The Heroes We Need Today: Teaching About the Radical Ida B. Wells
A high school social studies teacher describes his mixer lesson in which students learn about the radical Ida B. Wells by taking on roles from various times in her life.
African American/Black
Black Land Matters
Dijour Carter refused to get out of the van parked in the gravel driveway at Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York. The other teens in his program emerged, skeptical, […]
Teaching that Food Justice Is Racial Justice
Swinehart highlights the work of Leah Penniman to teach about the connection between food and racial justice.
Defend African American Studies
Black history is under attack — predictably by the right, and by the acquiescence of the College Board, a billion-dollar “non-profit” business. This is yet another example of the erasure […]
Watson and Giovanni Write and Teach About the “Humanity of Black Folks”
In a dialogue in New York City for HarperCollins, Renée Watson and Nikki Giovanni talked about their new picture books, the joy of a writing life, growing up Black, activist librarians and teachers, and they remembered Maya Angelou.
Taking Multicultural, Anti-Racist Education Seriously
One of the most-read articles Rethinking Schools has published, Miner’s 1991 interview of Enid Lee resounds today.
Coming Home to Ourselves
In her new book, The Spirit of Our Work: Black Women Teachers (Re)member, Cynthia Dillard (now dean of the College of Education at Seattle University) provides language for what occurs when Black women teachers discover their spiritual wisdom and identities that are part of a long historical continuum of Black women’s resistance, creativity, and ultimately, their healing.
Who Killed Reconstruction?
Sanchez describes a role play about the demise of Reconstruction that helps students get beyond the question “Was Reconstruction a success or failure?”
bell hooks: Learning as Revolution
hooks’ influence on social justice education was so immense and so longstanding that we may not even recognize all the ways she touched our vision of the world — and our classrooms.
As States Build Barriers to Racial Justice Teaching, Educators Fight Back
Teachers nationwide have been standing up to register their resistance and solidarity, organizing rallies, supporting school board candidates who reject these bills, and doubling down on their own efforts to learn and teach about race.
Through the Lens of Those We Love
Kaler-Jones invites young Black women to gather their loved ones’ oral histories; together they find threads of resistance, solidarity, and racial justice.
The People v. the Hip-Hop Industry
A high school teacher and her students question “Who owns and controls hip-hop?” — and put the hip-hop industry on trial.
“We’re Just People Who Don’t Want to Be Killed”
A piece of our worth was stolen on Jan. 6, 2021. A mob brandishing the flag of the Confederacy as well as the campaign flags of the outgoing president stormed […]
Tulsa and the Fight for Reparations
On May 31, 1921, white mobs terrorized the Black community of Greenwood in North Tulsa, Oklahoma. Known as Black Wall Street, the area teemed with prosperous businesses and cultural sites. […]
The Teaching for Black Lives Starter Pack
Get the free Teaching for Black Lives Starter Pack when you sign up today for email updates from Rethinking Schools.
Teaching the Radical Rosa Parks
My wife Linda and I began our COVID-19 shelter-in-place pretty early in the pandemic. I went to my last in-person meeting on Wednesday, March 11. The next day, we canceled […]
Say Their Names
“I can’t breathe . . . please . . . Mama!”The knee choking the neck to deathPolice hands in pockets andIndifferent expressionsAnother day on the J-O-BAnd moreMore details I can […]
Black Lives Matter at School: A Roundtable Discussion
In early August, Rethinking Schools managing editor Ari Bloomekatz sat down (over Zoom) for a roundtable interview and discussion with four organizers and national steering committee members of the Black […]
Pledge to Participate in the Black Lives Matter at School “Year of Purpose”
For the fall issue, in lieu of our regular editorial by Rethinking Schools editors, we are publishing most of the “Year of Purpose” call by Black Lives Matter at School. […]
“But You Guys Wanted Us Here”
A film tackles the U.S. occupation of Japan.
Reviews 21.4
Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and RhymesWritten and Directed by Byron HurtMedia Education Foundation, 200660 mins, DVD The Hip-Hop Education Guidebook Volume 1: A Sourcebook of Inspiration and Practical ApplicationEdited by Marcella […]
A Message from a Black Mom to Her Son
An African American mother and teacher educator uses examples from her own childhood to describe how she hopes her child will be treated by teachers, and what she fears.
Schools and the New Jim Crow
The author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness applies her thought-provoking analysis to children, schools, and priorities for education activism.
Stop the School-to-Prison Pipeline
“Every man in my family has been locked up. Most days I feel like it doesn’t matter what I do, how hard I try—that’s my fate, too.”—11th-grade African American student, […]
Keepers of the Second Throat
When Chicago stole my mother’s tongue, it also stole all her yesterdays. A poet’s lyric plea for teachers to nurture their students voices and stories.