Democracy & Citizenship Archives

Mamie Tape Fights to Go to School: Based on a True Story

Picture book. Written by Traci Huahn and illustrated by Michelle Jing Chan. 2024. 40 pages.
This picture book tells the true story of a fight for access to public education by an 8-year-old Chinese-American girl, Mamie Tape, and her parents.

Barrio Rising: The Protest That Built Chicano Park

Picture book. By María Dolores Águila and illustrated by Magdalena Mora. 2024. 40 pages.
The true story of how community members organized a massive protest in 1970, forcing the city council to change its plans.

The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic

Book — Non-fiction. By Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker. 2013. 448 pages.
A sweeping history of the role of the dispossessed in the making of the modern world.

Jan. 21, 2010: Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission Ruling

The Supreme Court determined that the government could not infringe upon the First Amendment rights of corporations to spend unlimited funds on electoral campaigns.

Founding Myths: Stories That Hide Our Patriotic Past

Book — Non-fiction. By Ray Raphael. 2014. 420 pages.
Myths and the reasons that they have come to replace the real stories of the Revolutionary period.

On Coal River

Film. Directed by Francine Cavanaugh and Adams Wood. 2010. 81 minutes.
This film takes viewers on a gripping emotional journey into a community surrounded by a looming toxic threat.

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.

Papers: Stories of Undocumented Youth

Film. Graham Street Productions. 2009. 110 minutes.
The story of undocumented youth and the challenges they face as they turn 18 without legal status.

Ten Things You Should Know About Selma Before You See the Film

By Emilye Crosby

On each anniversary year of the Selma-to-Montgomery March and the Voting Rights Act it helped inspire, national media focus on the iconic images of “Bloody Sunday,” the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the interracial marchers, and President Lyndon Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act. This version of history, emphasizing a top-down narrative and isolated events, reinforces the master narrative that civil rights activists describe as “Rosa sat down, Martin stood up, and the white folks came south to save the day.”

Here are 10 points to keep in mind about Selma’s civil rights history.

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.

Nov. 10, 1898: Wilmington Massacre

The elected and interracial Reconstruction era local government was deposed in a coup d’etat in Wilmington, North Carolina.

May 28, 1963: Woolworth Sit-in in Jackson, Mississippi

Students and faculty from Tougaloo College held a sit-in at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in Jackson, Mississippi.

March 8, 1971: FBI’s COINTELPRO Exposed

A cab driver, a day care provider, and two professors broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, and stole more than 1,000 classified documents.

March 1, 1954: The Green Feather Movement Launched

Five students from Indiana University at Bloomington (IU) started the Green Feather Movement to protest censorship.

Feb. 22, 1943: White Rose Members Executed

Student activists Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl, and Christoph Probst were executed for urging students to rise up and overthrow the Nazi government.

Feb. 1, 1960: The Greensboro Sit-in Begins

Four African-American North Carolina A&T University students began a sit-in protest at a Woolworth’s whites-only lunch counter.

Executive Order 9066 | Zinn Education Project

Feb. 19, 1942: Executive Order 9066

Executive Order 9066 issued by President Roosevelt authorized the incarceration (internment) of U.S. citizens of Japanese descent.

Feb. 25, 1870: Hiram Revels Sworn into Office

Hiram Revels was sworn into office as senator from Mississippi, becoming the first African American to serve in the U.S. Senate.

Feb. 23, 1868: W. E. B. Du Bois Born

W. E. B. Du Bois, sociologist, historian, Pan-Africanist, author, and editor, was one of the most important scholars of the 20th century.

March 6, 1857: Dred (and Harriet) Scott Decision

The Supreme Court declared in horrific Dred Scott v. Sandford ruling that “Any person descended from Africans, whether slave or free, is not a citizen of U.S.”

March 7, 1965: Bloody Sunday

To protest the police murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson and for voting rights, more than 600 people began a peaceful march from Selma to Montgomery.

March 31, 1944: Frank S. Emi Interrogated

Frank S. Emi protested the draft during Japanese American incarceration and was interrogated.

April 23, 1968: Columbia Student Occupation

Students for a Democratic Society, Student Afro-American Society and others began a nonviolent occupation of campus buildings at Columbia University.

May 4, 1970: Kent State Massacre

During an anti-war protest at Kent State University, the Ohio National Guard shot unarmed college students, killing four. Students were also killed at Jackson State (May 15, 1970), and Orangeburg (February 8, 1968).

Sept. 20, 1962: James Meredith Attempts to Register at University of Mississippi

James Meredith attempted to register at the University of Mississippi.

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