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Zinn Education Project - Teaching People's History
Black Lives Matter at School
Year of Purpose
In the wake of the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and others named and unnamed, a great Uprising for Black Lives has swept the nation and the world, inciting new urgency and radical possibilities for advancing abolitionist practice and uprooting institutional racism.
These are the opening words of the recently released statement from the Black Lives Matter at School movement’s call for a Year of Purpose in fighting racism.

The Year of Purpose has two major components:

  1. Educators — and parents who have been pressed into educating their kids at home due to COVID-19 — are called on to answer a series of reflection questions that help them better analyze their pedagogy with respect to anti-racist practices.
  2. Educators, students, parents, and community members are called on to organize for a day of action during every month of the school year that will highlight different aspects of the BLM at School movement.

Continue reading Jesse Hagopian's article "How you can help Black Lives Matter at School" to learn ways that educators, parents, students and anti-racist organizers can support the Year of Purpose and support Black students.
Teaching for Black Lives
Teaching for Black Lives provides practical resources and shows how teachers connect curriculum to young people's lives and root their daily experiences in what is taught and how classrooms are set up.

Teaching for Black Lives is edited by Dyan Watson, Jesse Hagopian, and Wayne Au. Published by Rethinking Schools.
Featured Lessons
Repair: Students Design a Reparations Bill
Reparations Protest By Fibonacci Blue
In this activity, students take on the role of activist-experts to improve a Congressional bill for reparations for Black people. They talk back to Congress’ legislation and design a more robust alternative.
What We Don’t Learn About the Black Panther Party — but Should
A mixer role play introduces students to the pivotal and largely untold history of the Black Panthers, a history that holds vital lessons for today’s movement to confront racism and police violence.
Who's to Blame? A People’s Tribunal on the Coronavirus Pandemic
Credit Peter Kneffel dpa via AP
Who is responsible for a heinous crime, the spread of the deadly COVID-19? Students weigh the evidence.
Teaching SNCC: The Organization at the Heart of the Civil Rights Revolution
Investigate the activism of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, including freedom rides and voter registration.
Share Your Teaching for Black Lives Story
Share your experience teaching any lesson from the Rethinking Schools book, Teaching for Black Lives, and we will send you a free copy. Several lessons are available for free at the Zinn Education Project.

This offer is made possible by the contributors to the Teach the Black Freedom Struggle campaign.
Teaching ZEP Lessons Remotely: Recommitting to the Why — If Not the How — of Our Pedagogy
In this guide by Ursula Wolfe-Rocca, the Zinn Education Project offers suggestions and resources for teaching people's history remotely.

Find links to our free people's history lessons adapted for remote teaching at this page, too.
Support People's History Students
Donate students
The main support to sustain and grow the Zinn Education Project comes from individual donors like you. Read our Donor Testimonials and see What Teachers Are Saying to explore how our work affects students across the United States.
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