“We all have stories to share. Banning books is banning stories. Banning stories is banning existence. Banning existence is banning hope. Book bans declare some voices, some stories don’t deserve to be heard, to be told. And I cannot accept that. I refuse to believe that. No voice should ever be silenced. No voice should ever be made to feel invisible. Together, all of us in this room, these literary giants, together, we have the joy of uplifting stories. Your stories, our neighbors’ stories in the words of my heroes Mr. Rogers and LeVar Burton. Uplifting and having the audacious honor of sharing stories of Palestine, of Gaza, of the Congo, of Sudan, Jewish stories, stories of Yemen, stories of Ukraine, neurodivergent stories, homeless stories, LGBTQIA+ stories your stories, our neighbors’ stories. Stories out to be shared to be saved. They keep memories, hope, joy, and legacy alive from Hind’s Hall to library halls to bookstore halls. Sharing stories is my favorite way to celebrate one another, to see one another, and to hear one another.” — Mychal Threets, PBS resident librarian and new host of Reading RainbowFor #BannedBooksWeek, Penguin Random House hosted a powerful and urgent gathering at Washington, D.C.’s Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library: the Save Our Stories Supper. PEN America has documented nearly 7,000 book bans in the 2024–25 school year, with many more titles quietly removed out of fear. That number doesn’t account for the growing wave of silent censorship sweeping our schools, where educators preemptively pull books from shelves out of fear—often stories that center people of color and/or LGBTQ+ communities. From these communities and beyond, the evening spotlighted the critical role of storytelling in shaping identity, preserving history, and defending democracy. Read more about the event at https://global.penguinrandomhouse.com/announcements/penguin-random-houses-save-our-stories-supper-ignites-action-against-book-bans/Teachers are fighting back. Join the movement to #TeachTruth at https://www.zinnedproject.org/campaigns/teach-truth/ [linked in bio]

5 likes, 0 comments - zinneducationproject on April 17, 2026: "We’re having a great time at the @oah_history conference talking with educators about why they choose ZEP. Watch this teaching testimonia...

Educator and activist Jesse Hagopian writes that teaching truth doesn’t harm kids — it prepares them to fight for justice.

1,942 likes, 6 comments - zinneducationproject on March 17, 2024: "Too often, textbooks present famines as natural phenomena. They are not. As Sudan, Congo, and Gaza move closer toward famine, it is n...

The Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty, and Pension Association was founded with a dual mission to organize mutual aid for its members and to pass federal pension legislation that would compensate every f...

Welcome to the This Day in People's History (#tdih) series. Search people’s history events by date, theme, state, or keyword.

#tdih 1890: Mississippi adopted a new constitution with a poll tax and arbitrary literacy tests to end Reconstruction progress for African Americans, setting a precedent for other states to follow.From limits to polling stations and mail-in ballots, to not swearing in an elected representative, and more, this administration is undermining fair elections. These tactics are not new. It’s critical that students learn about the long history of the fight for voting rights.Learn more in the 1964 booklet from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) called “Mississippi Subversion of the Right to Vote,” a primary document with history and photos from crmvet.org.Download the free textbook critique and lesson unit “Who Gets to Vote? Teaching About the Struggle for Voting Rights in the United States” at ZinnEdProject.org.“You’ve heard about gerrymandering our vote, gerrymandering our districts. What I want to talk about is how they gerrymander our history — and how gerrymandering our history is what they are using to undermine our ability to link our present to the past.” — Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw, African American Policy Forum📸 1: Session of Mississippi Legislature, 1890. Courtesy of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.📸 2: Thousands marched in midtown Manhattan on December 10, 2011, to defend voting rights. By Michael Fleshman.📸 3: Kimberlé Crenshaw at the “Books Unbanned” tour’s final stop in Jacksonville, FL on Oct. 21, 2022. Malcolm Jackson for TIME.View all comments