Educators have returned to their classrooms this fall to help students make sense of the dizzying and horrifying three years since the presidential election. It is natural to respond to the breadth of this campaign of destruction with despair.
But our students deserve a curriculum that serves as an antidote to discouragement.
The last three years have also told a story of continuous resistance. Although not yet strong enough to change the status quo, these growing movements point to a different, better future.
We invite you to teach ---- in our classrooms and in the streets ---- the hope-inspiring maxim that "people make history."
We include lessons ---- some highlighted below ---- that:
Show how social movements have organized and made strides even during dangerous times.
Help students explore other moments in history when elites have mobilized to roll back racial and economic progress.
Highlight examples of "divide and conquer" politics.
Help students explore aspects of this administration's agenda ---- white supremacy, xenophobia, Islamophobia; attacks on the environment, civil liberties, women's rights, and the press; growing economic inequality ---- and how activists are responding.
On September 20, students will kick off a week of action with a
global climate strike. We are watching the birth of a new mass movement. In solidarity, the Zinn Education Project invites you to
pledge to teach climate justice this fall. Read the
pledges to date.
