In the News

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.”

In the wake of Florida’s headline-grabbing efforts to reshape the content of the College Board’s A.P. African American Studies course, publishers at New Press recently scrapped their catalog just before it was set to go the printer, replacing the cover with new art calling out the banning of New Press books, and the back cover with text calling attention to events in Florida and the surge in censorship efforts. The publisher is also reaching out to offer free books to teachers — including a recent partnership with the Zinn Education Project that will offer free New Press books to teachers in Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas.

“I think the College Board needs to be abolished,” said Jesse Hagopian, a campaign organizer at the Zinn Education Project focused on Black history. “It’s an institution that was founded in eugenics and white supremacy, and we have far better models of education to look to. We should be moving towards educational approaches based in ethnic studies, Black studies, or people’s history. There are so many different models for empowering students with education that are far more impactful than the College Board.”

The book Teaching for Black Lives was first published in 2018 during the heart of the Black Lives Matter movement. The book has 50 chapters written by scholars, teachers, and community educators... The Zinn Education Project, Rethinking Schools, and Teaching for Change support the campaign.