Students Study Palestine

In Context of Colonial World History

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Record numbers of educators are downloading Teaching the Seeds of Violence in Palestine-Israel. We’ve heard wonderful stories about the impact of the lesson, such as this one:

The most amazing aspect of this lesson was my students’ ability to recognize the common themes presented in the story of Palestine with stories of other colonial projects we had studied, including in India, the United States, Sudan, and the Congo.

Overall, this lesson helped my students understand the roots of the political issue that is Palestine and evaluate many of the common misconceptions of where the conflict comes from. — Rodrigo Palacios Tenorio, high school social studies teacher, Tempe, Arizona

Check out the lesson and more teaching stories.

Lesson and Teaching Stories

War Made Invisible

Free Book

The New Press offers a copy of the excellent book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine by Norman Solomon, to teachers who share stories about teaching any of the lessons at the Zinn Education Project on war and anti-war campaigns, including Teaching the Seeds of Violence in Palestine-Israel.

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Share Your Teaching Story

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Student Protests

Corporate Media Justifies Repression

Haaretz journalist Amira Hass told Columbia School of Journalism graduates that the role of journalists is to “resist the normalization of evil and of injustice.” In the midst of the Gaza genocide and so much more, this is also the role of educators.

Here are related stories and resources for students:

False narratives about Dr. Martin Luther King are used to dismiss the encampments. Read Campus Protests Are Called Disruptive. So Was the Civil Rights Movement by Jeanne Theoharis.

Media propaganda related to Israel and Palestine is well-funded and consistent. Watch the student-friendly documentary The Occupation of the American Mind. It is free and available in various lengths.

The criminal justice response to college students is highly unequal and shaped by their income and race. Invite students to read CUNY and Columbia: A Tale of Two Campuses by Nicolas Niarchos. To take action, students can write to the CUNY Chancellor (Félix V. Matos Rodríguez) to ask that he drop the charges and provide amnesty for all who participated.

People’s History of Memorial Day

For Memorial Day Weekend, we feature an article by David Blight about the early origins of the holiday, led by African Americans in Charleston, South Carolina, after the Civil War; an article by Howard Zinn urging us to never embark on mass slaughter again; and the documentary and companion oral history collection, Memorial Day Massacre: Workers Die, Film Buried.

Memorial Day Articles and Film

Shine a Light on Resistance

Teach Truth Day of Action

Claiming to protect young people, right-wing legislators block efforts to address racism, gun violence, and the existential threat of climate change.

They stoke a politics of fear and hatred, while banning critical understanding and analysis of questions students bring to the classroom about current events.

As noted in a Rethinking Schools editorial,

Students deserve facts, not fables. These laws are an attempt to hide this nation’s racist past to more freely pursue a racist future.

The media bolsters the right by providing constant coverage of the anti-CRT and anti-trans narrative.

Where are the headlines about teachers, parents, and students who demand an honest, inclusive education?

Where are the headlines about the threat to our future if students can’t ask tough questions and analyze all they read — if students can’t envision a better future and learn the skills to shape that future? It is time to sound an alarm.

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We invite everyone to lead or join a #TeachTruth Day of Action event to shine a light on the stories that need to be told.

Learn More

Conferences and Classes

Did you know that the biggest Civil Rights Movement demonstration of the 1960s happened in New York City?

On June 10, scholar Brian Jones will shed light on the history of the Civil Rights Movement in the North. This Zinn Education Project Teach the Black Freedom Struggle class is held in collaboration with the New York City Civil Rights History Project.

Check out more events hosted by the Zinn Education Project and our colleagues, including the 4th Annual Teach Truth Day and Freedom to Learn Day of Action, Teaching Black History Conference, and more.

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More Events

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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