Many states are banning lessons that teach “that racism is embedded in American society and its legal systems.” (Quote from the Florida law.)

Under these anti-history education bills, can students learn about 19th century speaker, teacher, and writer Frances Ellen Watkins Harper? Harper, in addition to fighting for voting rights, spoke out about the injustices on public transportation.

Read below what historian Martha S. Jones says about Harper, and then you decide if teachers risk their jobs when they teach about her.

Will teachers violate the law when they teach about Frances Harper and countless other people and groups who have challenged the racism embedded in U.S. society? These are the very people who Jones says are the vanguard in the fight for democracy and justice.

Join us on Monday, Feb. 21 (yes, Presidents' Day) when Martha S. Jones teaches us about more women who threaten the status quo. Jones will be in conversation with Cierra Kaler-Jones about the role of Black women in the long and ongoing fight for voting rights.

Thanks to a donation from the publisher, we will give away 20 copies of the new paperback edition of Jones’ book Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All to teachers who attend the event. Register to join the conversation.

This year marks Howard Zinn's 100th anniversary, and we send this e-newsletter on the anniversary of his death on Jan. 27, 2010.

Throughout the year, we will continue to provide free lessons and classes on teaching people’s history (like the one above) and defend teachers’ right to teach outside the textbook. We encourage you to join us. Share memories and stories with the hashtag #HowardZinn100. Check out the new Howard Zinn website digital collection and @ZinnDigital Twitter handle.

Reconstruction was a time of immense possibility for economic equity and progress for multiracial democracy. White supremacists crushed this promise. Today, it is suppressed in K–12 education and public memory.

Our new report, Erasing the Black Freedom Struggle: How State Standards Fail to Teach the Truth About Reconstruction, is the first to look at standards for teaching Reconstruction across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It shows how those standards still echo the language of the racist Dunning School, which shaped decades of mis-education about Reconstruction.

The growing number of anti-history (anti-CRT) bills seek to keep it that way. As tens of thousands of teachers commit to teach outside the textbook — read their stories in our report — the state legislatures are pushing back.

Please read the report and share it far and wide. Also, take a look at the assessment for your state.

Close to 8,000 teachers have signed the pledge to #TeachTruth. If you are a teacher, add your name and check out the Teach Truth Syllabus.

Not a teacher? Speak out in defense of teaching the truth with letters to the editor and at school board meetings. The right wing is filling the airwaves with “anti-CRT” messages and teachers are being harassed and their jobs threatened. Let legislators know that this well-funded rightwing hate campaign is outnumbered by the people in support of truth telling. Read more.

Your support is needed to help more students learn people’s history. Most of the Zinn Education Project’s funding comes from individuals like you.