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“Crime”: It is back in the news and in political speeches. We urge everyone to read and discuss an interview with Khalil Muhammad to expose the racism and myths embedded in the glib use of that problematic word. Muhammad says, “The label of criminality was attached to Black people at the end of slavery as a means of asserting control over their freedom. This had nothing to do with crime, in most instances, and everything to do with Black people asserting freedom. . . . And unfortunately, the same logic and thinking [continue in] the present day.”
We offer lessons and books for women’s history month, an invitation for the 4th annual Teach Truth Day of Action, and a Prentiss Charney Fellow spotlight.
| Lies We’re Told About Crime | |
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Historian Khalil Gibran Muhammad discussed his book, The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America, for our Teach the Black Freedom Struggle series.
With documentation and clear explanations, Muhammad challenges prevailing stereotypes about race and crime.
We share the text of the conversation for discussion in classrooms and professional development workshops.
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Khalil Muhammad noted in his talk that Ida B. Wells was the first person to take on the myth of Black male criminality used to justify lynchings.
In a Rethinking Schools article, high school teacher Matt Reed describes a lesson to introduce students to the radical life and work of Wells. With more schools and public spaces named for Wells, it is time for students to learn about the courage and vitality of this radical activist.
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Black Women and Voting Rights | |
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High school teacher Ursula Wolfe-Rocca wrote a lesson for Martha S. Jones’ book, Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All, which she calls “a love letter to Black women’s organizing for justice.”
In Wolfe-Rocca’s lesson, students read excerpts from Jones’ book to learn about 22 women, share stories, and use what they’ve gathered to analyze Jones’ provocative title — in what sense did these women constitute a “vanguard” and why?
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Teach the Black Freedom Struggle
Monday, April 8
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On Monday, April 8, Julius B. Fleming Jr. will introduce the role of Black theater in the Black Freedom Struggle and the concept of “Black patience.” In conversation with educator Jessica Rucker, he will discuss his book Black Patience: Performance, Civil Rights, and the Unfinished Project of Emancipation. | |
Teach Truth Day of Action
Saturday, June 8
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It’s time to take action. . . . again.
For the past three summers, teachers rallied to speak out against anti-history education bills and to make public their pledge to teach the truth. The teacher-led events received national media attention, providing a valuable counter-narrative to the oversized coverage of the well-funded anti-CRT movement.
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The situation is urgent.
We provide you with materials to host information tables at libraries, bookstores, and other public spaces. Defend the right to #TeachTruth (including about Palestine), fight book bans, and defend LGBTQ+ rights on June 8, 2024.
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More Events
For Social Justice Educators
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Prentiss Charney Fellow
Spotlight
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Our Prentiss Charney Fellowship offers support for a cohort of people’s history educator leaders to study, learn, and organize together. Today we recognize Zachary Wilson, a high school language arts and social studies teacher in Washington, D.C. | |
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Animating Zack’s work are his keen sense of how segregation manifests in schools, confronting the challenges educators face against enduring injustices, and his hope that future generations inherit a better world.
Zack helps build that better world in and beyond the classroom.
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He is writing lessons on “How Should We Remember the Alamo?” and “Decolonizing the Canon: Romance and Horror.” Zack and his students are taking a critical look at the D.C. crime bill that will directly impact their lives.
Last summer, Zack led a workshop at the 2nd annual DCAESJ Social Justice Curriculum Fair and helped to organize the Teach Truth Day of Action in D.C.
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We are lucky to teach, learn, and organize alongside Zack and all the Prentiss Charney Fellows.
Consider a donation to continue and expand the fellowship in honor of classroom education activist and union leader Michael Charney and leading Ohio education lawmaker, C. J. Prentiss.
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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. | | | | |
