How We Remember

At the invitation of award-winning author Clint Smith, the Zinn Education Project developed a series of lessons for his book How the Word Is Passed. We were delighted to hear from a high school teacher who used one of those lessons for her midterm exam.

In lieu of a traditional midterm exam for one of my U.S. History I classes, I had them complete the Zinn Education Project activity “How We Remember.”

I’ve used excerpts from How the Word Is Passed, but this activity had the students use the text in a way that required them to interact with the sites, as well. The commemorations were thoughtful and the students did an incredible job doing justice to the history of enslavement at those locations.

Thank you for such an engaging and important activity. I look forward to using it again in the future. — Allyson Saladino, High School Social Studies Teacher, Ridgewood, New Jersey

We welcome stories from teachers about using people's history lessons.

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Uncovering Oppression

New Issue of Rethinking Schools

Hot off the press: In the winter issue of Rethinking Schools, teacher educators describe how vague language in one state’s critical race theory ban suppresses good teaching — but how teachers are resisting.

Educator Enid Lee emphasizes how we can take anti-racist education seriously, and feminist high school teachers show how they equip their students to “unmask patriarchy.” And “The First CRT Election” editorial analyzes the ambiguous results of the 2022 midterms.

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Defy the Censorship

Help Us Send Teaching for Black Lives to Florida

We know that Florida educators and teacher educators are horrified by the attacks on African American history and anti-racist education. In solidarity, Rethinking Schools is sending copies of Teaching for Black Lives to Florida classroom teachers who request them. We invite everyone who believes in teaching the truth to join us by donating. Your donations will go directly to getting this crucial text into the hands of Florida educators and teacher educators.

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Florida Teachers: Request a Book

Film Excerpts and Commentary

New Rosa Parks Documentary

Monday, Feb. 6, 2023

On Feb. 6, 2023, Jeanne Theoharis and Jesse Hagopian will share and discuss clips from the new documentary The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks, based on Theoharis’ book of the same title. Join us!

Professional development certificates provided. ASL interpretation.

Co-sponsored by AFT Share My Lesson.

Teaching for Black Lives Study Group Spotlight

Each month we will feature one of our Teaching for Black Lives study groups. We begin with the Providence, Rhode Island, group of K–12 educators that has been meeting since the fall of 2021.

Why are we doing this? We always talk about looking at the data and the data is clearly telling you, so why do we still believe that having officers in schools will protect us?

That question was posed during the December Providence study group discussion of In the Wake of Uvalde, a Teacher’s Plea for Police-Free Schools from the Fall issue of Rethinking Schools.

In addition to rich conversations, the study group considers how to take action. In December, they discussed ways to support the coalition of Providence youth groups spearheading a Counselors Not Cops campaign.

Providence study group coordinator Lindsay Paiva.

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We Need Your Help

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.

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