"Nations reel & stagger. . .; they make hideous mistakes; they commit frightful wrongs; they do great & beautiful things. And shall we not best guide humanity by telling the truth about all this, so far as the truth is ascertainable?" --W. E. B. Du Bois ⬇️ zinnedproject.org/materials/blac…
Today: New edition of W. E. B. Du Bois's 1935 "Black Reconstruction" released from Library of America. Still needed to challenge "universal lying" in many school standards.
Thankfully, there are a wealth of resources to teach Reconstruction. E.g. "Seizing Freedom" podcast by @KidadaEWilliams w/ dramatic readings of 1st person stories, hear how "African Americans freed themselves. . . & built new lives during Reconstruction.” zinnedproject.org/materials/seiz…
For YA (and adults!) read "Black Was the Ink" by @mjcoles2015 via @LEEandLOW. Contemporary teen time travels to Reconstruction era & learns lessons to apply to fight to save his family's farm in Mississippi. Includes original speeches by Black leaders. ⬇️ zinnedproject.org/materials/blac…
Find many more lessons, books, films, articles, and a student project to #TeachReconstruction on the link below.
Send us your story about using any of these lessons and we'll send you a people's history book in appreciation. #TeachOutsideTextbook
More than 180 U.S. history scholars have signed open letter to advocate for increased time and resources for instruction about Reconstruction. Bring this letter to advocate in your school district. (Scholars: email zep@zinnedproject.org to add your name.) zinnedproject.org/news/an-open-l…
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Ella Baker, born #tdih 1903 and died #tdih 1986, was a civil, labor, & human rights activist beginning in the 1930s whose career spanned more than five decades. She was instrumental in the launch of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/ella…
"In order for us as poor and oppressed people to become a part of a society that is meaningful, the system under which we now exist has to be radically changed." — Ella Baker (1903 – 1986)
"Strong people don't need strong leaders." -- Ella Baker
Portrait of Ella Baker by Phoebe Rotter of Black Lives Matter Greater Burlington. Displayed at Poor People's Campaign, D.C., June 23, 2018. @BRepairers
#tdih 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott began. One of most powerful organizing stories.
Yet many people associate it with isolated act by Rosa Parks, without context of Parks’ life of activism; decades of public transportation protest; nor the role of WPC. ⬇️ zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/bus-…
The call to action came from a flier produced by Jo Ann Robinson of Women's Political Council (WPC) and a few associates. They bravely mimeographed tens of thousands of leaflets to distribute across city. Read more at @NMAAHCnmaahc.si.edu/blog-post/jo-a… & watch "Eyes on the Prize."
This wasn't first protest against discrimination on public transportation. In 1955, Claudette Colvin & other woman took a stand.
There were hundreds of acts of civil disobedience & other protests, dating back to 19th century. Not a single story. See ⬇️ civilrightsteaching.org/desegregation/…
#tdih 1969. Assassination of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark -- shot to death by police in their Chicago apartment. #terrorism
Read more below and find lessons (free via ZEP) to teach about the Black Panther Party, COINTELPRO, and police. #TeachTruthzinnedproject.org/news/tdih/blac…
See “The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther,” an interview with lawyer Jeffery Haas (co-founder of the People’s Law Office) on @democracynow ⬇️ democracynow.org/2009/12/4/the_…
Teach about this history with lesson below by Ursula Wolfe-Rocca, "Through examining FBI documents, students learn the scope of the FBI’s COINTELPRO campaign to spy on, infiltrate, discredit, and disrupt all corners of the Black Freedom Movement." zinnedproject.org/materials/coin…
#tdih 1947 Congress held “Hollywood 10” in contempt for refusal to testify before House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Next day, Motion Picture Assoc. fired “Hollywood 10.” Censorship led to more racism, sexism & militarism in popular culture. ⬇️ zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/holl…
"Movies of 1950s did not display any evidence of populist spirit which infused some of more notable ‘30s & ‘40s films. On the contrary, studios complacently turned out . . . movies which. . .debased women, ignored African Americans, & exalted war & imperialism." -- Allen Rivkin
Not in textbooks: "Red Scare was a scorched-earth policy against most progressive forces: labor unions organizing across racial lines; civil rights orgs. . . ; writers, artists, & journalists who advocated internationalism & peace." -- @LadyOfSardines ⬇️ zinnedproject.org/if-we-knew-our…
#tdih 1919 Bogalusa Labor Massacre. Self-Preservation & Loyalty League (SPLL) and Great Southern Lumber Company gunmen killed white allies of African American labor organizer Sol Dacus.
There is a long history of white supremacist massacres in U.S. history designed to suppress voting rights, land ownership, economic advancement, education, freedom of the press, religion, LGBTQ rights, and/or labor rights. See ⬇️ zinnedproject.org/collection/mas…
“Thus grew up a double system of justice, which erred on the white side by undue leniency and the practical immunity of red-handed criminals, and erred on the Black side by undue severity, injustice, and lack of discrimination.” -- W. E. B. Du Bois, Souls of Black Folk (1903)
Too often the story of the grand experiment in interracial democracy in the U.S. -- and the white supremacist backlash -- is skipped or rushed through in classrooms across the country.