Education Archives

Why Do People Believe Myths About the Confederacy? Because Our Textbooks and Monuments Are Wrong

Article. By James W. Loewen. July 2015 in the Washington Post.
A critique of textbook and mainstream media coverage of the Civil War.

The Columbus Controversy: Challenging How History Is Written

Film. Written, directed, and produced by Nick Kaufman. 1992. 23 minutes.
Contrasting views and scenes from the classroom on teaching about Columbus.

A Year Without Sundays (Un Año Sin Domingos)

Book — Non-fiction. By Catherine Murphy and Carlos Torres Cairo. 2014. 132 pages (& DVD).
Photos and stories about the highly successful Cuban literacy campaign of 1961.

A Talk to Teachers

Article. By James Baldwin. October 16, 1963.
Baldwin addresses the challenges of education to prepare children to grapple with the myths and realities of U.S. history.

Rethinking Sexism, Gender, and Sexuality

Teaching Guide. Edited by Annika Butler-Wall, Kim Cosier, Rachel Harper, Jeff Sapp, Jody Sokolower, and Melissa Bollow Tempel. Rethinking Schools. 2016. 476 pages.
A collection of essays on how to create a nurturing classroom at different grade levels, curriculum, teachers coming out, organizing beyond classroom walls, and integrating LGBTQ+ content into teacher education programs and ongoing teacher education.

Learning for Justice

Website. Films, journal, and readings for teachers on education for equity.

Teaching Untold Stories During Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

By Moé Yonamine

“They’re Latinos . . . I think they’re some kind of farm workers.”

“No, they’re Asians with name tags.”

And then a student in a quiet voice walked by me slowly and muttered, “I think something really bad is happening to them.”

My students at Roosevelt High School in Portland, Oregon — one of the state’s most racially diverse schools — studied each black and white photo posted around the room, inspecting the background and the facial expressions; confused, anxious, frustrated. They began a journey to uncover the hidden story of the Japanese Latin American removal, internment, and deportation during World War II.

Feb. 7, 1926: Carter G. Woodson Launched Negro History Week

Carter G. Woodson initiated the first celebration of Negro History Week which led to Black History Month.

Helen Keller letter to German students. Click image for source page with transcription.

May 9, 1933: Helen Keller Writes to German Students

Helen Keller wrote a letter to the students who planned on burning all books deemed “un-German.”

May 2, 1963: Children of Birmingham Fill the Jails

In disciplined groups and singing freedom songs, students “ditch” class to march for justice and fill the jails.

Feb. 24, 1969: Tinker v. Des Moines Case Wins Free Speech Rights for Students

The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in Tinker v. Des Moines that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”

Jan. 24, 1874: Arturo Alfonso Schomburg Born

Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, bibliophile, collector, writer, who spent his life championing Black history, was born on this day.

April 23, 1951: 16-Year-Old Barbara Johns Leads a Student Strike

Barbara Johns (16-years-old) led her classmates in a strike to protest the substandard conditions in Prince Edward County, Virginia.

Dec. 27, 1937: Harriet Elizabeth Brown Case Settled

Harriet Elizabeth Brown, a teacher from Maryland, sued for equal pay for Black teachers and won the case.

Jan. 2, 1915: John Hope Franklin Born

John Hope Franklin, born this day in Rentiesville and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was one of most important historians of the 20th century.

The Confederate Constitute | Zinn Education Project

March 11, 1861: Confederate Constitution Adopted

The Constitution of the Confederate States of America was adopted a month before the Civil War started.

March 15, 1942: Norwegian Teachers Resist Nazi Curriculum

More than 1,300 Norwegian teachers were arrested by the German Nazi-installed government.

April 1, 1955: ANC Protest Bantu Education Act

The African National Congress called on parents to withdraw their children from schools to resist the 1953 Bantu Education Act.

April 18, 1959: Students Petition and March for Integrated Schools

26,000 high school and college students came to Washington, D.C. to demand the end of segregated schools.

Lessons from the Heartland: A Turbulent Half-Century of Public Education in an Iconic American City

Book — Non-fiction. By Barbara Miner. 2013. 305 pages.
The history of public education in Milwaukee in the context of the broader story of racism in the rust belt.

Martha Lum's class photo | Zinn Education Project

Nov. 21, 1927: Lum v. Rice Supreme Court Ruling

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that, in the case of nine-year old Chinese-American Martha Lum, her exclusion on account of race from school was justified.

Spottswood Thomas Bolling Jr. and his mother Mrs. Sarah Bolling of the Bolling v. Sharpe school desegregation case, decided on the same day as Brown v. Board. Image: © The Washington Post by permission from the Washingtoniana Division.

May 17, 1954: Brown v. Board Ruling

After decades of organizing and strategic efforts by parents, teachers, lawyers, and more — the U.S. Supreme Court issued the unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education on school segregation.