Resources
Bibliography For Teachers
A More Perfect Union: National Endowment for the Humanities. (2023, November 30). The language of resistance: Native american boarding schools. National History Day. https://nhd.org/en/resources/the-language-of-resistance-native-american-boarding-schools/
This lesson plan from National History Day gives some background on the school and the writings of Stephen White Bear, author of “Speak Only English.” It may be useful as an introductory or extension activity.
Anderson, T. (2020). “From Philly with Love: Black Lives Matter At School Goes National” in Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice. Hagopian, J., & Jones, D. (Eds.). (2020). Haymarket Books.
In this chapter, a teacher and activist from Philadelphia effectively summarizes the background and organizing necessary for Black Lives Matter at School to begin spreading widely.
Bishop, Rudine Sims. “‘Mirrors, Windows and Sliding Glass Doors.’” Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom 6, no. 3 (1990). https://scenicregional.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Mirrors-Windows-and-Sliding-Glass-Doors.pdf.
This seminal article defines the concept of students needing to encounter “mirrors” of their own experiences and “windows” into others’ experiences in their reading.
Black Lives Matter: PHLEd. 2020. "Public Resource Share." Racial Justice Organizing Committee. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QV9-pGwTIZhcdap7fC35sa36h49xlbw6Ecyw8taJWMI/edit.
This site provides a sample list of resources for Black Lives Matter Week of Action in Philadelphia. Teachers may also wish to share this with students during the relevant lessons.
Muhammad, G. (2020). Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy. Scholastic.
Dr. Muhammad’s book introduces Culturally & Historically Responsive education, including a number of concrete sample lessons and the historical background for her ideas.
Muhammad, Gholdy. Unearthing Joy: A Guide to Culturally and Historically Responsive Teaching and Learning. Scholastic Professional, 2023.
Dr. Muhammad’s follow-up book delves more deeply into joy as one of the five pursuits and is especially useful as a model for how to integrate art, music and poetry into layered texts.
National Reading Panel (U.S.) and National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (U.S.). Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching Children to Read: An Evidence-based Assessment of the Scientific Research Literature on Reading and Its Implications for Reading Instruction. [Bethesda, Md.?]: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000.
This report, even at a quarter-century old, is a good starting point for teachers who are seeking steps to take to improve specific literacy domains in their classrooms.
Smith, Reid, Pamela Snow, Tanya Serry, and Lorraine Hammond. 2021. "The Role of Background Knowledge in Reading Comprehension: A Critical Review." Reading Psychology 42 (3): 214-240.
This article effectively summarizes the importance of background knowledge and connected, cohesive texts in building students’ literacy.
Student Achievement Partners. 2020. “Instructional Content Nav - ELA / Literacy: Text-Dependent Questions.” Achievethecore.org. https://achievethecore.org/category/1158/ela-literacy-text-dependent-questions.
This site offers examples and guidance in generating text-dependent questions for any text.
Tovani, Cris. 2000. I Read It, But I Don't Get it: Comprehension Strategies for Adolescent Readers. Stenhouse Publishers.
Tovani’s book includes sample lessons and step-by-step instruction for teachers working
with adolescent readers who are behind grade level.
Williams, Heather Andrea. (2007). Self-taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom. University of North Carolina Press.
Williams’ book summarizes the interactions of literacy, law and freedom before and after the end of the Civil War and provides compelling anecdotes that teachers may wish to share with students.
Reading List for Students
ANCHOR: A North Carolina History Online Resource. 2022. “Primary Source: A Bill to Prevent All Persons from Teaching Slaves to Read or Write, the Use of Figures Excepted (1830).” NCpedia | NCpedia. https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/primary-source-bill-prevent.
This contains a sample of the kind of anti-literacy laws students can analyze in Lesson 1.
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Black Lives Matter." Encyclopedia Britannica, July 9, 2024. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Black-Lives-Matter.
This encyclopedia entry briefly summarizes the history of the Black Lives Matter movement, important especially for students in late middle or early high school who will have few memories of recent organizing.
Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center. 2016. “Documents | Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center.” Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center. https://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/documents.
This site contains the digital archives of Carlisle Indian School maintained by Dickinson University, searchable by name, topic, tribe, and more.
Carlisle Indian School. 1880. "Educational." Eadle Keatah Toh, January: 1. https://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/publications/eadle-keatah-toh-vol-1-no-1
This site leads to a pdf of the first published Eadle Keatah Toh, a newspaper from Carlisle Indian School intended for public consumption.
Carlisle Indian School. 1882. “Speak Only English.” The School News. January. 2 (8). https://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/publications/school-news-vol-2-no-8
This site leads to a pdf of an issue of School News, intended for student consumption, that emphasizes the importance of Native students speaking only English.
Caucus of Working Educators. “Why the Black Lives Matter Movement is Vital for Us All.” January 15th, 2017. https://www.workingeducators.org/why_black_lives_matter_is_vital_for_us_all
This blog post from a caucus of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers union introduces the necessity of Black Lives Matter At School Week of Action.
The Carlisle Sentinel. 2021. “Watch Now: ‘Home from School’ Trailer.” YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKF9wfCSBa8.
This is a trailer for the documentary that covers the repatriation, in 2021, of students who died at Carlisle Indian School.
“Curriculum Resource Guide,” Black Lives Matter at School, September 2023, accessed July 14, 2024, https://www.blacklivesmatteratschool.com/curriculum.html.
This is a nationally maintained and contributed to database of BLM curriculum, available for students to examine prior to adding to their own syllabus.
Dickinson College. 2021. “History of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.” Www.youtube.com. July 26, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfOKRglt8e8.
This short history of Carlisle Indian School provides key background for students.
Diesen, Glenn. 2011. "Herbert's Hippopotamus: Marcuse and Revolution in Paradise." YouTube. March 4. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbzhmMDFcFQ.
This documentary about academic and activist Herbert Marcuse includes a short segment at minute 13, where Angela Davis recounts protests around the founding of Lumumba-Zapata/Third College.
Douglass, Frederick. The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, from 1817-1882. London: Christian Age Office, 1882. https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/lobb-the-life-and-times-of-frederick-douglass-from-1817-1882.
Douglass’ autobiography covers his childhood, adolescence, escape from slavery and subsequent success. For this curriculum, students will read Chapter 10, “Learning to Read,” in its entirety.
Dunbar, Paul Laurence. 2020. "Poets.org." An Ante-Bellum Sermon. Accessed July 24, 2024. https://poets.org/poem/ante-bellum-sermon.
In this poem, Dunbar adopts the voice of an enslaved preacher in the antebellum south, recounting stories of liberation from the Bible while disingenuously disavowing any politics.
Giesberg, Judith, Michael Johnson, James Kopaczewksi, and Elizabeth Motich. 2015. “Library Exhibits: A Great Thing for Our People: The Institute for Colored Youth in the Civil War Era.” Villanova University Library. 2015. https://exhibits.library.villanova.edu/institute-colored-youth.
This online exhibit maintained by Villanova University includes a number of primary sources on the Institute for Colored Youth, including images and excerpts from key speeches and autobiographies connected with the Institute.
Giesberg, Judith. 2015. “African American Education: Emilie Davis.” African American Education. Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 2015. https://hsp.org/education/unit-plans/emilie-daviss-civil-war/african-american-education.
This online exhibit and sample lesson plans include scanned copies of the writings of a student at the Institute for Colored Youth, as well as additional helpful background.
Green, John. 2013. "The 1960s in America: Crash Course US History #40." YouTube. December 6. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkXFb1sMa38.
This video gives basic background on events of the 1960s in the United States and will set the stage for students’ exploration of Lumumba-Zapata College.
Harper, Frances Ellen Watkins. n.d. "Learning to Read." Poetry Foundation. Accessed July 24, 2024. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52448/learning-to-read-56d230ed0fdc0.
In this poem, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, a Black activist and journalist during and after the Civil War, adopts the persona of an elderly Black woman excited to gain her literacy.
Lumumba-Zapata College: B.S.C.-M.A.Y.A. Demands for the Third College, U.C.S.D. 1969. San Diego, Calif: [publisher not identified].
The demands of the Lumumba-Zapata Coalition include a wide range of material to be studied in the new college from a variety of specific viewpoints, with a focus as well on a governance structure to ensure student voice and power. This is the closest to a specific mentor text for students and should be read for structure and genre as much as for content.
Membean. “Word Roots,” 2023. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://membean.com/roots/
Membeam is a basic vocabulary-building study site and one example of the kind of introductory study of Greek and Latin roots and etymology that students could explore while learning about the Institute for Colored Youth. Teachers with this instruction already embedded in their curriculum may wish to use their own materials.
The New York Times. (1970, November 15). ATTACKS CONTINUE ON COAST COLLEGE. New York Times, 65.
This contemporary news article on the founding of Third College is not only a valuable secondary source but an interesting text for students to use to explore tone and assumption, as the author expresses clear bias against Angela Davis and the other organizers.
Murphy, Darryl C. 2018. "Students and community members have a family talk during Black Lives Matter Week of Action." Chalkbeat, February 12. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://www.chalkbeat.org/philadelphia/2018/2/12/22183427/students-and-community-members-have-a-family-talk-during-black-lives-matter-week-of-action/.
This article from the second annual Black Lives Matter At School Week of Action in Philadelphia gives students an example of how activism can deliberately blur the lines between school and community.
NBC10 Philadelphia. “On Wedding Day, Couple Joins Philly’s Massive Black Lives Matter March | NBC10 Philadelphia,” June 9, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTaSWPjlzyc.
This is a short, local news video covering some of the Black Lives Matter protests in Philadelphia in the spring of 2020.
PBS. 2004. “Slavery and the Making of America. The Slave Experience: Education, Arts, & Culture | PBS.” Slavery and the Making of America. The Slave Experience: Education, Arts, & Culture | PBS. https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/slavery/experience/education/docs2.html.
This contains the preamble of the Pittsburgh African American Education Society, another example of a group clearly laying out the justification for their learning and literacy and connecting it explicitly to social change.
“Racial Justice Organizing - Demands,” 2020. https://sites.google.com/view/racialjusticeorganizing/blm-week-of-action-in-schools/demands?authuser=0.
This site summarizes the policy demands and the 13 principles of Black Lives Matter At School Week of Action in student-friendly language.
Sasko, Claire. “Philly Teachers’ Black Lives Matter Curriculum Drawing Support, Scorn.” Philadelphia Magazine, January 23, 2017. https://www.phillymag.com/news/2017/01/23/teachers-black-lives-matter-curriculum/.
This is another local news article from the first Black Lives Matter At Schools Week of Action, covering objections to the idea.
School District of Philadelphia. 2020. "RJOC Copy of BLM Week of Action at School FAQs for Parents." The School District of Philadelphia. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://www.philasd.org/key/wp-content/uploads/sites/438/2021/03/BLMWOA.pdf.
This is an example of material the School District of Philadelphia shared with families concerned about the celebration of Black Lives Matter At School Week of Action.
Shragge, Abe, and Kate Pillion. 2010. "A Short History :: Celebrating TMC's 40th Anniversary – Thurgood Marshall College :: UC San Diego's Third College." Undergraduate Colleges Business Office. January. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://provost.ucsd.edu/marshall/40th/history/short-history.html.
This site covers the basic history of the founding of Third, later Thurgood Marshall College.
Smith, Clint. 2022. "Women and the Black Power Movement." Youtube.com. June 14. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://youtu.be/j-OMR3h4Isw?si=lHdTS6atR1fyWqkx.
This short video, similar to the John Green one mentioned above, provides key background for students before they engage with the story of the Lumumba-Zapata Coalition.
X, Malcolm, and Alex Haley. 1992. The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley. New York: Ballantine Books.
Malcolm X’s autobiography is a wide taught text and, in my district, students have already engaged with all or most of it in previous years. An excerpt from Chapter 11, “Saved,” provides a key example of the importance of background knowledge in building literacy.
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