Laws & Citizen Rights Archives

Lawrence Textile Strike Acquittal | ZInn Education Project

Nov. 26, 1912: Lawrence Textile Strike Acquittal

Joseph James Ettor, Arturo Giovannitti, and Joseph Caruso were acquitted after one of the most important labor trials.

Nov. 28, 1919: Jane Addams and Palmer Raids

The Palmer Raids began in November of 1919 and targeted suspected radical leftists, especially anarchists, and deported them from the United States.

Dr. Charles Gomillion | Zinn Education Project

Nov. 14, 1960: Gomillion v. Lightfoot

SCOTUS ruled 9-0 that redrawing city boundaries in Tuskegee, Alabama to exclude African-American voters violates the 15th Amendment.

Dec. 5, 1955: Montgomery Bus Boycott Began

The Montgomery Bus Boycott is one of the most powerful examples of organizing and social change in U.S. history.

Dec. 6, 1865: 13th Amendment Ratified

The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution officially ended the institution of slavery.

Teaching a People’s History of Abolition and the Civil War

Teaching Guide. Edited by Adam Sanchez. 2019. Rethinking Schools. 181 pages.
Students will discover the real abolition story, one about some of the most significant grassroots social movements in U.S. history.

These ads appeared in the Norfolk Beacon. Whose side was the white press on? Compare to coverage in abolitionist newspaper below.

Nov. 21, 1842: George Latimer Freed In Boston

A Boston judge stopped the extradition of George Latimer, who had escaped enslavement in Virginia, and allowed him to raise funds for his own manumission.

Feb. 11, 1963: Howard Zinn Debates Fulton Lewis III About HUAC

Howard Zinn debated Fulton Lewis III, a journalist and member of the House Un-American Activities Committee, on the question of “Shall the House Committee on Un-American Activities Be Abolished?”

Dec. 4, 1865: Ex-Confederate States Blocked From Joining 39th Congress

After the Civil War, representatives from states recently in rebellion were blocked from being sworn-in at the 39th Congress.

The Struggle Against the Prison Industrial Complex

Jesse Hagopian led a conversation with Garrett Felber, Safear Ness, and Stevie Wilson about the prison industrial complex, incarceration, and the history of resistance against that system.

Traveling Black: A Story of Race and Resistance

Book — Non-fiction. By Mia Bay. 2021. 400 pages.
From stagecoaches and trains to buses, cars, and planes, this book explores racial restrictions on transportation and resistance to the injustice.

Subversives: Stories from the Red Scare

Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca.
In this mixer lesson, students meet 27 different targets of government harassment and repression to analyze why disparate individuals might have become targets of the same campaign, determining what kind of threat they posed in the view of the U.S. government.

Seizing Freedom Podcast

Podcast. Written and hosted by Kidada E. Williams. 2021.
A Black history podcast tells stories "drawn from archives of voices from American history that have been muted time and time again."

Oct. 30, 1870: Protest of Racist Policies on Streetcars in Louisville

Reconstruction era protest of racist discrimination on streetcars in Louisville, Kentucky.

workers protesting against Ford Motor Co.

March 7, 1932: Hunger March Against Ford Motors

A hunger march by unemployed workers against Ford Motors.

April 23, 1866: Freedmen Demand Equal Medical Treatment

William Beverly Nash and several others asked the federal government to intervene to ensure equal medical treatment for all.

Line drawing of Ku Klux Klan members who were captured with their disguises and hoods. January 6, 1872.

Dec. 24, 1865: Ku Klux Klan Founded

The Ku Klux Klan was founded in Pulaski, Tennessee.

Feb. 24, 1868: President Andrew Johnson Impeached by House

President Andrew Johnson was impeached by the House of Representatives.

Jan. 6, 1811: Charles Sumner is Born

Born on this day in Massachusetts, Charles Sumner was outspoken against slavery, for full recognition of Haiti, against the U.S.-Mexico War, for true reconstruction with land distribution, against school segregation, and much more.

Marriage certificate of Benjamin Manson and Sarah White, April 19, 1866 | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

April 19, 1866: Couple Receives Freedmen’s Bureau Marriage Certificate

Benjamin Berry Manson and Sarah Ann Benton White, formerly enslaved in Tennessee, receive an official marriage certificate from the Freedmen’s Bureau.

Bound in Wedlock: Slave and Free Black Marriage in the Nineteenth Century

Book — Non-fiction. By Tera W. Hunter. 2019. 416 pages.
A comprehensive history of African American marriages in the nineteenth century.

Teaching Activity by Tera W. Hunter

Jan. 10, 1854: Woman Jailed for Teaching Free Black Children to Read

A judge in Norfolk, Virginia, sentenced a white woman, Margaret Douglass, to one month in jail for teaching free Black children to read.

Oct. 30, 1956: Texas School District Found Guilty of Discriminating Against Mexican-American Students

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas Corpus Christi found a South Texas school district guilty of discriminating against Mexican-American students in one of the first cases that directly applied the ruling made in Brown v. Board of Education to Mexican-American students.

“Prisons Make Us Safer”: And 20 Other Myths about Mass Incarceration

Book — Non-fiction. By Victoria Law. 2021. 240 pages
An accessible guide for activists, educators, and all who are interested in understanding how the prison system oppresses communities and harms individuals.

Teaching Activity by Victoria Law

June 14, 1943: Supreme Court Finds Compulsory Flag Salutes Unconstitutional

On Flag Day 1943, the Supreme Court invalidated a compulsory flag salute law in public schools and established that students possess some level of First Amendment rights.

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