Bill Bigelow

Bill Bigelow is curriculum editor of Rethinking Schools magazine and co-director of the Zinn Education Project. He is the author or co-editor of many Rethinking Schools publications, including A People’s History for the Classroom, The Line Between Us: Teaching About the Border and Mexican Immigration, Rethinking Globalization: Teaching for Justice in an Unjust World, Rethinking Our Classrooms — Volumes 1 and 2, Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years, and A People’s Curriculum for the Earth: Teaching Climate Change and the Environmental Crisis. Bigelow lives in Portland, Oregon, and has taught high school social studies since 1978.

All Content By This Author
Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years (Teaching Guide) | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

The New (and Improved?) Textbook Columbus

Resource Types: Articles
By Bill Bigelow
Recently, I ran across an old manual that described itself as “An easy step-by-step guide to obtain U.S. Citizenship.” A page of history and government questions begins:
Q: Who discovered America?
A: Christopher Columbus in 1492.

This was the simple, and simplistic, history that I learned in 4th grade in the early 1960s growing up in California — a kind of secular Book of Genesis: In the beginning, there was Columbus; he was good and so are we.

And it stayed the history that most everyone learned until the Columbus quincentenary in 1992 brought together Native Americans, social justice organizations, and educators to demand a more inclusive and critical version of what occurred in 1492 and after.

Lewis Hine’s Photographs

Resource Types: Teaching Activities (Free)
Page Length: 4
Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow and Bob Peterson. Rethinking Schools. 4 pages.
Using photographs to spark creative writing and critical thinking about child labor issues and social justice.

Regret to Inform

Resource Types: Films
Film. By Barbara Sonneborn. 1998. 72 minutes. Teaching Guide by Bill Bigelow. Chapter from A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn. A profound documentary on the impact of war, with a teaching guide and the chapter of A People's History of the United States on the Vietnam War, "Impossible Victory."

The Color Line

Resource Types: Teaching Activities (Free)
Page Length: 6
Teaching Activity. 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.
The People vs. Columbus, et al. (Lesson) | Zinn Education Project
Categories: Imperialism, World History/Global Studies

The People vs. Columbus, et al.

Resource Types: Teaching Activities (Free)
Page Length: 13
Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow with contributions from members of the Taíno Community. Rethinking Schools. 13 pages.
A trial role play asks students to determine who is responsible for the death of millions of Taínos on the island of Hispaniola in the late 15th century.

Discovering Columbus: Re-reading the Past

Resource Types: Teaching Activities (Free)
Page Length: 6
Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. Rethinking Schools. 6 pages.
How to engage students in a critical analysis of the textbook version of "discovery."
Testing, Tracking, and Toeing the Line: A Role Play on the Origins of the Modern High School (Teaching Activity) | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

Testing, Tracking, and Toeing the Line: A Role Play on the Origins of the Modern High School

Resource Types: Teaching Activities (Free)
Page Length: 13
Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. Rethinking Schools. 13 pages.
A role play on the origins of the modern high school allows students to question aspects of schooling they often take for granted, such as tracking (“ability grouping”) and standardized testing — and to reflect on the racial biases of these so-called reforms.