Teaching Materials Archive

The Real Ebonics Debate: Power, Language, and the Education of African-American Children

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Theresa Perry and Lisa Delpit. 1998. Rethinking Schools in collaboration with Beacon Press. 227 pages.
A special edition of Rethinking Schools, educators, linguists, writers, and students examine the lessons of the 1996 Oakland Ebonics controversy.

The Politics of History

Book — Non-fiction. By Howard Zinn. 1990. 408 pages.
A series of case studies and thought-provoking essays arguing for a radical approach to history.

Some Truths Are Not Self-Evident: Essays in The Nation on Civil Rights, Vietnam, and “The War on Terror”

Book — Non-fiction. By Howard Zinn, edited by Richard Kreitner. 2014. 215 pages.
A collection of articles spanning 50 years, by and about Howard Zinn, originally published in The Nation magazine.

SNCC: The New Abolitionists

Book — Non-fiction. By Howard Zinn. 1964; re-published in 2013. 246 pages.
A detailed history of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

Howard Zinn’s Southern Diary

Book — Non-fiction. By Robert Cohen. 2018. 312 pages.
A historical overview and diary entries from Howard Zinn's years as an activist professor at Spelman College.

LaGuardia In Congress

Book — Non-Fiction. By Howard Zinn. 1959. Reprinted in 2010. 302 pages.
The life and career of New Deal era New York politician Fiorello LaGuardia.

Abolishing Fossil Fuels: Lessons from Movements That Won

Book — Non-fiction. By Kevin A. Young. 2024. 264 pages.
Offers lessons for building a multiracial, working-class climate movement that can win a global green transition that’s both rapid and equitable.

Revolution by Fire: New York’s Afro-Irish Uprising of 1741, a Graphic Novel

Book — Historical fiction. By Marcus Rediker and David Lester, with Paul Buhle. 2024. 176 pages.
This book imagines outlaw fugitive John Gwin and an eclectic crew of renegades as they attempt to disrupt and overthrow the colonial social order.

When the Mapou Sings

Book — Fiction. By Nadine Pinede. 2024. 432 pages.
This story blends first love and political intrigue with a quest for justice and self-determination in 1930s Haiti.

Ida in the Middle

Book — Fiction. By Nora Lester Murad. Illustrated by Kate Cosgrove. 2022. 223 pages.
A coming of age story that explores identity, place, voice, and belonging through a Palestinian-American girl named Ida.

colorful but haunting painting of a small reform school surrounded by trees and shadows

The Reformatory: A Novel

Book — Historical fiction. By Tananarive Due. 2023. 576 pages.
Follow 12-year-old Robbie Stephens Jr., who journeys into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the school they call The Reformatory.

Your Plantation Prom Is Not Okay

Book — Fiction. By Kelly McWilliams. 2023. 320 pages.
This young adult novel introduces readers to the history of slavery and its legacy today, challenging the Lost Cause narrative offered to visitors at most plantations (prison labor camps).

Regina, a Native girl, runs in the mountains on this book cover

Indian No More

Book — Historical fiction. By Charlene Willing McManis and Traci Sorell. 2016. 224 pages.
This award-winning children's book follows a young Indigenous girl's quest to understand her identity as an Indian despite being so far from home.

Being Clem

Book — Fiction. By Lesa Cline-Ransome. 2021. 256 pages.
The final novel in the award-winning Finding Langston trilogy, this novel examines mid-twentieth century America through the eyes of Clem, a young boy whose family is torn apart after his father's untimely death.

Running

Book — Fiction. By Natalia Sylvester. 2020. 328 pages.
A story that celebrates young people who find themselves as they come to political consciousness and commitment.

Black Was the Ink

Book — Fiction. By Michelle Coles. Illustrations by Justin Johnson. 2021. 368 pages.
A powerful coming-of-age story and an eye-opening exploration of the Reconstruction era.

Paradise on Fire

Book — Fiction. By Jewell Parker Rhodes. 2023 paperback release. 256 pages.
A powerful coming-of-age survival tale exploring issues of race, class, and climate change.

The Mystery Woman in Room Three

Book — Fiction. By Aya de León. Serialized in six parts at Orion Magazine. 2021.
A young adult novel that deals with immigration rights, climate justice, the Green New Deal, and youth activism. Available for free download at Orion Magazine.

47

Book — Fiction. By Walter Mosley. 2006. 272 pages.
A young boy learns to survive under slavery and struggles for his own liberation with help from a mysterious stranger, Tall John.

Standing Up

Book — Fiction. By Ellen Bravo and Larry Miller. 2021. 284 pages.
This collection of stories highlights the importance of collective struggle, both in the workplace and in the community.

Jazz Owls: A Novel of the Zoot Suit Riots

Book — Historical fiction. By Margarita Engle. 2018. 192 pages.
A novel that uses free verse to tell the story of the 1943 Zoot Suit (or Sailor) Riots through a wide range of characters.

The Journey of Little Charlie

Book — Fiction. By Christopher Paul Curtis. 2018. 256 pages.
A novel for young adults that that shows how slavery was state-sanctioned terrorism and the impact of the Fugitive Slave Law.

Warning from My Future Self

Book — Fiction. By Jean Tepperman. Illustrated by Alfred Twu. 2017. 34 pages.
A dystopian call-to-action story about the threat of climate change and the need for young people to act now.

Crossing Ebenezer Creek

Book — Historical fiction. By Tonya Bolden. 2017. 240 pages.
A moving account of the Civil War massacre at Ebenezer Creek in Georgia.

The Fog Machine

Book — Fiction. By Susan Follett. 2014. 389 pages.
A young adult novel of historical fiction based on Freedom Summer.