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We are thrilled to announce our second class of Zinn Education Project Prentiss Charney fellows for the 2024–2026 school years. The fellowship offers support for a cohort of people’s history educators to study, learn, and organize together for two years.
Once again, educators are at the center of battles over what U.S. history children will learn and the kind of future they will create. We face a new McCarthyism with book bans, laws restricting what educators can teach about white supremacy, efforts to conscript school personnel into anti-LGBTQ+ persecution, and more. The goal: to enforce an unjust, unsafe status quo. The stakes could not be higher.
The right wing uses its immense wealth to fan the fires of bigotry and repression. To fight back, we need to support educators who will teach, organize, write, create, and build — like the 18 passionate and committed education activists who make up the 2024–2026 Prentiss Charney Fellows.
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The fellowship is named for two Ohio education activists, C. J. Prentiss and Michael Charney. We carry on in memory of organizer and elected representative C. J. Prentiss who died in April. | |
Host a Study Group
Teaching for Black Lives
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Hayward Teaching for Black Lives study group members and students. | |
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The experience has been incredibly rewarding and transformative, both personally and professionally. Our study group delved into the text Teaching for Black Lives, exploring the rich history, struggles, and triumphs of Black communities. We supported each other through challenging conversations and celebrated our progress, creating a network of like-minded educators committed to making a difference.
The study group empowered us to become advocates for change within our schools. We feel more confident addressing issues of racial injustice and more prepared to support our Black students and colleagues effectively. — Dr. Candace Cofield, administrator, Hayward Unified School District, California
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Study group applications are open for the 2024–2025 school year. Each participant receives a copy of Teaching for Black Lives, a subscription to Rethinking Schools magazine, a year-long menu of workshops and seminars to choose from, and access to a national network of social justice educators. | |
Cured
Free Documentary for the Classroom
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The award-winning PBS documentary Cured chronicles a pivotal moment in LGBTQ+ history: the early 1970s campaign to remove the diagnosis of homosexuality from the American Psychiatric Association’s manual of mental disorders.
For classroom accessibility, the filmmakers have produced a 35-minute version and accompanying curriculum guide for high school teachers. Educators can sign up to receive free access to the material at this link. The full-length 80-minute version is streaming on major platforms.
This film is a primer on how to organize in the face of repression, using a wide range of tactics.
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New from Rethinking Schools
Transgender Justice in Schools
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This book brings queer and trans educators’ voices to the center of the conversation about gender and sexuality in schools. It arrives right on time. — Harper B. Keenan, assistant professor, University of British Columbia | | |
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Transgender Justice in Schools, edited by Linda Christensen and Ty Marshall, provides inspirational stories from trans students and educators and resources for teachers, students, and parents seeking to build communities where everyone flourishes.
This book will educate, challenge, inspire — and save lives.
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Free Books
Our History Is the Future
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Lies My Teacher Told Me: Graphic Novel | |
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James Loewen’s history of our country is everything most textbooks are not: critical, idea-rich, anti-racist, class-conscious — and funny.
Loewen’s irreverent storytelling comes to life in Nate Powell’s action-packed adaptation of Loewen’s classic Lies My Teacher Told Me. This volume is especially welcome at a moment when truthful history is under attack. — Bill Bigelow, Rethinking Schools curriculum editor
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Job Opening
Communications and Development Manager
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We seek to hire a communications and development manager for the Zinn Education Project, coordinated by Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change.
Nearly 170,000 teachers have signed up to access free lessons from the Zinn Education Project. Our programs include teacher study groups, online classes, a teacher fellowship, and campaigns on the climate, Reconstruction, Teach Truth, and more. This growth in our work requires the addition of a staff person to focus on communications with educators, activists, and everyone concerned about what young people learn in schools. The new staff person will also help with fundraising to continue to offer free lessons to teachers and defend their right to use them.
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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. | | | | |
