With summer underway, we’re highlighting new people’s history books (and two podcasts), starting with this Social Justice Books collection of picture books.
Middle School History Books
Although written for middle school, these texts are also engaging and eye-opening for high schoolers and adults.
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A Different Mirror for Young People: A History of Multicultural America by Ronald Takaki and A. Naomi Paik, adapted by Rebecca Stefoff. We recommend pairing this title with A Young People’s History of the United States. |
Twice Enslaved: Liberty and Justice for Henrietta Wood by Selene Castrovilla, illustrated by Erin Robinson, tells the true story of Henrietta Wood, who was enslaved twice and later won reparations in the largest settlement for enslavement to date. |
Graphic Histories
For graphic novel fans, here are new titles for high schoolers to adults.
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The Black Schooner: Rebellion on the Amistad, a Graphic Novel by David Lester and Marcus Rediker, with Paul Buhle. Based on The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom. Check out our online class with Marcus Rediker on escaping slavery by sea. |
The Water Defenders: How Ordinary People Saved a Country from Corporate Greed, Graphic Adaptation by Robin Broad and John Cavanagh, with graphic adaptation by Jon Sack. Pair this book about El Salvador with the story of water defender Berta Cáceres in Honduras. |
Howard Zinn
There is a Howard Zinn double-header this summer with a new edition of Zinn’s classic book on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and a new biography of Zinn by The Nation sports columnist Dave Zirin. Keise Laymon said of the latter, “The People’s Historian shook free an understanding of Zinn I’d never felt, and made me know that we are so, so prepared to live and fight in 2026.”
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SNCC: The New Abolitionists by Howard Zinn. New edition with a foreword by Anthony Arnove and an afterword by Barbara Ransby. SNCC’s approach to challenging authoritarianism in the South in the 1960s is relevant today. Read the book and download free toolkits from the SNCC Legacy Project. |
The People’s Historian: The Outsized Life of Howard Zinn by Dave Zirin. Includes Zinn’s support of student activism at Spelman and Boston University and the launch of the Zinn Education Project. Zirin’s book tour starts in August. Check the schedule to see if he is coming to a city near you. |
Now in Paperback
We hosted Kellie Carter Jackson and Jason Stanley for online classes and are delighted that their books are now more widely available in paperback. They are accessible for high school students and generate rich discussions.
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We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance by Kellie Carter Jackson. |
Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future by Jason Stanley. |
Collective Resistance
Epic stories of people organizing in the face of repression in Europe and the Americas. Excerpts would provoke great discussions with high school students.
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In Here Where We Live Is Our Country, Molly Crabapple tells the story of the Jewish Labor Bund, a secular, socialist, anti–Zionist political movement in Eastern Europe whose members fought for dignity and equality. |
In America, América: A New History of the New World, Greg Grandin explores the turbulent history between the United States and Latin America, from the Spanish conquest to the revolutions of the 20th century and beyond. |
Podcasts
On this 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, First America shows how the goal was not to challenge empire, but to expand it. The News is the latest season of Scene on Radio — we recommend them all.
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First America, a six episode narrative podcast and essay series written and reported by Rebecca Nagle, Cherokee journalist, and featuring leading Native scholars and historians including Ned Blackhawk, Maggie Blackhawk, Phil Deloria, and Nick Estes. |
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Books from Our Online Classes
Get a headstart on the 2026–2027 Teach the Black Freedom Struggle online class series.
Stitching Freedom: A True Story of Injustice, Defiance, and Hope in Angola Prison by Gary Tyler with Ellen Bravo
Kings and Pawns: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America by Howard Bryant
A New Kind of Youth: Historically Black High Schools and Southern Student Activism by Jon N. Hale
High School Students Unite!: Teen Activism, Education Reform, and FBI Surveillance in Postwar America by Aaron G. Fountain
The Life and Politics of Coretta Scott King by Jeanne Theoharis
Racist by Design: Two Centuries of U.S. Immigration Control by Kelly Lytle Hernández
Free Books for Teaching Stories
Thanks to donations, we can send you a copy of Get on the Job and Organize by Jaz Brisack or The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History by Ned Blackhawk in appreciation for your teaching story about using our lessons on labor or the American Revolution. (Blackhawk is one of the scholars in the First America podcast.)
Fossil-Fueled Heat Wave
The same administration sending ICE to terrorize communities, suppressing voting rights, and starting wars is contributing to the dangerous heat waves, threatening the safety of millions in parts of the United States and around the world. Fossil fuel extraction helps turn annual heat (and snow, fires, and rain storms) into extreme weather.
Addressing this crisis requires getting to the root causes. But the media continues to describe the current events out of context.
The climate crisis threatens all our students’ lives. As media limits references to climate change, it is time to break that silence in classrooms so that young people study the climate and learn how to organize for a safe future. We offer free lessons and K–12 book recommendations.
National Park Service Sites
Join the Junior Resistance Rangers
Are you going to any one of the 433 National Park Service sites this summer? If so, download a Junior Resistance Ranger booklet and take a pledge. Send us a photo and we’ll send you a badge.
This is a great activity to do with young people this summer. You can also download junior ranger booklets that are censored at the Arlington House and the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home.
This effort is coordinated by the America433+ coalition, including the Resistance Rangers, Branch 4, Public School Strong, and the Zinn Education Project (Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change).
Lead a Study Group
Are educators at your school or district looking for meaningful professional development and a supportive learning community?
Join us on Tuesday, August 11, for a 50-minute informational session where you’ll learn how to form a Teaching for Black Lives study group in your school, district, or statewide.
Each group receives:
- Teaching for Black Lives book copies
- Rethinking Schools subscriptions
- Study guides
- Access to a network of social justice educators
- and more!
Hear from study group coordinators, ask questions, and meet other educators in small groups. Facilitated by Jesse Hagopian, Teaching for Black Lives co-editor and Rethinking Schools editor. Learn more and register.
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