Teaching Hard History

Latest Episodes:

Making a Scene: The Movement in Literature and Film – w/ Julie Buckner Armstrong Dec 22, 2020

Show notes

From the hard work of organizing to the reality of everyday life under Jim Crow, films and literature can bring historical context to life for students. In this episode, we recommend several "must use" films, books, poems and plays for teaching the civil rights movement. We also discuss strategies for incorporating these works across the curricula and for turning even problematic texts into grist for meaningful critical discussions.

Our latest Spotify playlist has even more Movement Music inspired by this episode.

And visit the enhanced episode transcript for additional classroom resources about Civil Rights Literature and Films.

The Real Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott – w/ Emilye Crosby Dec 08, 2020

Show notes

Everyone thinks they know the story, but the real history of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott is even better. This episode details the events that set the stage for Ms. Parks' civil disobedience. You'll meet the leaders and organizations who transformed a moment of activism into a 13-month campaign. And you'll learn about the community that held fast in the face of legal and political attacks, economic coercion, intimidation and violence.

Language Advisory: This episode contains historical reenactments of interviews and courtroom testimony which contain some profanity and racial slurs.

Be sure to check out the enhanced full transcript of this episode for resources to help you teach the full story of the Montgomery Bus. Boycott.

For more movement music inspired by this episode, check out the new Spotify playlist.

Connecting Slavery with the Civil Rights Movement Nov 24, 2020

Show notes

To fully understand the United States today, we have to comprehend the central role that slavery played in our nation's past. That legacy is also the foundation for understanding the civil rights movement and its place within the history of the Black freedom struggle. This episode is a special look back at our first season. It explores and expands on the 10 key concepts that ground Teaching Tolerance's K-12 frameworks for teaching the hard history of American slavery.

And for even more resources, check out the enhanced full transcript of this episode on our website.

Teaching the Movement's Most Iconic Figure – w/ Charles McKinney Nov 10, 2020

Show notes

You cannot teach the civil rights movement without talking about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. But it's critical that students deconstruct the mythology surrounding the movement's most iconic figure to learn about the man, not just the hero. The real Dr. King held beliefs that evolved over time. A complex man, he was part of a much larger movement—one that shaped him as much as he shaped it.

Our new Spotify playlist has even more movement music inspired by this episode.

And for even more resources, check out the enhanced full transcript of this episode. For example...

These Birmingham News file photos from the 40s, 50s and 60s, recollect the explosive death and destruction at the hands of racists in 'Bombingham.'

And the lesson "Birmingham 1963: Primary Documents" asks your students to interrogate historical documents with differing opinions about this conflict.(Grades 6-8, 9-12)

New from Teaching Tolerance: Introduce your students to the history of Indigenous enslavement on land that is currently the United States with The Forgotten Slavery of our Ancestors (12 min)—along with Discussion Guide.

The Jim Crow North – w/ Patrick D. Jones Oct 27, 2020

Show notes

The Civil Rights Movement was never strictly a Southern phenomenon. To better understand the Jim Crow North, we explore discrimination and Black protest in places like Milwaukee, Omaha, Cleveland and New York. To examine the Black Freedom Movement beyond the South, we examine the Black-led fights to gain access to decent housing, secure quality education and end police brutality in these cities.

For more movement music inspired by this episode, visit this new Spotify playlist.

Be sure to watch our new classroom film The Forgotten Slavery of our Ancestors (12 min), which offers an introduction to the history of Indigenous enslavement on land that is currently the United States. And here's a Discussion Guide with Text Dependent Questions for the film.

The Roz Payne Sixties Archive, a one-of-a-kind digital archive of historical artifacts from a wide array of social movements.

In this lesson—"The Color of Law: Creating Racially Segregated Communities"—Students examine local, state and federal policies that supported racially discriminatory practices and cultivated racially segregated housing.

For even more resources, check out the enhanced full transcript of this episode.

And educators! Get a professional development certificate for listening to this episode—issued by Learning for Justice. Listen for the special code word, then visit learningforjustice.org/podcastpd.

Nonviolence and Self-Defense – w/ Wesley Hogan, Christopher Strain and Akinyele Umoja Oct 13, 2020

Show notes

Armed resistance and nonviolent direct action co-existed throughout the civil rights era. In this episode, three historians confront some comfortable assumptions about nonviolence and self-defense. Wesley Hogan examines the evolution, value and limitations of nonviolence in the movement. Christopher Strain offers a three-part strategy for rethinking this false dichotomy in the classroom. And Akinyele Umoja offers insights about armed resistance from his research in Mississippi.

For more movement music inspired by this episode, visit this new Spotify playlist.

And check out the enhanced full transcript of this episode.

New Film: The Forgotten Slavery of Our Ancestors – w/ Alice Qannik Glenn Oct 07, 2020

Show notes

Alice Qannik Glenn is the host of Coffee and Quaq and assistant producer of The Forgotten Slavery of our Ancestors. This short, classroom-ready film offers an introduction to the history of Indigenous enslavement on land that is currently the United States. This new resource from Teaching Tolerance features an extensive group of experts, many of whom will be familiar to listeners from Season 2.

And for even more resources, check out the enhanced full transcript of this episode on our website.

Jim Crow, Lynching and White Supremacy – w/ Stephen A. Berrey, Hannah Ayers, Lance Warren and Ahmariah Jackson Sep 29, 2020

Show notes

Jim Crow was more than signs and separation. It was a system of terror and violence created to control the labor and regulate the behavior of Black people. In this episode, historian Stephen Berrey unpacks the mechanics of racial oppression, the actions white people took—in and beyond the South—to maintain white supremacy, and the everyday ways Black people fought back. And the directors of the film An Outrage join ELA teacher Ahmariah Jackson to discuss teaching the racial terror of lynching.

For more movement music inspired by this episode, visit this new Spotify playlist.

Here's the Gordon Parks' 1956 Atlanta airline terminal photograph that Dr. Berrey describes.

Check out the enhanced full transcript of this episode. It is full of links to resources related to this episode, like this audio of Daisy Thomas Livingston from the Behind the Veil oral history collection about the Jim Crow South, this interactive map of "Sundown Towns in the United States." Or the teaching guide and full documentary An Outrage (free to stream at tolerance.org)

A Playlist for the Movement – w/ Charles L. Hughes Sep 08, 2020

Show notes

Music chronicles the history of the civil rights struggle: The events, tactics and emotions of the movement are documented in songs of the era. From The Freedom Singers to Sam Cooke, historian Charles L. Hughes explains how your students can use music for both historical insight and evidence in the classroom.

For more movement music, check out this episode's Spotify playlist.

And you can find useful resources—like how to bring Beyoncé into your classroom with "Pop Music as Critical Text"—along with a full transcript on our website.

Beyond the "Master Narrative" – w/ Nishani Frazier and Adam Sanchez Aug 25, 2020

Show notes

Students don't enter our classrooms as blank slates. When it comes to the civil rights movement, we often have to help our students unlearn what they think they know while we're teaching them what actually happened. The people were more complex, the strategies more complicated and the stakes more dangerous than we like to remember. In this episode, historian Nishani Frazier and social studies teacher Adam Sanchez demonstrate the value of teaching the movement from the grassroots up.

Check out Nishani's Harambee City website and Adam's "Teaching SNCC" classroom activities.

You can find more useful resources like those – along with an enhanced transcript – on our website.

For more Movement Music, check out the Spotify playlist for this episode.

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