Young people face immense challenges — racism, war, gun violence, climate crisis, voter suppression, and more. However, across the country, legislatures, the president, and corporate power are pushing laws and policies to criminalize teaching honestly about U.S. history and to restrict students’ ability to ask questions and engage in critical thinking. The laws’ chilling effects reach classrooms nationwide, on top of textbooks and high-stakes testing that have also long distorted curricula.
In Erasing History, Jason Stanley writes,
Erasing history paves the way for ethnic, racial and religious nationalism. When you erase the history of social movements, you make citizens feel like they have no agency, and so it’s an anti-democratic education.
In 2026, many of the groups that have led the campaigns to ban books and censor history are focusing their efforts on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. (These include the Heritage Foundation, Hillsdale College, Moms for Liberty, PragerU, Turning Point USA, and more.)
So we are focusing on the 250th anniversary as well. We offer lessons and campaign materials to Teach Truth about the American Revolution and founding of the United States.
To protect young people’s right to learn — and by default protect the future of democracy and justice — we need to expose the right’s agenda and be visible in our defense of teaching people’s history.
We ask EVERYONE to make the demand to #TeachTruth visible.
We offer resources for the classroom and for public events. Many of those resources can be used interchangeably.
Everyday that educators teach people’s history, outside the textbook, they are engaged in the campign to #TeachTruth. For ideas of where to start, check out our #TeachTruth syllabus. All the lessons are free to download.
In preparation for May Day Strong, we offer lessons and other teaching resources on labor history, strikes, and boycotts.
In 2026, we have a focus on teaching truthfully about the American Revolution. To support educators in that effort, we developed a series of questions to invite inquiry and surface thoughtful discussions about the American Revolution and founding of the United States. For example, “Should the American Revolution be considered revolutionary?” We also offer free downloadable lessons along with recommended books, films, and articles. Learn more and sign up to participate. As part of America 250, we encourage educators to participate in Teach Truth on Constitution Day on September 17.
To bring the Teach Truth message to public events, we offer a wide range of activities and resources.
Public Teach Truth events and other local education organizing efforts can be found on the national map below, hosted by our cosponsor Public School Strong/HEAL Together.
Teach Truth Media Guide
Regardless of whether you engage in Teach Truth activities in your classroom or at public events, we recommend reading the Teach Truth Media Guide. It can help with preparation of responses not only for the media, but also for communications with parents, school staff, and the general public.
Leadership
The Teach Truth campaign is coordinated by Rethinking Schools’ and Teaching for Change’s Zinn Education Project and led by educators and allies around the country with the support of the co-sponsors listed below.
Full Cosponsor List
AAPI Youth Rising, Advancement Project, Advocates for Youth, African American Policy Forum, AFT Share My Lesson, Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, American Library Association, American Social History Project, Americans Who Tell the Truth, Amplifier, Anti-Racist Teaching and Learning Collective, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, Atomic Focus Entertainment, Authors Against Book Bans, BARWE, Big City Social Studies Group, Black Lives Matter at School, BlackPast, Black Teacher Project, Center for Black Educator Development, Center for K-12 Black History and Racial Literacy Education, Charlesbridge, Civil Rights Movement Archive, Climate Generation, COLAGE, Color of Change, Communities for Just Schools Fund, Defense of Democracy, Economics for Emancipation, Education Deans for Justice and Equity, Educators’ Institute for Human Rights, Empowering Pacific Islander Communities, The Equity Lab, Foundation 451, GLSEN, Haymarket Books, HEAL Together / Race Forward, Historians for Peace and Democracy, Human Restoration Project, Human Rights Educators USA, Information Wanted, Institute for Common Power, Integrated Schools, Kinfolk, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, Latinx Parenting, Learning for Justice, MomsRising, Monument Lab, NAACP NYS Conference, National Association for Multicultural Education, The National Coalition Against Censorship, National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, National Education Association, National Equity Project, National Women’s Law Center, Network for Public Education, The New Press, The New Republic, Project 2043, Pulitzer Center’s 1619 Education Program, Red Wine & Blue, Reloveution, Right to Learn Coalition, Roots to Revolution, Seven Stories Press, Shout Mouse Press, SNCC Legacy Project, Stonewall National Museum and Archives, Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, SURJ, Syracuse Cultural Workers, Teach Rock, United States Hispanic Leadership Institute, Visiting Room Project, Voice of Witness, We Are Stronger Than Censorship (Independent Book Publishers Association), Wee Nation Radio, Who We Are Project, Women’s Equity Center and Action Network, and more groups.
Our thanks to Lush Cosmetics, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, Capstone Publishing, Penguin Young Readers School & Library, and the National Education Association for the books, buttons, and cards in the pop-up installation box.
Interested in adding your organization as a co-sponsor? Sign up here.
Teacher Testimonials
Last summer we did a #TeachTruth event in our community where we brought out various banned books and engaged community members, talking about censorship in education and talking about censorship in history. We had great conversations with our community members and got a lot of them active. Now we’re having another #TeachTruth event this year that’s going to be much larger, so we had to rent a venue for it. So there’s a lot of community interest there. It’s exciting to talk to people and see that the community cares.