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The Rebellious Life of

Mrs. Rosa Parks

New Film and Lessons

By the time I was six, I was old enough to realize that we were actually not free. — Rosa Parks

Trailer: The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks is one of the most well-known U.S. women of the 20th century and yet much of what has been taught about her is narrow, limited, and at times wrong.


This is changing, thanks to the release of the young adult book, The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks, and a new film with the same title — both based on the Parks’ biography by Jeanne Theoharis.


Watch the film and find teaching resources below. We recommend the Democracy Now! program on the film’s release, with extensive clips and interviews with historian Jeanne Theoharis and filmmaker Yoruba Richen.

Documentary

Teaching Guide

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To facilitate classroom use of the book and film, the Zinn Education Project (a project of Teaching for Change and Rethinking Schools) is coordinating book distribution and educator film screenings (coming in the Spring of 2023), as well as making a teaching guide for The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks available online.

Teaching Guide

Indigenous Peoples’ Day Curriculum Teach-In Highlights

On October 1, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) and Teaching for Change hosted an online teach-in with the theme sovereignty and treaties. More than 400 teachers attended the keynote by Rebecca Nagle (Cherokee) and two rounds of interactive workshops featuring classroom resources from the NMAI’s online education portal Native Knowledge 360° and the Zinn Education Project.


Here are a few participant reflections on the teach-in. 

We need to ensure the complete history of America is taught and no longer “erased” from our history books. Indigenous America has centuries of knowledge that we need to teach to our children.



This was ALL incredibly educational and sadly, I did not know much prior to this event. Thank you for such important courses and awareness for educators.


This is one of the best PD’s I have been to. I appreciate all of the information shared in the sessions. I can’t wait to see what the next teach-in holds!

Teach-In Highlights
Teach-In Resources

Indigenous Central America

Workshop

This interactive, online session will provide teachers with strategies and resources for introducing the Indigenous history of Central America in their classroom. Participants will explore the Quiché Maya ancestral story including the Popol Vuh and the Maya origin story, which highlights the importance of corn and nature to the Maya.


They will also be briefly introduced to the Garifuna and other Indigenous communities throughout Central America. Connections will be made to Indigenous communities and the challenges they face today.


The session will be facilitated by Jonathan Peraza Campos, Teach Central America program specialist at Teaching for Change. A participant in this same workshop offered to teachers in Philadelphia noted:

I learned about the importance of incorporating multiple literacies, and the workshop really drove home the importance of uplifting and including the narratives, histories, and perspectives of groups globally to better understand the past and our current context. I really enjoyed the format of this session. Jonathan was a powerful presenter who kept things moving and engaging.

Registration cost is $10. Professional development certificate is available for educators upon request.

Learn More and Register

New Books

View Booklist

Reports on Education

New Study About White Supremacy and Anti-Black Racism in the Virginia History Curriculum

A new study co-authored by Teaching for Change board member Tiffany Mitchell Patterson, Teaching for Change volunteer Chris Seeger, and researcher Maria Gabriela Paz seeks to better understand how white supremacy and anti-Black racism are portrayed in the Virginia U.S. history standards. The study is relevant to our Zinn Education Project critique of the state standards on Reconstruction and will be the topic of a workshop at the 2023 Black Lives Matter at School Curriculum Fair.

Key Findings

Lessons in (In)Equity: An Evaluation of Cultural Responsiveness in Elementary ELA Curriculum

A new report from NYU's Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools analyzes three widely used elementary English Language Arts curriculum across the country and finds that all three fail to provide a culturally responsive approach, and include superficial representation, one-sided storytelling, language that dehumanizes and demeans BIPOC students, and little to no guidance to teachers on bringing students' backgrounds into the classroom. 

View Report

Teaching for Change Family

In the News

Teaching for Change board member Sheldon Scott was recently profiled in the DCist article "How a D.C. Performance Artist Helped Shape Eaton Hotel’s Culture of Activism and Creativity."

Zinn Education Project leadership team member Cierra Kaler-Jones was named one of Black Enterprise's 40 Under 40 in the social impact category.

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