year-old high school student in Salt Lake City, Utah. (HS–Adult)
Salt of the Earth. The struggle for equality of Mexican-American miners and their wives, based on an actual strike in New Mexico in 1951-52. (HS–Adult)
Standing on My Sisters' Shoulders. The role of women in the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi in the 1950s and 60s. (HS–Adult)
Sir! No Sir! The role soldiers and veterans played in the anti-Vietnam War movement. (HS–Adult)
Unconstitutional: The War on Our Civil Liberties. Documents the impact of the USA Patriot Act on our lives and on the US Constitution. (HS–Adult)
