A People’s History of the

Black Working Class

Conversation with Blair L. M. Kelley

A powerful counter to the assumption that the term working class refers only to whites. Rather, Blair Kelley argues convincingly, Black workers have been the nation’s “most active, most engaged, most informed, and most impassioned working class.” ― Kirkus Reviews

Black Folk is at once a love song, a blues, and an epic account of the Black working class in the United States. ― Robin D. G. Kelley

Join us to hear directly from historian Blair L. M. Kelley about her new book, Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class, which uses personal narratives to highlight the community and networks of resistance that Black laborers built in the face of racism and segregation.

This class is part of the Zinn Education Project’s Teach the Black Freedom Struggle online series with people’s historians. Participants will hear Kelley in conversation with ZEP staff member Jesse Hagopian and meet in small groups for discussion. One participant noted:

This is one of the best professional developments I have ever been to, hands-down. I am so grateful. This series gives me hope in this difficult time.

Welcome Event

Make-up Session

If you weren’t able to join our last welcome event, join us on Thursday, October 19, 4:00 pm PT/ 7:00 pm ET! This is a chance to hear from the editors of Teaching for Black Lives and to meet study group members from across the country.

Our opening session is one of the three events we expect all study group members and coordinators to attend. Participants receive professional development credit and are entered in a raffle with a chance to win a book.

A few comments from our first session:

Loved hearing from the editors and previewing their favorite parts of the book — makes me very excited to read!

I found the session so inspirational as I am just getting ready to start with my group. This session provided a sense of community even though many of us are so far apart.

Simply a reminder of the extraordinarily high stakes of this work: if we do not do it, the humanity of our students (and ourselves) is at risk. Conversely, if we do this work, we stand to reaffirm and deepen our individual and collective humanity.

Bookmark our dedicated members page where we will keep an updated list of events for you to reference throughout the year.

Study Group Facilitation Guide

There is no one-size-fits-all way to run a study group. However, the Zinn Education Project team has put together a facilitation guide to help support your work, seed ideas, and provide you a set of strategies to adapt and build off of to fit your own setting and your group’s particular needs. The guide includes a possible prompt/activity for each month. 

A possible prompt for your next study group meeting is below.

Opening writing/sharing

Section Two of Teaching for Black Lives focuses on how Black history is taught in schools and classrooms. As a group, watch Clint Smith’s “A Letter to Five Presidents Who Owned Slaves While They Were in Office.”

Afterward, give group members five quiet minutes to write: What is your reaction to this poem? What emotions and thoughts does it stir up for you?

Reading/Discussion

This month, consider having the whole group read “When Black Lives Mattered” (p. 96) as a common text. Before discussing the piece, go around and each share a memory of what you learned about the Reconstruction era in school. Use question 16 of the Teaching for Black Lives Discussion Guide as a foundation for your conversation.

If you have time, a powerful additional activity would be to consult one of your school’s U.S. history textbooks to evaluate its account of Reconstruction against the one Sanchez lays out. How many pages/paragraphs are devoted to Reconstruction? What narrative is put forward?

Rethinking Schools Subscription

Below are instructions for your complimentary subscription (digital and print) to Rethinking Schools. If you haven't subscribed already, please do so TODAY.

Sign up for your free one-year print and digital subscription to Rethinking Schools.

• Visit this dedicated page for your one-year subscription.

• Use code ZEPSTUDYSUB23

Beyond your study group members, do not share the code — there is only one subscription per study group member. For questions about the subscription, email orders@rethinkingschools.org.

New Issue

Asian Americans and Educational Justice

The fall issue contains an interview with former Rethinking Schools editor, Melissa Bollow Tempel, recently fired after speaking out about her district’s decision to bar her 1st-grade students from singing the Dolly Parton/Miley Cyrus song “Rainbowland;” a piece by Jesse Hagopian about “The Growing Attack on Educators,” and much more!

Join Us on Discord

Would you like to connect with study groups in different states? Looking for suggestions or advice from past study groups? Stay connected with other study groups via our Discord server.

We invite you to join our Discord Server specifically for Teaching for Black Lives study group members and coordinators. We recommend creating your account on your desktop and downloading the app on your phone to make it convenient for you to check in with fellow members and coordinators. 

If you’re new to Discord, use these instructions to help you set up your account and use the basic features.

Share Your Stories!

Raleigh, North Carolina T4BL Study Group Members

We encourage you to document your reflections, shifting perspectives, new goals/action plans, and the conversations you engage in as a result of your collective reading of Teaching for Black Lives and Rethinking Schools magazine. Take a group photo at your next meeting to memorialize this experience and share it with us via email or Discord.

ZEP’s Teaching for Black Lives study group administrator, Julia Salcedo, is eager to hear from you and attend some of your study group sessions!

She will document stories and conversations from study groups across the country and share them (with your approval first) in future newsletters and across our study group network. 

Please let Julia know when she might pop in (via Zoom) to one of your sessions.