In the News

During this episode of Why Change? co-host Karla meets with Tamara Anderson who moderated an event recently — in partnership with the Teaching Artists Guild, Zinn Education Project, Black Lives Matter at School, and Creative Generation — titled, “A Day of Purpose: Decolonizing Arts Education with Black Lives Matter at School.” This event was a professional development opportunity for teaching artists that focuses on the ongoing activations and reflections from BLM at School’s Year of Purpose, which aims to uplift Black students and undo institutional racism.

Book bans are surging in the U.S., according to a recent report by the American Library Association. A record 2,571 unique titles were targeted for censorship in 2022, the ALA reported. Even as these laws proliferate, educators and librarians are finding creative ways around them. Jesse Hagopian, a high school teacher in Seattle and organizer with the Zinn Education Project, believes the wave of legislation that “imposes gag orders on teachers” is a backlash to the Black Lives Matter movement and the increasing numbers of people embracing their transgender identities.

Teachers are getting a chance to participate in a workshop aimed at uncovering what the Zinn Education Project calls “the hidden, bottom-up history” of the Reconstruction era. The workshop is geared toward middle and high school educators, and participants will engage in a series of classroom-friendly activities exploring the neglected history of the Reconstruction period and asking how the unfulfilled promises of Reconstruction might shape politics and American history education moving forward.

Knowing history allows us to better understand the present; but in various parts of the United States and Texas many books that address stories or try to raise awareness about issues of racism or gender identity have been banned from public schools. For this reason, organizations such as the Zinn Education Project (ZEP) and the African American Policy Forum created an exhibition at the South By Southwest (SXSW) festival to address these limitations.

A display at South by Southwest Conference & Festivals highlights the historical context of book banning nationwide, as well as states seeing the largest volume of books pulled from shelves. The Banned Book Library is an interactive exhibit created by the Zinn Education Project, the African American Policy Forum and Lush Cosmetics. It included a historic timeline of segregation, denied literacy rights for non-white people as well as some specific titles that have faced a heightened level of pushback.

The Zinn Education Project’s Jesse Hagopian joins the Nicole Sandler Show, a podcast on The Progressive Voices Network, to discuss Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s efforts to ban teaching true history in Florida, and campaigns that are pushing back against the attempt to whitewash this history.

Bill Resnick talks to the Zinn Education Project’s Jesse Hagopian about the “Stop W.O.K.E. Act,” the recent Florida law led by Governor Ron DeSantis, that is aimed at criminalizing teaching Black history, banning books and limiting what can be taught, claiming that Critical Race theory is itself racist, and more. The conversation exposes the malicious deceit of Desantis’ justifications, and the current impact of the law, with other states enacting similar laws, and teachers fearful and intimidated.

Professor Matthew Delmont has engaged thousands of high school teachers in exploring the history of the World War II era from the perspective of Black Americans. With critical race theory and the College Board’s new AP course on African American studies mired in political controversy, Delmont feels a sense of urgency to correct “a fundamental misunderstanding of what it means to study history.”