This Day in History

Sept. 11, 1990: Murder of Myrna Mack

Time Periods: 20th Century, 1975
Themes: World History/Global Studies
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Anthropologist Myrna Mack Chang was murdered in Guatemala by the U.S.-backed military due to her outspoken criticism of the Guatemala government’s treatment of the indigenous Maya.

Her sister Helen Mack was honored with a Right Livelihood Award in 1992 “for her personal courage and persistence in seeking justice and an end to the impunity of political murderers.”

Related Resources

The Case of Myrna Mack Chang: Overcoming: Institutional Impunity in Guatemala a Human Rights Brief published by Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law, 2003.

Lessons, books, and films for teaching about Central America.

For more Sept. 11 anniversaries, watch “A Fateful Day: 9/11 Also Marks Important Anniversaries in India, Guatemala, Haiti and Attica, NY” on Democracy Now!

Related Resources
Two men carry children blinded by the Union Carbide chemical pesticide leak to a hospital in Bhopal, India, Dec. 5, 1984.
Teaching Activities (Free)

Whose “Terrorism”?

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. Rethinking Schools. 11 pages.
Using scenarios based on real situations, this lesson helps middle and high school students examine the definition of terrorism and the use of the term terrorism in the media and U.S. foreign policy.

Articles

Disguising Imperialism: How Textbooks Get the Cold War Wrong and Dupe Students

Article. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. If We Knew Our History series.
Too often, when it comes to U.S. Cold War interventions, the official curriculum is sanitized and disjointed, leaving students ill-equipped to make sense out of their nation’s global bullying.

 

Books: Non-Fiction

Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America (Book)

Book — Non-fiction. By Juan Gonzalez. 2022. 560 pages.
An updated and thorough account of the role the United States in the mass migration of Latinos to the U.S.

Films

Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America

Film. Directed by Eduardo López & Peter Getzels. 2012. 90 minutes.
Documentary that examines the direct connection between the long history of U.S. intervention in Latin America and the immigration crisis we face today.

This Day in History

June 27, 1954: Elected Guatemalan Leader Overthrown in CIA-Backed Coup

Democratically elected Guatemalan president Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán was deposed in a CIA-sponsored coup.

This Day in History

Sept. 11, 1973: U.S.-Backed Coup in Chile

Chile’s democratically elected president, Salvador Allende was killed in a U.S.-backed coup.

Films

Sept. 11, 2001: Orlando and Phyllis Rodriguez: “Not In Our Son’s Name”

Orlando and Phyllis Rodriguez spoke out against using September 11, 2001 as a pretext for war.