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Yes. The textbooks we examined do.

Last spring we posted Five Ways Textbooks Lie About Reconstruction by Mimi Eisen.

Eisen examined commonly used U.S. history textbooks. The first of five themes she found is that textbooks center Confederate states and ex-Confederates.

A contemporary textbook asks students to imagine themselves as former Confederate soldiers traveling the South and witnessing, with dismay, the destruction of “plantation manor homes.”

Textbooks encourage students to view Reconstruction from the perspectives of those who fought to preserve enslavement.

See more themes and textbook examples, and read our full national report, Erasing the Black Freedom Struggle.

Send us examples from YOUR history textbooks.

Invite students to read the article and examine their textbook. Send us what they find and in appreciation, we’ll highlight their work as textbook detectives and send you a signed copy of Black Was the Ink for your classroom.

Tiffany participates in D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice activities, has hosted our Teach the Black Freedom Struggle classes, is a Teach Reconstruction campaign advisor, wrote lessons for The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks teaching guide, and more.

Tiffany says this fellowship has offered a “soul-fulfilling space” to expand her work in solidarity with other educators across the country.

We are lucky to teach, learn, and organize alongside Tiffany and all the Prentiss Charney Fellows. Please donate to continue and expand the fellowship in honor of lifelong education activists C. J. Prentiss and Michael Charney.

Educators can receive:

A signed copy of Black Was the Ink for stories about teaching any of our lessons on Reconstruction.

A copy of The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks, young readers edition to consider including in the curriculum.

Five copies or more of How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America for teaching stories about using any of our lessons for the book.

Rebellions of the 1960s

Recommended Films

Between 1964 and 1972, 300 U.S. cities erupted in rebellion. Despite the scale of these rebellions, with more than half a million people participating, 60,000 arrests, and 250 deaths, textbooks and corporate media often flatten their history. These uprisings still shape our national identity and policies, but are often misremembered as irrational or rage-filled outpourings.

Films can inspire good questions and insights about these waves of uprisings and their relevance for today. Learn about five recommended films for teaching outside the textbook on the rebellions of the 1960s in this new article by greg wickenkamp.

Teach Truth Day of Action

4th Annual — Saturday, June 8

Join us on Saturday, June 8, to defend the freedom to learn.

In this election year, we need to tell everyone about the chilling effect of anti-history education laws and how they threaten an informed and engaged democracy.

We will provide you with banned books and other materials for an information table at a library, bookstore, farmers market, or other public spaces.

Defend the right to #TeachTruth (including about Palestine), fight book bans, and defend LGBTQ+ rights on June 8, 2024.

Check out events hosted by the Zinn Education Project and our colleagues, including the Teach the Black Freedom Struggle online series (on the Freedom Theater, Reparations and climate change, and the Civil Rights Movement in the North), SNCC and Grassroots Organizing Discussion Series, Bob Moses Conference, the 1862 Penn Center Gala, the 4th annual Teach Truth Day of Action, and more.

Teachers are under attack for teaching truthfully about U.S. history. Please donate so that we can continue to offer free people’s history lessons and resources, and defend teachers’ right to use them.

COORDINATED BY:

PO BOX 73038, WASHINGTON, D.C. 20056 

202-588-7205 | zinnedproject.org