#TeachOutsideTextbook
The Ocoee Massacre is sadly not unusual in the history of U.S. elections.

Read article ⬇️ by Judy Richardson (of @sncclegacy.bsky.social) and Emilye Crosby — “Ten Things You Should Know” about the history of the Voting Rights Act.

#TeachOutsideTextbook
www.zinnedproject.org/materials/th...
The Voting Rights Act: Ten Things You Should Know
Article. By Emilye Crosby and Judy Richardson. 2015. Key points in the history of the 1965 Voting Rights Act missing from most textbooks.
www.zinnedproject.org
November 2, 2026 at 4:30 PM
"Every Southern state instituted literacy tests and poll taxes to effectively remove African Americans from the citizenship they were supposed to have been guaranteed by the 14th Amendment." -- James Loewen

#TeachOutsideTextbook #TeachTruth

Read ⬇️
www.zinnedproject.org/materials/fi...
Five Myths About Reconstruction
Article. By James W. Loewen. 2015. Overview of five common fallacies that Americans still tell themselves about the Reconstruction era.
www.zinnedproject.org
November 1, 2026 at 12:43 PM
There is a young readers’ edition of “Just Mercy: A True Story of the Fight for Justice” by Bryan Stevenson of @eji.org

#TeachOutsideTextbook #TeachTruth

www.zinnedproject.org/materials/ju...
Just Mercy: A True Story of the Fight for Justice (Adapted for Young Adults)
Book — Non-fiction. By Bryan Stevenson. 2019. 288 pages. This young adult adaptation provides readers a glimpse into the lives of the wrongfully imprisoned.
www.zinnedproject.org
October 27, 2026 at 5:30 PM
“Looking up ‘reparations’ in textbooks is to find it absent altogether, or only in reference to end of WWI or US payments in ‘80s to Japanese Americans (incarcerated in WWII concentration camps).”

See lesson ⬇️ by Ursula Wolfe-Rocca #TeachOutsideTextbook
www.zinnedproject.org/materials/st...
Repair: Students Design a Reparations Bill
In this activity, students take on the role of activist-experts to improve upon a Congressional bill for reparations for Black people.
www.zinnedproject.org
October 21, 2026 at 3:30 PM
To learn strategies to fight voter suppression today, young people can study the long and ongoing history of the fight for voting rights in the U.S. #TeachOutsideTextbook #TeachVotingRights

Free 3-lesson unit below by high school teacher Ursula Wolfe-Rocca.
www.zinnedproject.org/materials/te...
Who Gets to Vote? Teaching About the Struggle for Voting Rights in the United States
Unit with three lessons on voting rights, including the history of the struggle against voter suppression in the United States.
www.zinnedproject.org
October 19, 2026 at 7:30 PM
#tdih 1968 We all recognize iconic photo of Black Power salute by Tommie Smith & John Carlos at Olympics.

But, what were their demands?

What happened before & after?

How did they organize?

What was Peter Norman's role?

#TeachOutsideTextbook Read ⬇️ 🧵
www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/ol...
Oct. 16, 1968: Olympics Black Power Salute
Tommie Smith and John Carlos made a symbolic protest while the U.S. national anthem was played in the Olympics.
www.zinnedproject.org
October 16, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Time to #TeachOutsideTextbook about Central America

Join #TeachCentralAmerica Week (Oct. 5–9), hosted by @teachingchange.bsky.social

Sign up ⬇️for the campaign.

Find lessons, books, films, poetry, art, biographies, teaching stories, & more for pre-K–12.
teachingcentralamerica.org/teach-centra...
Take Action | Get Involved Today — Teaching Central America
Join Teaching for Change in supporting Central America through Teach Central America Week, October 5-9, 2026. Engage in educational activities promoting cultural understanding.
teachingcentralamerica.org
October 5, 2026 at 3:30 PM
#tdih 1935 Fascist Italy invaded Ethiopia with poisonous gas, bombs, concentration camps.

"From Kingston to Johannesburg, from Detroit to Ghana, Port-of-Spain to Paris, Black communities rallied in defense of Ethiopia." #PanAfrican #TeachOutsideTextbook Read ⬇️
www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/et...
Oct. 3, 1935: Ethiopia Invaded by Italy
Ethiopia was invaded by Fascist Italy under Benito Mussolini.
www.zinnedproject.org
October 3, 2026 at 11:39 AM
#tdih 1919 #RedSummer Black sharecroppers met in Elaine, Arkansas to organize for fair pay for cotton.

More than 100 of them were massacred by a white mob.

Twelve Black men were sentenced to death for “riots.” #Terrorism #TeachOutsideTextbook 🧵
www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/el...
Sept. 30, 1919: Elaine Massacre
Black farmers were massacred in Elaine, Arkansas for their efforts to fight for better pay and higher cotton prices. A white mob shot at them, and the farmers returned fire in self-defense. Estimates…
www.zinnedproject.org
September 30, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Meanwhile, as more teachers commit to #TeachOutsideTextbook, GOP criminalizes teaching the history in this 🧵

Everyone can highlight key role of K–12 education & student inquiry.

Testify at school board. Defend #FreedomtoLearn at every rally you attend. ⬇️
www.zinnedproject.org/news/teach-t...
Teach Truth Campaign: At Every Rally
While education is central to the fascist agenda, it is not getting adequate attention from progressive forces. You can help shine a light on education by joining the campaign to Teach Truth.
www.zinnedproject.org
September 28, 2026 at 5:30 PM
#TeachOutsideTextbook about long, ongoing struggle for voting rights with free 3-lesson unit ⬇️

“Textbooks offer false impression that history of voting rights in U.S. is a hopeful tale of steady progress, culminating in 1965.” — educator Ursula Wolfe-Rocca
www.zinnedproject.org/materials/te...
Who Gets to Vote? Teaching About the Struggle for Voting Rights in the United States
Unit with three lessons on voting rights, including the history of the struggle against voter suppression in the United States.
www.zinnedproject.org
September 25, 2026 at 5:30 PM
There are many primary documents from 1868 Camilla Massacre investigation to #teachoutsidetextbook, including affidavits by witnesses, newspaper clippings, letters, and more collected online by the Digital Library of Georgia, here: dlg.galileo.usg.edu/camilla/

#TeachReconstruction
September 19, 2026 at 11:20 AM
Learn more about the Reconstruction era & how it is taught (or not) in ZEP report ⬇️

Just as more teachers #TeachOutsideTextbook about Reconstruction & more, the GOP is passing laws to criminalize those lessons.

NOT a coincidence.

Defend #FreedomtoLearn
www.teachreconstructionreport.org
Erasing the Black Freedom Struggle
www.teachreconstructionreport.org
September 10, 2026 at 2:38 PM
#tdih Stono Rebellion (1739), Association for the Study of African American Life and History @asalh-bhm.bsky.social
founding (1915), Attica Prison Uprising (1971).

Read about each event in 🧵 ⬇️ and consider the connection between all three.

Defend right to #TeachTruth #TeachOutsideTextbook
September 9, 2026 at 2:43 PM
Reading Is Fundamental
#FreeYourMind
#TeachOutsideTextbook
Celebrating the library kids with Storytime at the 4th Annual Kristi Yamaguchi Family Literacy Festival… reasons to stay 💜📖💚

www.sjplf.org/event/kristi-yamaguchi-family-literacy-festival-2026
August 30, 2026 at 1:53 PM
The powerful 1986 painting ⬇️"Death of Rubén Salazar" by Frank Romero can be used in the classroom to examine this period in history.

Look at the details, including the theater marquee.

From the Smithsonian American Art Museum

#TeachTruth #TeachOutsideTextbook
americanart.si.edu/artwork/deat...
Death of Rubén Salazar
In this painting, Frank Romero interprets the death and legacy of Rubén Salazar, a civil rights activist and writer for the Los Angeles Times in the 1960s.
americanart.si.edu
August 29, 2026 at 8:54 PM
Here are more resources to #TeachOutsideTextbook about the American Revolution during this 250th anniversary year.
www.zinnedproject.org/news/teachin...
Teaching the American Revolution on America 250
Resources for teaching a people's history of the American Revolution.
www.zinnedproject.org
August 22, 2026 at 1:08 PM
Teach a free 3-lesson unit about long & ongoing history of voter suppression & the struggle for voting rights in the U.S. #TeachOutsideTextbook #TeachVotingRights

For grades 7+, by high school teacher & @rethinkingschools.bsky.social editor Ursula Wolfe-Rocca ⬇️
www.zinnedproject.org/materials/te...
Who Gets to Vote? Teaching About the Struggle for Voting Rights in the United States
Unit with three lessons on voting rights, including the history of the struggle against voter suppression in the United States.
www.zinnedproject.org
August 20, 2026 at 2:44 PM
#tdih 1823 at 6.30 pm, “Jack Gladstone walked up to the large bell that hung at the centre of the sugar plantation, and rang it. This was the signal for the start of the Demerara uprising” against British slavery in Guyana.

#TeachOutsideTextbook

Read ⬇️
www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/de...
Aug. 18, 1823: The Demerara Uprising
This was the largest uprising of the enslaved against their British overseers in Guyana. The uprising was ended after a few days, though it served as a catalyst for the abolition of slavery in British...
www.zinnedproject.org
August 18, 2026 at 2:21 PM
#tdih 2014 African American teen Michael Brown was fatally shot 💔 by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. #BlackLivesMatter

"We who believe in freedom cannot rest." -- Ella Baker

#TeachOutsideTextbook about history of policing.

Lessons, more ⬇️
www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/mi...
Aug. 9, 2014: Michael Brown Killed by Police
Michael Brown was fatally shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.
www.zinnedproject.org
August 9, 2026 at 12:23 PM
#HiddenHistory in Plain Sight
#Vote while it's still a constitutional right.
#TeachOutsideTextbook
#tdih 1946 WWII vet Maceo Snipes was murdered after casting vote in Georgia Democratic Primary.

He was shot by KKK.

He walked 3 miles with his mother to hospital, white doctor delayed treatment 6 hrs & refused needed blood transfusion. Snipes died. 💔

See ⬇️ 🧵
www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/mu...
July 18, 1946: Murder of Maceo Snipes
WWII veteran Maceo Snipes was murdered after casting his vote in the Georgia Democratic Primary.
www.zinnedproject.org
July 18, 2026 at 12:41 PM
I'm going to be shouting out Black southern fiction you need to read. Because not in this house are we going to be hating on the south neglecting it as a home of Black folks & our culture. I will start with my own debut novel. This posting project continues as I have time & until I run out of steam.
None But the Righteous: A Novel
A Novel
bookshop.org
April 30, 2026 at 7:23 PM
Only The Names Have Changed
#HiddenHistory #tdih #TeachOutsideTextbook
#Vote
#tdih 1968, about 500 unarmed Vietnamese adults & children killed by U.S. soldiers in Mỹ Lai Massacre (one of many). 💔

Officer Hugh Thompson & crew realized whose side they should be on & rescued as many villagers as they could.

He was later vilified. Read⬇️
www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/hu...
March 16, 1968: Mỹ Lai Massacre and Hugh Thompson
Hugh Thompson tried to defend Vietnamese villagers during Mỹ Lai Massacre.
www.zinnedproject.org
March 16, 2026 at 5:24 PM
#tdih 1968 When asked at White House luncheon why young people are angry, Eartha Kitt said, because "You send best of this country off to be shot and maimed."

In retaliation for her honesty, gov't ruined her U.S. career for 10 years & CIA tracked her.

See ⬇️ 🧵
www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/ea...
Jan. 18, 1968: Eartha Kitt Spoke Truth at the White House
When asked at a White House luncheon about “juvenile delinquency,” Eartha Kitt responded by talking about the root causes of rebellion, including the Vietnam War and the draft.
www.zinnedproject.org
January 18, 2026 at 1:52 PM
Educators & community in Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, N. Dakota, Maine, & WV -- fill every state on the map! And more people everywhere else. Sign up to Teach Truth on Constitution Day -- in your classroom, library, or any public venue. Free resources & sign up here: www.zinnedproject.org/news/teach-t...
September 6, 2025 at 8:05 PM