1961 Archives

The Black Upsurge Against Racial Segregation

Teaching Activity. By Tasha Boettcher.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 17 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on the long Civil Rights Movement in America.

Vietnam and Beyond: The Historic Resistance

Teaching Activity. By Mike Benbow and Robin Pickering. 17 pages.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 18 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on opposition to the Vietnam War.

Women, Gays, and Other Voices of Resistance

Teaching Activity. By Jack Bareilles.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 19 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on the emergence and legacy of the 1960s counterculture, as well as the movements it helped create.

Losing Control in the 1970s

Teaching Activity. By Jennifer Rosebrook.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 20 of Voices of a People's History of the United States on the legacy of scandal since the end of the Vietnam War and the Watergate break-in.

Letters from Mississippi: Reports from Civil Rights Volunteers and Freedom School Poetry of the 1964 Freedom Summer

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Elizabeth Sutherland Martinez. Introduction by Julian Bond. 2007.
Letters and poetry from Civil Rights Movement volunteers in the summer of 1964.

Hope and History: Why We Must Share the Story of the Movement

Book — Non-fiction. By Vincent Harding. 2010 (2nd edition). 240 pages.
A call to educators, clergy, and community activists to remember and keep alive the story of the Black-led freedom movement.

I’ve Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle

Book — Non-fiction. By Charles M. Payne. 1995. 506 pages.
A people's history of the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi.

Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi

Book — Non-fiction. By John Dittmer. 1995. 560 pages.
A detailed, grassroots description of the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi.

Lessons from Freedom Summer: Ordinary People Building Extraordinary Movements

Teaching Guide. Edited by Kathy Emery, Linda Reid Gold and Sylvia Braselmann. Foreword by Howard Zinn. 2008. 456 pages.
Readings and lessons on the 1964 Mississippi Summer Project.

Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching

Teaching Guide and Website. Edited by Deborah Menkart, Alana D. Murray, and Jenice L. View. 2024. 390 pages.
This second edition provides lessons and articles for K–12 educators on how to go beyond a heroes approach to the Civil Rights Movement, with a focus on education, economics, labor, youth, women, and culture.

Teaching Activity by Deborah Menkart

My Mother the Cheerleader

Book — Fiction. By Robert Sharenow. 2009. 320 pages.
Louise's mother spends her mornings at the local elementary school with a group of women known as the Cheerleaders, who harass the school's first Black student, six-year-old Ruby Bridges.

Patrol: An American Soldier in Vietnam

Picture book. By Walter Dean Myers. 2005. 40 pages.
Sophisticated picture book on one soldier's patrol in Vietnam, for upper elementary.

Making a Killing: Philip Morris, Kraft and Global Tobacco Addiction

Film. By Kelly Anderson and Tami Gold. 2001. 30 minutes.
How Philip Morris has conspired to hook children on tobacco and keep governments from protecting public health.

Waiting ‘Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America

Book — Non-fiction. By Peniel E. Joseph. 2007. 432 pages.
A narrative history of the Black Power Movement.

Teaching Activity by Peniel E. Joseph

Warriors Don't Cry (Book - Non-fiction) | Zinn Education Project

Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Senior High

Book — Non-fiction. By Melba Pattillo Beals. 2007. 336 pages.
Story of a teenage girl chosen to integrate Little Rock High School.

We Are One: The Story of Bayard Rustin

Picture book. By Larry Dane Brimner. 2007. 48 pages.
A sophisticated picture book on key civil rights leader Bayard Rustin.

We Took the Streets: Fighting for Latino Rights with the Young Lords

Book — Non-fiction. By Miguel Melendez. 2003. 260 pages.
Legacy of the Young Lords in the Puerto Rican struggle for equality and independence.

Teaching Activity by Miguel Melendez

book cover reading "The Eyes on the Prize: Civil Rights Reader"

The Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader: Documents, Speeches, and Firsthand Accounts from the Black Freedom Struggle, 1954–1990

Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Clayborne Carson, David J. Garrow, Gerald Gill, Vincent Harding, and Darlene Clark Hine. 1991. 784 pages
Readings to accompany the film, Eyes on the Prize.

Freedom Songs

Book — Fiction. By Yvette Moore. 1992. 176 pages.
When Sheryl's Uncle Pete joins the Freedom Riders down South, she organizes a gospel concert in Brooklyn to help him.

Period: 1961

Women, Gays, and Other Voices of Resistance

Letters from Mississippi: Reports from Civil Rights Volunteers and Freedom School Poetry of the 1964 Freedom Summer

Hope and History: Why We Must Share the Story of the Movement

I’ve Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle

Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi

Lessons from Freedom Summer: Ordinary People Building Extraordinary Movements

Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching

My Mother the Cheerleader

Making a Killing: Philip Morris, Kraft and Global Tobacco Addiction

Waiting ‘Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America

Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Senior High

We Are One: The Story of Bayard Rustin

We Took the Streets: Fighting for Latino Rights with the Young Lords

The Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader: Documents, Speeches, and Firsthand Accounts from the Black Freedom Struggle, 1954–1990

Through My Eyes

Nobody Gonna Turn Me ‘Round: Stories and Songs of the Civil Rights Movement

John Lewis in the Lead: A Story of the Civil Rights Movement

Remember: The Journey to School Integration

Simple Justice: The History of Brown v. Board of Education and Black America’s Struggle for Equality

Freedom Songs

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