1945 Archives

The Occupation of the American Mind: Israel’s Public Relations War in the United States

Film. Directed by Loretta Alper and Jeremy Earp. Media Education Foundation. 2016. Three versions: 21 min./45 min./84 min.
This film helps students recognize how the media and politicians consistently frame “Palestinian resistance as terrorism and Israeli aggression as self-defense.”

On the Freedom Side: How Five Decades of Youth Activists Have Remixed American History

Book — Non-fiction. By Wesley C. Hogan. 2019. 368 pages.
This comprehensive collection documents and assesses young people’s interventions in the fight for democracy in the United States.

May 16, 1950: Briggs v. Elliott Challenges School Segregation

With the help of the NAACP, local African American parents in South Carolina fought back against school segregation in a case that eventually helped to end segregation of public facilities across the nation.

Dec. 26, 1956: Fred Shuttlesworth Leads Protest to Desegregate Birmingham Buses

The Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and others were met with coordinated white supremacist violence when attempting to desegregate Birmingham city buses.

March 16, 1958: White Supremacists Bomb Jewish Community Center

In one of many white supremacists attacks during the early years of the Civil Rights Movement, a Jewish Community Center was bombed in Nashville, Tennessee.

Black Panther Woman: The Political and Spiritual Life of Ericka Huggins

Book — Non-fiction. By Mary Frances Phillips. 2025. 320 pages.
The first biography of Ericka Huggins, a queer Black woman who brought spiritual self-care practices to the Black Panther Party.

Feb. 2, 1959: The Norfolk 17 Attend Formerly All-White Schools

In Norfolk, where schools had been closed for months rather than desegregate, 17 African American students began attending six previously all-white middle and high schools on February 2, 1959.

May 15, 1956: Elloree 21 Refuse to Sign Anti-NAACP Teacher Oath

Twenty-one teachers at the Elloree Training School were fired when they refused to sign an oath denying membership in the NAACP.

A New Kind of Youth: Historically Black High Schools and Southern Student Activism, 1920-1975

Book — Non-fiction. 2022. By Jon N. Hale. 348 pages.
An examination of Black high school student activism in the civil rights era, illustrating how Black youth supported liberatory movements and inspired their elders across the South.

Oct. 28, 1958: Two Children Arrested in N. Carolina

Following a kiss by a 7-year-old white girl, two young Black boys ages 8 and 9 were unlawfully arrested and brutally treated in Monroe, North Carolina.

July 11, 1954: First White Citizens’ Council Formed

White residents of Indianola, Mississippi, formed the first White Citizens’ Council to organize and carry out massive resistance to racial integration of public schools.

Teaching Palestine-Israel from the Perspective of Civil Rights and Black Power Activists

Teaching Activity. By Hannah Gann, Nick Palazzolo, Keziah Ridgeway, and Adam Sanchez. Rethinking Schools. 2024. 23 pages.
This lesson highlights the complexity and diversity of thought as Civil Rights and Black Power leaders and organizations developed their views on Palestine-Israel.

Black Power and Palestine: Transnational Countries of Color

Book — Non-fiction. By Michael R. Fischbach. 2018. 296 pages.
Explores the connections between organizers of the Black Freedom Struggle and those struggling for Palestinian autonomy.

Understanding Palestine & Israel

Book — Non-fiction. By Phyllis Bennis. 2025. 240 pages.
Answers to commonly asked questions about Palestine and Israel, written in popularly accessible language.

Claudette Colvin (photo) | Zinn Education Project

March 2, 1955: Claudette Colvin Refuses to Give Up Her Bus Seat

At age 15, Claudette Colvin refused to give up her bus seat to a white woman in Montgomery, Alabama.

Dec. 25, 1951: Murder of Harriette and Harry Moore in Florida

The Ku Klux Klan bombed the home of labor and voting rights activists Harry T. Moore and Harriette Moore — killing them both. Harriette Moore taught elementary school, secretly teaching her students Black history in the face of bans by the state superintendent.