Zinn Education Project

@zinnedproject.bsky.social

42839 Followers 1066 Following

Free classroom lessons, workshops, seminars, campaigns, teacher study groups, & more to teach outside the textbook. Coord. by @rethinkingschools.bsky.social & @teachingchange.bsky.social Donate & more: https://linktr.ee/zinneducationproject

The Zinn Education Project does not simply provide lesson plans; it provides the essential tools for people to understand the past for a democratic future. — Annette Bethel, adult education teacher, Irmo, South Carolina
Thursday July 14. In the heat of the afternoon, 220 marchers led by Hosea Williams of SCLC go uptown. We enter the town square and move on to the central green. When we get to the green we find ten Negro prisoners brought in from Parchman State Prison. They are protecting the Confederate Memorial statue — under orders to prevent us from touching it. We leave them alone knowing the terrible punishment that they will suffer if the statue is “violated,” or “desecrated” with another American flag.
white text on blue filtered background with image of Smithsonian building
James Baldwin in sunglasses speaking to the press outdoors, Howard Zinn stands beside him holding a newspaper
Covers of picture and chapter books for young people about sports.
People carrying flags in a march commemorating the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua in New York. Likely in 2015. Outdoors with leaves near the sidewalks. Photo by Alex Hamer.
Why I Signed Up at ZEP This Week: To have access to information and tools to teach accurate U.S. history. — Greenville, South Carolina Registering to get ZEP lessons because I love teaching decolonized history. — New York, New York I’m always looking for better ways to make history feel relevant, accessible, and connected to what’s happening right now. I love ZEP’s approach to teaching history beyond the textbook. — Bronx, New York In these volatile times, where vital historical truths are increasingly being altered, restricted, or outright banned, resources that are factual are more important than ever. Access to factual history is essential for understanding our present and building a just future. — Rochester Hills, Michigan
Black and white photo of people in sailors uniform and caps, walking on a wide bridge or pier.
Black and white photo. At left is what looks like a white man in a white uniform with a hat, standing on a pier. At right, are what appears to be six Black men, in work outfits, moving boxes from a barge to a container in the water.
three photos of people holding Teach Truth signs Defend People's History Teachers on blue banner background below photos
Ozell Sutton speaking at a press conference. People surrounding him with microphones and the bright lights of a TV camera. Appear to be all men in suits, except for one woman, and one man in a white shirt.
Arkansas State Capitol, near completion in 1914. A few scattered structures near the capitol and open sky behind it. Courtesy of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, Central Arkansas Library System
Photos, in black and white and in color, on a wooden wall background.
“As a poet myself, finding the Zinn Education Project’s Poetry of Defiance lesson plan was a godsend. It was a perfect bookend to a very heavy unit, culminating our studies with the hope and power that comes with resistance.” —Nat Wyse, middle school social studies teacher, Amston, Connecticut on orange and yellow background with headshot of Wyse in round frame
Teach Truth, Freedom Dream the Future #TeachTruth with abstract design on green background
days of the week with people's history figure portraits below
African American orphanage destroyed in the New York massacre, 1863. (Credit: Alamy) Image shows burning building behind trees and people in front apparently fleeing and carrying items. Some ladders visible near windows.
photo of book on a stand with postcards (blurred) below
Why I Signed Up at ZEP This Week: I refer to ZEP’s incredible materials all the time. — Burbank, Illinois I don’t want my children to learn the whitewashed version of history that I was taught in school. — Seymour, Tennessee I have studied the Civil Rights Movement, but I want to know more, especially in today’s environment. I also need help with ways to teach human rights to younger students. — Pecos, Texas I want resources to offer unheard stories and reshape narratives so my students can see themselves in history. And I want to teach history that encourages empathy and understanding. — Hawthorne, California
Interests of Amici Curiae screen shot of legal text
photo of Pablo Giesberg Fierros against brick wall
We are the future ancestors #TeachTruth #America250 with historical figures on brown background
cement monument with water fountain and bushes behind it, with the following text inscribed: "In Memory of Thomas McKie Meriwether Who on 8th July 1876, gave his life that the civilization builded by his fathers might be preserved for their childrens children unimpaired."
Truth in history. Power in people. #TeachTruth on orange background
Junior Resistance Ranger pledge and badge on a green background
white text on black backround says: The U.S. republic emerged from the smoke of burning villages, the holds of slave ships, and the ambitions of a colonial elite . . . — Jesse Hagopian, “Trump’s UFC Cage Fight Is an Apt Metaphor for a Nation Built on Colonial Violence” via Truthout
Keep the Zinn Education Project free and accessible. Donate to keep our resources free for educators everywhere. We rely on you. If you've used a ZEP lesson, article, or resource this year, we invite you to help another teacher do the same. With computer on blue background
portrait of Thayendanegea (Joseph Bryant)
portrait of Lemuel Haynes
“The American Revolution didn’t stop conquest and dispossession. It merely changed the logo on the land deeds.” — Kimberlé W. Crenshaw #America250 #TeachTruth
honest history makes tyrants tremble inspired by abolitionist David Walker #teachtruth #America250 on navy background with breaking clock sketch
“‘Founding’ Documents We Don’t Learn About” is the lesson I’ve been looking for. It generated great conversations as kids found connections of freedom within — and between — different groups and people. Many of them noticed the words “freedom” and “liberty” used from their person’s perspective, and it was an awesome springboard into discussion of the Declaration of Independence. — Sara Ziemnik, High School Social Studies Teacher, Bay Village, Ohio
I want my students to make connections from the “founding” parts of our history to issues of race and class that we see playing out today. “‘Founding’ Documents We Don’t Learn About” and “Race, Class, and the Constitutional Convention” helped me spark inquiry which is so important in history classrooms. — Jenna F., High School Social Studies Teacher, Norristown, Pennsylvania
Bluesky/Threads/Facebook Why I Signed Up at ZEP This Week: Slide 1 I love it all! — Lexington, Kentucky To bring Indigenous rights into the classroom. — Harvard, Massachusetts I’m interested in using your materials on COINTELPRO with my students. — Chicago, Illinois I desire to teach accurate history, to lead my students to think critically about the world as it is and from where it came. — Lubbock, Texas ZEP amplifies marginalized voices, uses evidence‑based lessons, and encourages critical thinking that pushes students to engage with history in meaningful way. — Miami, Florida
The “‘Founding’ Documents We Don’t Learn About” lesson sparked rich discussion about how textbooks define “freedom” in the context of the Declaration of Independence. —Tasha Stevens Garcia, High School Social Studies Teacher, Roseburg, Oregon
Keep the Zinn Education Project resources free and accessible. Donate. We rely on you. With computer on blue background.
I used the “‘ Founding’ Documents We Don’t Learn About” lesson in my AP Government class, and it became one of the most impactful lessons of the year. Students were astounded by perspectives they had never encountered in previous classes. —Tasha Stevens Garcia, High School Social Studies Teacher, Roseburg, Oregon
painting of man in trenchcoat and khaki hat with wry smile on dark gray background
Young people need to learn the people's history so they can be leaders for the social change we all so desperately need. There is hope if our teachers share true stories of the power of collective action. — Marta Ames, ZEP donor, Washington, D.C.
I want students to see themselves in history and understand that the past includes many voices, not just the ones we traditionally focus on. “‘Founding’ Documents We Don’t Learn About” helped me create that space. — Angeline Lorenz, Middle School Social Studies Teacher, South Bend, Indiana
photo of students in classroom with map in the background, blue bar at bottom says Teach students people's history.
Black and white photo of a nighttime rally on the Atlantic City boardwalk in support of the Mississipi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP). Three people in front of the group carry signs with portraits of James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael "Mickey" Schwerner, three civil rights volunteers who were murdered in the summer of 1964.
Black and white photo, man (Bob Moses) in overalls and white t-shirt, standing and speaking to audience (Freedom Summer volunteers) in rows, seated.
Teach Truth About Voting Rights and two book covers on blue blackground with light images of photos behind the blue
Text on black and white photo. Five people standing, four wearing hats. Text says: Continue reading It Was Not the “News” That Traveled Slowly — It Was “Power” by Christopher Wilson, Curator and Chair, Division of Home and Community Life, Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History: https://www.zinnedproject.org/juneteenth
"Even following the arrival of the power to enforce the emancipation order in the form of the United States Army, enslaved people were left with much of the responsibility to seize their own freedom."
"General Granger’s order was less directed toward offering news to the enslaved than it was about commanding lawless human traffickers and insurrectionists to obey the Proclamation issued two years earlier."
The news that the United States government was declaring enslaved people in areas still in rebellion against the nation forever free was incredibly important to the enslaved and the country, but what mattered more than that news was the power and will to enforce it.
"As with an incarcerated prisoner who may be told she’s free, until the prison bars are unlocked that word only results in theoretical freedom."
Due to the telegraph, newspapers and the United States Army spread out all across the country to put down the slaveholders’ rebellion, word of Lincoln’s order spread all over the South immediately after it was announced in September 1862 and took effect in January 1863.
Black and white photo of 6 men in suits standing, with text overlay that says: It Was Not the “News” That Traveled Slowly — It Was “Power” By Christopher Wilson, Curator and Chair, Division of Home and Community Life, Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History
covers of children's picture books about Juneteenth and Social Justice Books logo on colorful red, yellow, and green background
Red graphic with DISSENT in caps, a no war button, and photos of protesters
days of the week with people's history figure portraits
Panoramic view of Harpers Ferry from Maryland Heights, with the Shenandoah (left) and Potomac (right) rivers. Bridges, rocks, water, and small town are visible.
Defend students' freedom to learn so we can shape a more just future. #TeachTruth with flower growing out of book on green background.
announcement for book event with the book cover ("Red Card: The 2026 World Cup, Sportswashing, and the Fifa Greed Machine") and photos (in circles) of both speakers. Monday, June 15, 6pm
Cover of a jigsaw puzzle box with the map of the world "upside down" surrounded by a blue border.