A Letter to You from Myla Kabat-Zinn
October 2011
Dear Friends:
About three years ago, my father and a former student founded the Zinn Education Project—-ZEP. Their goal was to promote “people’s history” in schools across the country.
Specifically, they wanted to support teachers by providing information and classroom-tested materials.
I am happy to report the Zinn Education Project (ZEP) remains vital and growing. The website now offers more than 100 downloadable teaching activities, an extensive array of audio/video materials, and well-researched curriculum resources. The project also features a robust Facebook effort, which has become a focal point for the exchange of ideas and materials.
By any measure, the Zinn Education Project is growing, successful, and true to my father’s vision.
The Zinn Education Project recently recorded its 14,000th teacher registration. And, based on current registrations, the Zinn Education Project should exceed 20,000 by year’s end. It’s heartening to see that so many K-12 educators are “teaching outside the textbook.”
As you know, education funding is being slashed; history and social studies are being downgraded.
If ever we needed ZEP, it’s now. I know my father valued the work of the Zinn Education Project.
Please support this important endeavor . . . and spread the word.
With all best wishes,
Myla Kabat-Zinn
You can support the Zinn Education Project with a donation or by voting for us on the 2011 CREDO Ballot.
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Zinn Education Project
Wednesday, February 22nd at 14:16 Orisanmi Burton, librarian at DCPS McKinley Technology High School, wrote about a Black History Month event at his school that went beyond the traditional narrative: “On Feb. 2 we hosted a panel discussion on youth incarceration and Michelle Alexander's book, The New Jim Crow. Panelists included staff attorney for the DC Public Defender Service Alec Karakatsanis and Andy Cevasco from the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth. Over 40 students participated in an engaging discussion around mass incarceration, sentencing disparities, youth transfer laws, and strategies for moving forward.” What is your school doing for Black History Month?
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
zinnedproject.org
Book – Non-Fiction. By Michelle Alexander. 2010. 290 pages. A critical analysis of the role the justice system plays in the oppression of African Americans in the United States.
Zinn Education Project
Wednesday, February 22nd at 10:05 Zinn Education Project friends in the D.C. area -- please get your tickets today for a very special event on March 12 called What Kids Aren't Learning: History Under Attack and Why It Matters with noted speakers and hosts: Khalil Muhammad, Jeff Biggers, Enid Lee, Bernard Demczuk, and Renee Poussaint.
What Kids Aren't Learning: History Under Attack and Why It Matters | Teaching For Change
teachingforchange.org
With the recent ban on teaching ethnic studies in Tucson, Arizona, the work of Teaching for Change is more vital than ever. Students and teachers around the country, not just in Arizona, are being denied classes that teach the honest, complex, and diverse narrative that is U.S. history. With history...
Zinn Education Project
Wednesday, February 22nd at 7:20 On this day in 1943, Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl, and Christoph Probst were executed for their role in the White Rose, a group that urged students to rise up and overthrow the Nazi government. "We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will not leave you in peace!" -- quote from the 4th leaflet.
History in Pictures - February
On Feb. 22, 1943, Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl, and Christoph Probst were executed for their role in urging students to rise up and overthrow the Nazi government. They were members of a group called the White Rose, who organized nonviolent resistance to Hitler, and were arrested for printing and distributing anti-Nazi flyers.
Photo: Hans Scholl (left), Sophie Scholl (center), and Christoph Probst (right), leaders of the White Rose resistance organization. Munich, Germany, 1942 (From the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, George J. Wittenstein.
See trailer for film about the life of Sophie Scholl: http://zeitgeistfilms.com/displaytrailer.php?directoryname=sophiescholl&size=high&extension=mov
Leaflets from the White Rose: http://unitarian-stcatharines.org/pdf-files/whiterose.pdf
History in Pictures features just a few of the many stories that are often left out of the textbooks. The sources for these stories include: This Week in History from Peace Buttons (http://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/thisweek.htm), Planning to Change the World: A Social Justice Plan Book for Teachers (http://www.justiceplanbook.com/), This Day in Civil Rights History (http://zinnedproject.org/posts/13684), History.com (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history), 50 American Revolutions You Are Not Supposed to Know (http://zinnedproject.org/posts/11632), A People's History of the United States (http://zinnedproject.org/posts/67), Black Facts Online (http://www.blackfacts.com), Today in Labor History (http://www.unionist.com/big-labor/today-in-labor-history), Primary Source (http://resources.primarysource.org/content.php?pid=184419&sid=1549829), and many more.
